Meal with Haiwei and caima bisai!

Yet again I was up after little more than 4h30 minutes of sleep, but Awl was about so we had a chat and I stupidly had a couple of beers, during which I could hear the sound of little footsteps and then adult voices. Oh yes, Tan had called me last night to castigate me for using A Heng's wife's towel. Well I wasn't to know...it was just a towel...but apparently here that sort of thing is taken very personally. To be fair I have now found the towel I bought in the summer but it isn't as big as the one I used.... Anyway the family are back in the house and who knows for how long?

I had no particular reason to meet with them, so ended up getting back to sleep a couple of hours later. Then I woke to a banging at the door. I thought it was a dream but it persisted too long so I went to take a look and it was A Heng's wife. At least she didn't have a go at me for using her towel. It looked like the others were out now at least so I grabbed the rest of the chicken and duck from yesterday and wolfed it down. Well it had managed three meals at least so not bad for 30 kuai.

Haiwei had invited me to his mum's to speak English with his son this evening at 6.30pm so I hoped to get a couple of hours of shuteye in the afternoon but it wasn't to materialise. At least the others had gone out though so I went to grab a shower and of course had Haiwei leaving me a message to come over now and not in 30 minutes. Well it would have to wait, and when I did get there I wanted to pick up some fruit but could only find a bloke selling these huge things that I can't even name in English, so I picked up a half one for 110 kuai which I thought was a bit steep.

£13 for whatever this was seemed a bit steep

But anyway Haiwei was already at the main gate waiting for me so we went in and it was only four of us for once; his mum and his son and me. At least his son was a bit more talkative this time, so I'd justified my meal tonight. Earlier, Lin Hong had told me there was a caima competition tonight at the new place across the bridge, and she was to be dancing there, so I'd said I'd come, but knew plans could easily change. But at bang on 8pm she asked where I was so I told Haiwei I'd need to go, which mean finishing off only a third beer so I was a lot more sober than I'd have liked for a potential caima competition.

And when I got there I found it was in full swing, but Lin Hong said it wasn't too late for me to join so I wrote my Chinese name and phone number and within one minute I was called onto the stage. Shit, I had a pre-poured V&C in the back of the dian dong che but had no time for Dutch courage. Maybe that was a good thing, as I also had no time to worry. I leapt on stage and the bloke I had to battle broke into a massive grin when he saw who I was and just said "waiguoren!". Unfortunately for me it wasn't as simple as starting with "laiyouchek!" because the event was sponsored by Snowflake beer. So before caimai'ing we had to say ”雪花啤酒来酒来啊。。。“ but of course I screwed up the first time so I had to get the lady on stage to repeat what I needed to say. I managed it the second time but it knocked me off kilter a bit and I lost the first round. But at least I won the second to avoid a 3-0 defeat as my component won the next two to win 3-1. I "won" two cans for my efforts at least and when I got off-stage asked Lin Hong how much I should pay just for joining. Apparently nothing. Ok, I won't ask too many questions.

My first losing attempt

The winners of the rounds then went through to a knockout stage where they were placed in two teams each. By now I'd managed to sneak back to the dian dong che and sneak a bit of V&Cola. Not that I needed it but I thought there may be a chance I'd be asked back on stage.

But Lin Hong and her troupe put on a lovely dance and when they finished I guessed that was it for the evening. At least for those who had lost. But no! When the compere saw me leaving he pointed to me and said I had to come back on stage for a final battle! At least by now I was sort of ok with the idea, but I'd said I'd go and see Boss Zhou shortly. Anyway, I got back on stage (there were maybe between 100-200) people in the audience and sadly lost 3-0 to the next bloke. Then the compere started asking me a few questions on stage and I was happy I could understand them. I explained I was a "Bangxu guye" and I'd been coming to Pingguo for 21 years, and that Lin Hong was my Biao Jie and had just done a lovely dance. I think it went down ok, as I got applause from the audience. I also remembered to smile during the mini-interview, unlike a few days previously.

Lin Hong's dancing troupe

My prize for losing was a crate of Snowflake beer, which I made an effort to look surprised at, then accepted. If nothing else I'd held myself on stage, if not won, and come back with 16 cans of beer which I would take to Boss Zhou's place.

My second call onto stage and having to ask a few questions about why I was here

I really like Lin Hong. Outside of immediate family she really feels one of the closest. She seems to genuinely care about our wellbeing and therefore was understanding when I said I had to be somewhere else soon. Of course she told me not to drink to much and of course I told her I wouldn't, and of course I probably would...but it would only be 2.8% beer that I was taking there. She didn't seem to complain about me downing a can of the stuff on stage for losing!

I got to Boss Zhou's around 10pm I guess and they were in fine fettle. It was nice to be able to bring a crate of beers and we actually got into it as well as some blokes moved from the baijiu to something weaker.

Enjoying a bite to eat at Boss Zhou's chamber of commerce

But when Li Kun asked me to go to Xiao Bai de Tian I thought that was a much better alternative...not a sausagefest at least. So I told A Wu I'd pop out and he said they'd also pop out and I should meet them soon in the bar I'd been in with Li Kun the other week. Oh, it was going to be one of those evenings...and why not!?

So I met up with Li Kun at Xiao Bai de Tian's and after an hour I guess I'd had enough to fulfil the promise I'd made to Xiao Bai that I'd sing a Chinese song. Despite the fact that Leilei had appropriated my guitar in the UK, I'd managed enough practice here that my callouses were starting to come back. Not enough, but more importantly I'd been practising the line “早习惯穿梭充满诱惑的黑夜”, which has been a bugbear for me. But knowing I mightn't come back here any time soon, after a toilet break I sat on the stage and brought out the lyrics.

You can't avoid seeing eight people filming you while singing, but you can sort of ignore them if you get into it. I hope it was ok. I then was asked to do some English songs so did the usual S&G ones and it seemed appreciated. Then I did go to see A Wu and mates but was getting late and I didn't fancy getting on the stage there so just stayed half an hour before checking with Li Kun if he was still at Xiao Bai de Tian's at 1.30am. Indeed he was, so I headed back there for only half an hour or so, enough time to meet some more people, one of whom was a women of not yet 20 years old. Jeez...she's not that much older than Xixi, and I ganbeid with her.

With the owners of the joint enjoying a last beer

It wasn't much longer that I got back around 2am and got to sleep pronto. But another really full day which is one of the main reasons I come here.

Yumi tang, walk, weights, and more food with Boss Zhou

With the help of a pill I managed to sleep till 6am, so still only four hours, but I had nothing planned so knew a siesta would be in the offing. So a bit later I went for a walk and managed getting on for 5km before deciding to realise breakfast for a change, as I remembered I'd not been to the sweetcorn soup place at all this year. The lady remembered me of course and was happy as I was the only customer there, but was happy to sit down to my lovely yumi tang and fried egg.

First visit to the yumi tang place for over a year

My favourite soup - yumi tang

5.68km, 7988 steps, 1h2m, 1 nice Chinese breakfast

I remembered to pick up some fabric conditioner at Guanmart and was home too early to consider anything as silly as a beer, so made an effort to get through a set of dumbbell exercises for the next 50 minutes or so until it was nearly 12.30pm. That sort of justified liquid refreshment but after a couple I realised I should really eat, and should find something more protein-rich than the usual jiaozi or xiaolongbao. So after a bit of a walk I found the place I'd got half a duck from in the summer, and found he conveniently had two duck legs and a portion of chicken breast. Perfect. He cut them up and heated them and it came to 30 kuai. Only 10 kuai more than my breakfast but a lot more than I could eat in one sitting so at least I'd have something left over for tonight if necessary.

But it wasn't necessary as after a good three hour siesta A Wu pinged me to ask where I was, which really meant to go to the chamber of commerce to eat with Boss Zhou. I unhurriedly had a shower and a beer and made my way over around 8pm to be fashionably late, and Boss Zhou slightly annoyingly put some of the most expensive cuts of duck in my bowl...the bits with the most skin and bones, and I politely thanked him and tried to tuck in. Needless to say the evening dissolved into more food and booze and presently we went to a KTV room.

Another fine meal at Boss Zhou's chamber of commerce

I didn't even ask which animals were pickled in this alcohol

I don't know who pays for these things...I guess A Wu and Boss Zhou do some sort of business together but it's not my business to know the details. But as happens, I ended up in another room, and maybe another...they start to blend into each other. Nong pinged to arrange to sing song too, but in the end she said there were too many people where I was, and anyway by now it was gone midnight. I realised despite my siesta I was tiring and the beer had finally got to me. So I left at 1.30am and once again was asleep shortly after 2am.

Footage of me and a birthday meal

Of course I was up at 8.30am wide a-bloody-wake. I did ping Nong as she'd said to meet up in the morning and I was sort of glad she suggested the afternoon as it would be easy to get back to sleep wouldn't it? Yeah right. At lunch I went out early and got a portion of jiaozi and xiao long bao and managed most of them, washed down with a couple of drinks as I knew the night wouldn't happen if I didn't get some more sleep. And eventually I managed from 3-6pm after a slight pill.

Well finally I didn't have a plan for tonight so finished of the xiao long bao. Then at gone 8.30pm Nong pinged to say it was her elder sister's birthday and was I coming over? Well why not? I asked what I should bring and she said to get some flowers so I grabbed a shower and picked up some beers before going to the flower shop where I picked out some purple and pink ones and the ladies arranged a bouquet and charged me 128 kuai for the effort.

During this time Li Kun sent me a link to the article about yesterday's concert, together with four mini-commentaries from the performers and two members of the public of which I was one. Gosh, it was pretty unnatural from me, but also the locals didn't seem that natural either. Interestingly, I was simply name as 彭先生 (Mr Peng) on the tv and there was no mention of my origins or anything, just as if I was a normal member of the audience, which I was really.

Totally unscripted praise of the concert...I wish I could have smiled while talking...

...well the one shot they put of me in the article sort of caught a smile

Luckily, Nong's sister loved the flowers and posed for pictures with them, and I'd thought to bring some sweets and toys for the youngsters too. Well that was dinner sorted, as we had some of Nong's mum's sheep feet and duck, plus a single glass of her yellowskin fruit alcohol which I found rather palatable. 

Nong's sister's husband had clearly had a few beers and stumbled to the settee to watch his phone but soon fell asleep to it. Nong tried to make plans to go to KTV but surprisingly couldn't find people who weren't already busy, so at gone midnight we started to wind down. In fact that wasn't a bad thing at all as I recognised that I was starting to flag too, so left at 1am before a brief chat with the lads as sleep set in bang on 2am.

95th anniversary of the Baise Uprising and 2 x KTV

Well I almost had a normal night's sleep...certainly the most normal since being here. It was a bit fractured but I was up by 9am. But I realised I had no more money in Weixin and certainly no cash. I had sent some to Li Kun last night but I guess it was too late so I pinged him at lunchtime as I needed a bite to eat. At least he confirmed that he'd received it but wouldn't be able to send till 5pm as he was driving/working till then. But luckily I found a pack of instant noodles that I bought in the summer as a pack of four came with a free bowl. I wouldn't normally do this many carbs but I'd not had breakfast and it was now the afternoon and I was hankering after a nap again so I had them with a couple of beers.

And I even managed nearly an hour nap too, when at one minute to 5pm Li Kun sent through the money. I asked him what his plans were for tonight and he said he was performing at a concert. Oh, I thought he might have told me about that before. I didn't have any plans so asked if I could go and of course I could, but it wasn't to start till 7.30. No probs, I had a couple of phone calls to make and in the end only just got there to see him playing the drums to music teacher singing with the guitar. But this wasn't his main appearance - that was next when he played the flute to accompany a lady on the zither very nicely.

Li Kun playing the flute

It was a professional show, with all the lighting and production you might expect for a huge audience but there were maybe only 50 people in total watching and I felt a bit bad as during the whole show there were far many more performers than audience. Still, I'm a little bit used to that now and I think some people like being on the stage. I almost get it now that I've had to do it. Of course half an hour after I arrived I got a message from Huang Qian asking me to go to sing song in a bit and I said I should be able to. But Li Kun had said we'd be going for a drink after the performance and I didn't know when that would end. Well actually it ended under an hour after I got there, but Li Kun told me the people filming it wanted me to give a little interview.

One of the performers doing her interview before me

Jeez, I sneaked back to the bike where I'd planted a little drink and had a sip. But only a sip...I shouldn't need Dutch courage to say a few words. The woman from the tv then showed me the words she wanted to say on her phone. Err...they were all in Chinese characters of course but actually I could understand most of them: 我想来通过这场演出更深入地感受那段光辉岁月，而且这样的文化活动也丰富了我们的精神生活，所以就来啦 - actually I knew all but 5 of them but I wasn't going to remember this or be confident, so I got her to add me to Weixin and send me the text so I could translate it to pinyin to be on the safe side. I really hope that soon I won't have to do this...and in fact I would have preferred to have a more natural question and answer session rather than reading some prepared text. I sent the text to Tan and she said the same...that it sounded a bit ridiculous coming from me. I hadn't realised that this performance was some sort of 95th anniversary thing for some cultural phenomenon.

Anyway I tried to rehearse my line while a couple of the other performers were being interviewed, and I made a point of congratulating one of the ladies for her powerful singing performance. When it finally got to my time we did a couple of takes but I said it looked unnatural, which it did because it was. So we did a last take that they seemed to like. Oh yes, it was the answer to the question "Why did you come to watch this benefit performance commemorating the 95th anniversary of the Baise Uprising?", and my answer was "I want to experience that glorious period more deeply through this performance, and such cultural activities also enrich our spiritual life, so I came.". Damn, now I really wish I'd just answered naturally...did I really want to experience that glorious period therefore I came?

By this time Li Kun's wife had taken their younger two back home, so I took Li Kun to his studio on my dian dong che and realised the batteries are pretty much knackered. They had only just been filled and were having trouble getting both of us back, even though we only weigh about 160 jin each. Well, it won't we worth doing in the 11 days I have left here, but hopefully will last that long. Then I think it will be bye bye bike, sadly.

Once back at Li Kun's he went out to buy a fish and then came back to bring out some beers. Luo and Meng turned up a few minutes later and we cracked open a couple as you do. I realised I hadn't eaten since lunch and was bloody starving, so waited patiently till the fish was fried, but that wasn't it. Li Kun then added a load of water to make fish soup so it took another 20 minutes before it was ready but it was bloody good. We then added raw fish for 20 seconds before dipping it into a mix of oil and vinegar and grass of some sort. It didn't totally fill me up but filled a bit of a hole. But I said I needed to go to see Huang Qian who was with Haiwei and his girlfriend as usual, and of course there was no problem as it was already gone 10.30pm.

Fried fish...soon to be soup

Of course I took the wrong lift and ended up at a massage place. As nice as it might have been to stay there they showed me where I should be, so I went down again and as I passed the car park I heard my name called. It was Ling Ming...he was on his bike waiting for his wife to pick up some food for their son. We ended up chatting for a good 5 minutes and he jokingly had a go at me for "secretly" coming back to China. He's really busy with work at the moment but I said if he had a spare evening to give me a call and go for a beer. Then his wife materialised and we had another 5 minute chat but I realised I was being late for KTV.

So finally upstairs at nearly 11pm I found the room and there was applause as I walked in. And ganbeis and caima and then I realised I had forgotten it was Huang Qian's 40th birthday celebration and I hadn't even brought a present.... Not that the others had either I suppose...and I had given her a box of chocolates when we ate at her place last week. But no longer had I got there than Nong video-called me from another KTV to ask me to come over. Ha...typical...I said the usual 等一下 which meant a bit later. And I intended to, but I wasn't going to leave a birthday celebration so soon.

Huang Qian and Baoli singing at the former's birthday party

So I did my usual Pengyou and No Matter What, and Qian's parents seemed to appreciate it and shook my hand. Gosh, I hope they don't think I'm a potential partner...I don't know if she's had a past but a 40 year-old without kids in China is a worry to their parents. At least the others knew about Tan. We ended up caimaiing in order to get through the rest of the beers as I was being asked where I was, so I finally left at 1am to go to the usual KTV place that Boss Zhou owns. A Wu was there, but other than Nong I didn't know anyone else. I went through the same repertoire as about an hour ago to their delight, but then a couple more women came in and we started dancing in a way I haven't done for bloody years. Why not? We finally left at 2.30am when the women decided to go for zhou. A Wu and the other bloke were nowhere to be seen, so I headed off home and managed to stay up to watch the crap that was City losing 2-0 at Juventus. We were the better team, but looked devoid of ideas in front of goal...oh well...it was a great few years. Finally asleep at 6am for my sins.

Boss meal at Boss Zhou's and this time I didn't smash the bottle

Jeez of course I was up at 6.30am as awake as a button. It didn't make sense as it was 10.30pm in the UK so I wasn't on their time. I guess waking up at 6.30am isn't that bad really, but I knew I'd have to negotiate more sleep some time. I ended up using the "it's 10.30pm in the UK" excuse to finish off what I hadn't finished last night but I was still awake at 9.15am when the American football started and I managed to get about halfway before dropping off again. To my horror it was 3.45pm when I awoke. Now I really was worried that I was back in UK time. But at least I hadn't taken any sleeping pills.

I recalled that on Sunday at Li Kun's place the northern bloke had invited me to his to eat today. But I'd not heard from him so I put that chance at 15% due 100% to experience. Drunken invitations are like that, unless they are from one of my five main friends. So if anything else was to turn up this evening I'd go for it.

I managed a boiled egg and tiny sausage I'd picked up at the supermarket the other day. Then at 5.15pm A Wu asked where I was and I said I was home, so he said to go to eat at the chamber of commerce. Fair enough, I knew this meant Boss Zhou's office but I'm still not sure if this is really an on-running joke or not. I asked when to go and he said "now" but I knew this wouldn't be the case. Indeed he said he'd come to pick me up but I said I needed a shower first. So he said ok he'd pick up the kids first and I said we could meet up at 6pm but then he countered with 6.30 and I knew I wouldn't be there till 7pm.

That gave me time to have a beer and chat with Awl, and this time I brought my remaining bottle of booze as a present; Bombay Sapphire is generally a good one as it looks good on the shelf. Boss Zhou was happy to see it, and I was happy not to have broken it on the journey over. I was the last to turn up and sat next to Boss Zhou and immediately beers were ganbei'd.

Boss meal at Boss Zhou's in full swing

Of course it was fantastic food and I loved the raw fish particularly. But I also noticed despite being only 2.5% I was feeling a little drunk, so at around 8.30pm I did what is perfectly acceptable here and found and easy chair and lay down in it pretending to sleep...but really just avoiding beer for 45 minutes or so. I got up and re-joined as if nothing had happened (well, it hadn't), and a few minutes later it was A Wu's turn to lie down but he really did sleep and snored too to prove it. But he came back to the table too to continue drinking and a very jolly time was had by all, including the two banking partners in their suits. At around midnight I gave A Wu a lift back home and finally home I must have taken some melatonin as I was asleep by 1am according to my app.

Great meal at Luo Xiaoping's and nice bite at Xiao Bai de Tian's after

Well I fell asleep to American football by 3am but at 7am I was wide awake yet again. I considered going for a long walk but instead had a single Alprazolam at 8am and slept till 11.30, and then 12.50. I'm sure it's a mixture of the jetlag and the drug rather than the drug itself. But I was refreshed at least, and managed to get out to eat a portion of jiaozi at the usual place. Apparently the owner isn't in France for two months, but rather in her home town till the New Year. I'm absolutely sure they said France the other day but I guess that might have another meaning....

Anyway, A Xia had been in contact with me on Saturday to collect some clothes for Tan "tomorrow" and tomorrow was yesterday so I pinged her to see if today would be convenient. It would indeed and she was on her way to her shop that she no longer works at, but rather lets out. I had already started a dumbbell workout and just remembered I'd need to register myself, so asked if she'd still be there at 4.30. She said she should be but I felt a bit bad so I said I'd be there in under an hour, and finished my workout (it was tough but not as tough as when it's in the high 30s) and grabbed a shower, this time in the main bedroom en suite, and left at 3.30 only to find she'd changed the front of the shop so I didn't know where I was. Luckily I found the ding wei from last year and found I was outside it when she came out with a massive bin bag of clothes and other stuff for Tan. Such is the cost of coming here by myself this time....

I am such a wally...I brought a tub of creatine on the left, not knowing there was still a tub (middle) and I also brought a bag of the stuff thinking it was protein powder (which I don't have any of)...more first world problems I guess...

I had time to drop off the clothes and make it to the police station just after 4pm to get registered by Xiao Mong as usual for the last couple of years. As Li Kun had confirmed Luo Xiaoping's invitation I knew I'd be meeting up with him in over an hour so I thought better than to go for an hour's piano practice and instead went to the supermarket and bought some drink instead. When I got home I found in the freezer a full 500cl bottle of Sprite which wasn't frozen. This could only mean one thing; I'd left half a litre of booze and indeed it smelt like gin. There was only one way to be sure though so I poured some and mixed it with lemonade and indeed it was. Then Awl called and we spent 45 minutes chatting while I should really have been doing some guitar practice as I feared I'd be called up later tonight.

But anyway instead of going to Li Kun's to meet him, he turned up outside Yu Jin Hua Ting and I met him there 30 minutes later than planned. He was in his car with his wife and two younger kids and they didn't seem too excited to see me, rather it was just this normal "uncle" who looks a bit different. We drove to the complex just north of the guangchang and Li Kun showed me that he worked in that big building. We pulled up outside after negotiating with a worker who'd parked her bike there to do some cleaning, and were the first ones to arrive at Luo's place on the 25th floor.

Li Kun brewed some white tea and us three blokes sat down to drink and I did ask why the women couldn't join us but that was met by a wave of the hand. I'm not imposing western standards here and I've been in many places where ladies have not just partaken in tea but led the ceremony. But it seemed this pre-prandial tea session was to be men-only. And it was lovely tea. I have so much tea back home in the UK that has been given as presents but none of this variety. First world problems.

Nice night scene from Luo's place

Music teacher, Luo's wife, Luo, Ma, Meng, Li Kun - great ingredients for a great meal

Music teacher turned up, then A Meng and we were presently called to table for yet another family feast. During the meal Li Kun's kids constantly called for me to play games with them and I spent a good deal of time buying turtles with his son from his daughter, and getting free eggs. And we would feed the eggs to the turtles. Not real turtles or eggs (although the money was real), but it was really fun...at least for the first three or four times...then it became a bit tedious for me but obviously not for them. So I went back to the table only to be pulled back a few minutes later. At least it slowed down my drinking a little.

A Meng's wife joined us and got through a whole bottle (50cl) of 10% something-or-other before moving on to some white alcohol, and us blokes got through more 2.5% beer than would be healthy had it been twice as strong, and a hearty time was had by all! Two or three meals like this (that I've already had) is more than enough to justify the expense of coming here. Li Kun received a message and said that at 10pm we'd go to Xiao Bai de Tian, but no-one moved till we finished the beers that were on the table (in good tradition) until 10.30pm.

Walking back with Li Kun's daughter

Mates at Xiao Bai de Tian's

Thankfully Li Kun's wife drives, and drove us to Xiao Bai de Tian's where the owner (Xiao Bai's husband) was sitting with a couple of blokes in the otherwise empty bar. We said we'd only stay till midnight but a couple more blokes turned up and the boss brought out more beer and food and Li Kun went home to pick up his motorbike. Only at gone 1am did we leave and I got on the back of Li Kun's bike. At least I managed to get to sleep around 2.30am after a chat with Mat and Awl.

Another meal with A Wu but better bite with Li Kun

Jeez despite last night I was still up at 5am after 4 hours' sleep...this is becoming tedious. But this time when it got to 7.30pm I decided German counting wasn't going to cut it so I tried some Alprazolam that Tan had appropriated some time before from here. Jeez I can see how it's the no.1 additive drug in the US (known as Xanax) except that in my tiny experience all it does is make me sleep. I guess that's reason enough in our modern world but my, within 30 minutes I could literally feel myself falling in a way that German counting could only wish for. Luckily, I am not of the addictive personality type, at least in my opinion. I remember talking to the doctor about this re Tramadol and she said she was happy for me to take it when my zuo gu shenjing tong flared up as I said I never take more than one dose in a day and almost never more than one day in a row. But I can see how people would take Alprazolam on a daily/nightly basis. It's literally night and day as I woke up later at 11.30am feeling so refreshed and having no side-effects. I don't know why this year has been so different so far.

A Wu called me around 12.30pm after I'd told him I was quite refreshed and he said we'd to to play "snooker" after he'd had a shower. I said I'd grab one too but knew better than to expect to be there in half an hour so didn't. And indeed I was proved right as I didn't get a call from him till 2.19pm when he said he was outside. Well I wasn't ready so I said I'd get a shower and he said he'd meet me at Pingguo International Hotel which was fair enough. When I got there half an hour later he chastised me for taking two hours for a shower and I accused him of the same, to which he could only laugh. We sat down with some woman and drank rose tea for half an hour which was quite pleasant.

Not sure about the quality of the information at the hotel

Pleasantly, we left and I left the dian dong che to take A Wu's slightly aging X6 to the supermarket to get some flavour to cook chicken wings with. 

But of course first we went to play "snooker". There is a perfectly ok word for billiards or pool, but of course he didn't use that. He said that for each game lost we would have to drink half a bottle. I agree of course as why not? I got him to explain the rules and for once it was pretty simple. It's pretty much English rules as in 1-7 is red (or yellow) and 9-15 is yellow (or red). What you pot first is what you are stuck with. There are a few minor differences though. If you pot your opponent's colour it's not a foul. Pretty much any other foul means yor opponent gets to put the white ball anywhere. And there is no two-shots rule. Fair enough. Oh, and annoyingly at least one of the balls you hit has to hit the edge or go in. That somewhat screwed my strategy of covering pockets and snookering him. In fact it massively did. So he was leading 6-2 when I made a cracking snooker with him just needing the black. I had hidden the white so he had no chance, but he just lay into my balls to split them and leave a relatively easy black if I didn't pot (no two shots for me). So I told him if you foul on purpose you forfeit the game, and I think he sort of got it. That is most unfair!

Playing "snooker" but the table was ace

Then we went to his house where he proceeded to cook and I help his son Li Yun write some English homework. It was incredibly tiring for me as a non-teacher...it seemed he had memorised some words and could write "goodbye" but couldn't write "arm", as though he had no idea about the alphabet. Had I been a teacher I may have been more effective but I just helped him learn more words. At least I hope he learnt something and I know A Wu appreciates that. Despite the amount of sleep I'd had, after 45 minutes with Li Yun I lay down on the sofa and put my coat over me and counted to 60 in German before A Wu touched me to say we were going to eat.

Well at least his kids had eaten the chicken wings. So we got a box of La rou and left the kids at home and got a didi che under 1km away to one of his xiong di's place where there were only three other blokes. It wasn't the most interesting of places but I felt I had to stay for a bit. Then Li Kun pinged me to go over and I would have much preferred to go there so said I'd go in a bit. But the bloke here had ordered beer to be delivered for me and A Wu so I felt I should stay to at least drink half of the 12 cans. They also ordered some noodles to put in the huo guo so I felt obliged to have some of them too.

During most of the meal A Wu was working out lottery numbers in a way I'll never fathom

Luckily, A Wu complained that his stomach was "zhang le". I'm still to learn the character for that but I've heard it a lot as when your stomach is full, like Venky 45 minutes after starting drinking beer. But he really meant it and we left before 10pm to walk back. We spent 15 minutes walking to our respective destinations and when we split I realised not only did I need a shit but I also needed a piss. I logicked myself that my bladder was pushing whatever it is that was holding in my poo so I made a detour to a building site and had a massive wee that I should have had a few minutes earlier. And indeed it did seem to relieve a bit of pressure on the old poo front. I knew I had 10 minutes to get to Li Kun's office so now should make it.

Indeed I did. Thanks to Awl I spoke to him on WhatsApp (thanks to VPN) and that helped me get to Li Kun's office, to cheers of "Ming Ge!". It's times like these that totally justify me being here in my opinion. We're not special people. I'm not, they're not. We like each other's company that's all. We spent a great 2 hours together chatting about normal stuff and decided at midnight to call it a night. That transpire to 12.30am but the music teacher gave me a lift back then and although I didn't need it I was grateful to him.

Being naughty, or silly, after a lot of sleep, I went to our local shop to buy some beer. The old bloke was there and seemed so happy to see me. I gave him a big smile while picking out a box of Li Quan 1998. He showed me a card that I think explained the Li Quan deal re the ring pulls...so maybe it's that you only get one can per two ring-pulls and you still have to pay 1 kuai per can. If so it's still a great deal I think. Anyway I got home and managed a chat with Mat and Awl till nearly 2.30am before crashing...that will be me for 10 hours right?

The owner showed me the real deal...a can for each "lucky" ring-pull + 1kuai. Still seems like a great deal!

A winning pull-ring?

I wish I could be at six places at once...lovely meal with Haiwei and family though

This is getting silly now. Yet again up at 5am after 4 hours' sleep. But at least this time I knew I was in China as I'm quite used to this room in this house now. I knew I wouldn't get back to sleep for a while but reasoned that a siesta shouldn't be too hard later so at 7am I ventured out for a longish walk to make that possibility even greater.

On the way to the guangchang I heard the sounds of cai ma and indeed saw a table of four or five people playing...no doubt having been there throughout the night. I had no inclination to join them though, even if they'd seen me and called me over. I managed about 7km and picked up some jiaozi on the way back. But this time there was someone new serving. I asked if he was the new boss and he said no but the boss is visiting France till after Chinese New Year. Wow, that seems a long way away for a long time.

So breakfast over and it was barely gone 9am. No-one I knew would be awake, so I paid a visit to the supermarket to pick up some provisions, not that I needed much. By 10am I was really feeling it so went back to bed where it just seemed to laugh at me and any prospect of sleep. At 10.45 I countered by opening a beer. I tried to justify it by thinking what time it was in the UK but 2.45am is hardly sufficient. But I needed the sleep so I did it but I might as well have been drinking coffee for all the effect it had though. Then A Wu called to remind me we were going fishing now. Oh shit I'd completely forgotten about that. So I was honest and said I couldn't do anything without some sleep and randomly said I'd need 50 minutes. More like 3h50. But that gave me more incentive to sleep so I grabbed another beer and put the alarm on for midday.

So much for that. Midday wheeled around and all I had for my efforts at sleeping were two visits to the toilet. But I didn't give up and persevered with another beer. Luckily they were weak of course. But maybe that was the problem, but I didn't have anything else and didn't actually want to be drunk as such. At least A Wu hadn't called back, so this time I laid down and counted methodically in German, one number per breath and although I made it to 100 it look a lot longer than 100 breaths as I'd lose count at 64 and have to keep going back to 60 with some strict rules I made to myself. I found thoughts interspersing with the counting, like preludes to dreams without the satisfaction of dreams themselves. Or maybe foreplay to dreams is better...important but not the real thing. So it was marginally better than no sleep, but frustrating as I'm used to be able to get a decent 2 hours in normally.

I hadn't forgotten Haiwei had invited me to eat with him and his son and sure enough at 4.20pm he sent a ding wei and said we'd start at 6.30pm. I told him I'd get some kip first and he was fine. I'd moved on to Spanish counting by now and was having limited success, stalling in the 60s and 70s but not really getting sleep. Of course he called at 6.03pm to say to come now so I told him I'd get a shower and come over. It took minutes for the hot water to come through and I was really worried about having a cold shower now that it's only 12-13 degrees outside. But finally I found if I turned the know all the way to the left it would just be hot enough, and would hopefully wake me up enough. Before I was dry, Haiwei called again at 6.26, then at 6.40, then at 6.47 when I finally got there as it was further than I thought. But I couldn't get in the xiao qu as it was a sort of gated community. I called to say I was at a main exit, and was able to read all five characters of the shop outside, so they sent someone to collect me.

Except a car came to leave the complex and while the barrier was raised a delivery driver on a bike sneaked through, as did I, narrowly missing its return. It was actually a silly move on my part as I'd said I was outside and now I was in. I found a little garden and called Haiwei but he was upstairs sorting out the food and the girls had gone to collect me. So I walked back to the barrier when Huang Qian called me. I told her I'd seen a little garden and she said to meet there so I walked back and a couple of minutes later I could see a young girl running towards me to give me a big hug. I guess I should have remembered her from the last time but I certainly pretended I did. She was with Huang Qian and Baoli, and challenged me to a race, so I called out 一、二、三 and we ran off. I let her win because she knew the way to the house and I didn't (no, I'd have let her win anyway of course).

Upstairs was a typical family affair with three generations again. Baoli's elder brother and wife were there, and I gathered the young girl I raced with was their daughter and they had a baby son too. Baoli's mum was happy to shake hands with me and laughed with joy when I said some words in Bangxu hua. Of course the meal was lovely despite me flagging. Huang Qian was sat next to me and was doting on the little son of 6 months. If I wasn't married I would have thought they were trying to pair us off. As if to make it worse, Baoli asked to see a pic of my kids and was cooing over them and when Huang Qian saw them she reiterated the fact that she wanted mixed-race kids herself....

The food was top-notch of course, especially the duck (and Baoli's mum was particularly enamoured with my "ngo bit ndei gun!" (the duck is tasty)), and I was quite interested that when I opened the first can of Li Quan 1998 beer Huang Qian was excited to see that we'd "won" something. I didn't quite understand what we'd won (was it a caravan or a boat, a la Bullseye?) but didn't want to stilt the conversation by asking too much. But the next can also had the same writing on the underside of the ring-pull and it made me realise that in the 21+ years I've been coming here nearly all of the beer cans have had these hitherto throwaway ring-pulls until finally there has been a use for them. But the next can, and then the next, and the next all had the same writing underneath. It was like winning the lottery with every ticket until I smelt a rat (it took 4 cans). But regardless, we kept the winning ring-pulls in a plastic cup as apparently we'll get a free can for each one next time we go to buy more beer. It sounds too good to be true so probably is!

Lovely meal with Haiwei, his girlfriend Baoli, and some of her family (and Huang Qian)

Then it was my turn to take a couple of photos with the baby and his big sister. But Huang Lei had pinged me to go for a bite so I told Haiwei I'd better go in a bit as I won't necessarily get much time to see him due to job constraints. So I left around tennish and drove to near the police station I'd need to go to to register in a couple of days. It took a couple of minutes' video call but I finally found the place and met just Huang Lei, A Ning, and Lao li, in various states of inebriation. In fact A Ning was already wasted, but it was fine and I only stayed till 11.30am as they could see I was knackered.

Me with Baoli's brother's youngest

Me with Baoli's brother's oldest

During this time Lu Feng from the Haliao supporters' club had heard I was in town and invited me to drink at the new place over the bridge, and advertising friend Nong had also done the same. I would dearly have loved to do both or either but was so flagging even Huang Lei had noticed and said we'd make a move. This was after Lao Li had taken A Ning back due to his wasted state. I think literally every one of my six best friends here had invited me out tonight...if only I had been more awake....

But A Wu had also pinged me to say he was outside our place so after following Huang Lei back to nearly home I got him to send a ding wei and I made a last effort for a beer. I found where he was thanks to a "hello!" and a "do you remember me?" from a pretty lady cooking some bbq. I would normally remember a pretty lady cooking bbq who speaks English but I guess I was too tired, but used her to help me find where A Wu was. In fact she was useless, saying he was in a housing place opposite the road when in fact he was literally eating next door to her. Still, I thanked her in English and said I'd come back to eat there some time. Then she pointed to a skinny bloke and said he was her boyfriend and I shook his hand as though genuinely congratulating him on having a pretty girlfriend, and then felt there was something wrong about that (the congratulations...not having a lovely girlfriend).

Oh jeez, there were about six of us around the table and I was by far the soberest. A Wu wasn't far behind and after a few ganbeis even he could see my flaggishness. He slightly tried to get me to go with them to sing song (with the "temptation" that there would be "beautiful woman" but I only had sleep on my mind) so I raised my plastic glass for the last time and wished them a good night.

Back home I should have slept as soon as I was horizontal but I put on the last half an hour of the Palace v City match and it was typically not great viewing. We managed to equalise through a lovely move but we are a shadow of the team we were. Congrats Liverpool on a well-deserved title this year. Let's hope to regroup and rekindle that spirit.

Slightly surreal afternoon but nice "sheep soup" with A Wu's family

I shouldn't be surprised that I woke up after under 4h30m of sleep again because it always bloody happens during the first week. At least I was awake enough to realise I should really register myself although it's not as important yet as technically I've been registered by the hotel for the last two days. So I checked out at 10.30 and took my stuff to the house and washed the clothes and put them out to hopefully dry within a couple of days. By the time I got to the police station it had just turned midday and I was told to come back some time between 3-6pm. Well at least I tried...but a 3 hour lunch break for the police sounds rather nice (for them).

I called A Wu to go for duck noodle soup and he drove to meet me at the usual place but he said it was too busy so took me to another place we'd been to before and indeed had a lovely duck breast noodle soup. I noticed he left almost all of his noodles though. He's definitely put on weight in the last few years so maybe he's recognised this now and is cutting down on the carbs. I did the same but mainly because it doesn't take much to fill me up if I've not been exercising. Then it got a little surreal for a while...partly because I badly needed a sleep. We got to Boss Zhou's office and I gave him and another bloke a bit of a hug as they beamed smiles which I hope were the consequence of seeing me back. Then A Wu gave me two tubs of condoms out of the blue. I thought it was some sort of joke but apparently they got a load of them for free from the hospital. I didn't ask too many questions as I didn't really want to know. What the eff am I going to do with them? And just imagine the mess that would happen if I left them in the house....I'll dump them somewhere.

Duck breast soup as you do

What to do with two tubs of CDs?

Then he said he'd take me back to where he met me and I'd left the dian dong che, but first we were to go to an injection place to get an injection in the bottom. At least he was.... Thankfully it was not done in full view, and he paid the 50 kuai for the experience and again I just didn't ask what it was for...it was almost hallucination time by now. So he dropped me off sometime after 1pm and I got home and grabbed a couple of beers to encourage some sleep that finally came but only for an hour or so before A Wu called me again as we were going to eat lamb soup.

He kept saying "sheep soup" and I had to correct him for the umpteenth time that us Brits don't like to use the word of the animal when eating them so we change it. Then he asked how to say "dog meat" in English and I had to admit it was the same word but only because we don't eat the bloody things. I'm glad he didn't ask about chickens. Anyway, at 5pm he called to say he was already outside our house so I told him I'd be 5 minutes and then we drove to the north of the town to pick up his daughter who was happy enough to see me and held my hand as I protected her from drizzle and we went to pick up her big brother from another school. A Wu asked me to get out to pick him up while he parked so I did but there was no sign of him for a good 10 minutes. I got the inevitable call from A Wu to ask where I was and of course I was at the school gate looking for his son. So A Wu came and eventually Li Yun turned up, one of the last to get out.

We drove to a place I felt I'd been to before, near the Vienna hotel. And indeed it was lamb soup...just a lot more than that. A Wu's wife turned up and we enjoyed a hearty meal with a particularly nice haggis-like plate of sliced lamb in lamb stomach. Of course after a while A Wu's wife took the kids back (though not to do homework as it was a Friday) and then some beer and men turned up. I recognised some faces but could not recall any names, but it was very pleasant to have a few beers with these chaps, even if the beer was rather on the strong side at 3.3% and came from near Shanghai.

A nice family meal with "sheep soup"

And then more blokes turned up and finally a couple of women and I realised it was starting to get let and I was getting light-headed. Then Nong called me to go and have a beer with her and some mates so I thought I would do that. The blokes all said to meet up tomorrow at 10.30am to go fishing and then for a meal and I said I would (though that will depend on sleep patterns). So I picked up my coat from A Wu's car and headed off home on foot as I'd need my dian dong che to get to Jiang Bing Lu and I got at least three calls from Nong to ask where I was as you do. Well I got there and joined in playing cards but was flagging yet again so within an hour I apologised and said I'd have to get home as it was midnight already. That was accepted and I was asleep within 30 minutes of getting back, not even managing to finish a beer yet again.

The meal somewhat changed a bit later as more and more blokes turned up

More lack of sleep but fun evening at Huang Qian's followed by KTV

For some reason I was up after not much more than 4h30m of sleep. Two nights in a row is not great. But I made the effort to get up and go to our house to see if the water was pouring and of course it wasn't. It was too early to do anything about it so I went back to the hotel to ask if I could stay another day. Of course I could. I booked it in trip.com again and within seconds the bloke scanned my card and confirmed I could stay in the same upgraded room so that was nice. It was very nice actually, but I still could barely sleep. I even tried a beer at midday and finally managed some awakish hallucinations counting to 100 in German and Spanish again.

I decided to go back to the house to enquire about the water again and this time the security bloke came with me to look at the external pipes. I told him which one was probably ours as it lead to our house but I'd not noticed they have the house numbers daubed in yellow above them anyway so he may have been a bit bemused by my gesticulation at how the pipe made its way up and along the wall when he already knew we are number 102. But at least this security guard made a phone call to someone and a lady turned up 5 minutes later with a tool to twist the smaller of two tap-like things and finally yes! We had water! Well I had water...I don't think anyone has been here for months....

Obviously it was the smaller tap on the right that needed to be opened...

Then I got a message from Huang Qian, Baoli's ex-colleague and friend I ate with last night who wants an English boyfriend. She invited me to her place as Yang Haiwei and Baoli were also going and were going to cook there. I said thank you and I should be able to go but I'd need a siesta first. I naughtily went and got a little bit of vodka from the supermarket by the guangchang and after a couple of those finally managed 45 minutes' kip. It was really hard to wake up but she said not to worry about being there dead on 7pm so I took advantage and got there at 7.30.

Annoyingly, my phone wouldn't get online and I saw I had an SMS saying I was out of funds and they would cut me off on the 5th December if I didn't pay. So bugger, they had. Which meant I couldn't call Huang Qian when I got there but at least I had the address and it wasn't that hard to find someone to point me in the right direction. In fact it was better that way as I got some interaction with a human and I got there just as food was being served. It was another nice family affair with three generations around the table and on the sofa, and a splendid feast to boot.

About to eat at Huang Qian's

The inevitable cai ma after a few beers

Of course the beer was opened after a short while and we got through a fair amount during the meal as more people turned up. I was flagging but the beer and the company gave me a little energy but I couldn't care too much for going to sing song when Haiwei suggested we go there at 11.30pm. But it was all arranged and I didn't really have much of an option. So I hopped on the bike with Haiwei and we went to the KTV near the supermarket by the guangchang, only a few yards from the bar I went to with Li Kun last night.  There were only 6 or 7 of us but it was pretty good fun and did join in with both Chinese and English songs (well the usual ones) until around 2am where I could feel any remaining energy seeping out from me.

So I dropped off Haiwei at the International Hotel (I don't know if he's staying there or what), then got to my hotel where I didn't find it too hard to fall asleep in the comfortable massive bed.

Lovely long day back in Pingguo...

Annoyingly I was woken up by a phone call at 8am after no more than 4 hours' sleep. I couldn't get back to sleep so went to the security place to enquire about the water. He said something about it but it wouldn't be back for a bit, even though Tan said last night she'd definitely paid the bill. Oh well, I can't live without a shower so at 9am I booked the Vienna hotel on trip.com and to my gratitude (?) the lady at the desk said they only had a more expensive room but she'd upgrade me at no extra cost. So finally showered and refreshed, very refreshed, I went to pick up some jiaozi and baozi. As I didn't have the dian dong che I walked over to where I used to go in the summer and passed by racist Huang having lunch with his wife and a friend. There was no utterance of surprise whatsoever, though I was beckoned to eat with them. On another day I would have but I just wanted to get a small bite and get some sleep, so I said I'd definitely be back one evening.

I came across a cool cat while out getting a bite to eat

After a nice bite I lay down and tried in vain to sleep again. I very nearly managed it but after making it to 100 in German and Spanish Li Kun called me to come over and pick up the dian dong che. It was getting on for 5pm so I thought I would, then get registered again, but once there he told me it would be too late and to drink tea instead. Which we did for 10 minutes with Luo and some other bloke, until Haiwei rang to invite me to eat at 7.30pm. But Li Kun wanted me to go out with him later for drinks, so I passed the phone to him and they agreed I'd do Haiwei first, but Li Kun told him not to let me drink too much there...as if I would.

But I was uncomfortably tired, so used this as an excuse to go back to the hotel for a final attempt at a siesta, and assisted by half a can of beer I think I managed a few minutes before Haiwei called me again to tell me not to come early (I hadn't even seen his ding wei he'd sent a few minutes earlier). Oh well, at least I'd remembered to pick up a bottle of wine I'd bought in Sainsbury's a couple of days ago. I downed the half can of now room-temperature beer and drove the 5 minutes to the International Hotel where his girlfriend works, except I'd forgotten that her office was on the 3rd floor, not the 2nd so I looked like a bit of a wally walking into the wrong rooms...not that that hasn't happened before.

There were a couple of women there eating sweetcorn as you do, and one of them drank the water from the clear kettle they boiled the sweetcorn in while the rest of us drank red tea. I'd normally avoid this after the afternoon but it was necessary caffeine to perk me up. The four of us sat down to eat and then Haiwei's girlfriend, Baoli joined us. It transpired that the three women had known each other since sixth form, and that one of them was pregnant with her third (although only second pregnancy due to twins the first time around). The other was single, but asked me to find her an English boyfriend as she wanted to have mixed-race kids. Er...yeah I've been asked this before but not quite so brazenly.

"Brewing" sweetcorn as you do...

Huang Qian and friend cutting a zongzi with the wrapping. The former wants mixed-race babies and the latter will have her third (not mixed-race) in 5 months.

It was a good laugh and after the customary eating for 15 minutes Haiwei cracked open the beer but only the two of us drank at first as Baoli was still technically working. To be fair she was on and off the phone for a while and had to pop out. But when she was back she no longer had her name tag on and promptly poured herself a beer. Then the pregnant woman's husband entered but he'd eaten so just had some beer. Then the English boyfriend-seeker decided she'd have some beer too. And then another bloke turned up for beer. So of course we moved on to cai ma, which I'd not played for over 3 months but was able to beat Haiwei quite easily, if not Baoli.

Li Kun called around 9.30pm as expected and then at 10pm asked where I was so I decided to leave and that was accepted as Haiwei knew where I was due to go. And it was some new place by the supermarket by the guangchang, so of course I couldn't find it. I couldn't even find the 4th floor so Li Kun had to come outside to find me and chastise me for not having taken the lift.... Anyway it was a dark place with a stage in the centre that I had no mind to occupy, at least not tonight. At our table was a "lao da", a senior bloke I sat next to and had to gan bei first. They were all drinking Heineken Silver and it was too dark to see what percentage it was but I could make out 9.5du so I guess around 4%.

Low-level lighting at the new bar

Well I managed, and did some table-hopping until gone midnight where I had to admit defeat to fatigue, so got back to the hotel before 1am to thank Li Kun for inviting me out and letting him know I was back safely. I didn't indulge in any more beer after that.

Sleeping in planes and smooth journeys

I woke up with under two hours to go yet again. Thanks to drugs basically. I managed to watch most of a film I've now forgotten and barely noticed the landing. Had I managed to get the flight I originally intended I'd have had only had 2 hours to change, including immigration, and that almost certainly wouldn't have been enough. So I leisurely filled in my immigration form in Chinese until I forgot how to write Chuan Chuan's name so had to put it in Pinyin to my chagrin. And this time, unlike a few months ago, they let me take my duty free through security and I didn't have to re-check-in my big suitcase. It doesn't sound like a big deal but it's massive if you're bringing in "yang jiu" as presents and you aren't able to take it through. This summer we only managed it as Xixi hadn't checked in hold luggage and we were able to put four bottles into one of our hand luggages and check it in in her name. Pure luck.

Anyway, so far so good, and I found the CHUM lounge where I enjoyed a couple of servings of won tun soup washed down with a little vin rouge self-served from a tap that was attached to a bottle in a fridge that didn't open, so you had to hope they would refill them which they did. Thankfully my phone and laptop connected to the wifi and the laptop VPN was still working so was able to ping a few people. Then after a couple of drinks I started video-calling some friends in Pingguo to tell them to watch out for me in the coming days. That made the 5 hour layover go a lot quicker and before I knew it it was time to board again. I'd once again been given seat 49B for some reason, but this time in a Boeing, and the next thing I knew there was an hour to go before landing. As I went to the loo one of the flight attendants asked if I spoke Chinese so I answered in the affirmative of course and she preceded to inform me what the menu was. I realised I'd slept through the sitting and she kindly suggested I could have both options so I thought why not? And a minute after sitting back down I was served my excellent meals.

Not the first time I've seen this in a Chinese lounge...why? It's the equivalent of the Red Light District in Amsterdam showing its wares but saying you can look but not touch.

But the won tun was excellent even if the rouge was a bit froid

Li Kun had arranged a driver for me and topped up my phone so as soon as we touched down and flight mode was disabled I received a call from an unknown number and indeed it was the driver telling me to go up to the third floor when I had my luggage. Not 5 minutes later mine was one of the first so I hopped into the lift but when I got there all the doors to the outside were locked. I wasn't the only one in this position and it took a couple of minutes and another call to the driver to realise I had to go down to the 2nd floor then outside and up an external escalator. I think it was because that was Departures and there were no more flights today as it was midnight hence they'd locked the doors. Whatever, it didn't take long for him to find me and we spent the next 100 minutes or so chatting as we drove up to his home town of Pingguo.

We pulled up outside Li Kun's office where he was sitting with Meng and Luo (the guy who does compering at weddings etc). It was like I'd never left, and somehow we managed to chat and drink beer for over 2 hours when I realised I had no duty being up at 3.30am, save for the snooze I'd had on the flight. But I did remember my duty free and dutifully gave Li Kun his bottle of single malt I'd picked up in a rush not knowing if it was any good. He wouldn't let me wheel my suitcase the 300 yards home and got me a didi che. So at nearly 4am I was finally home only to find that there was no running water in the flat. Well I found out after taking a number two so it really wasn't convenient. Hey ho, there was no-one else around to witness so I dumped my stuff and was asleep within minutes next to a half-drunk bottle of beer appropriated from the lounge 6 hours previously.

A literally last-minute decision to go back for what may be the last time in a long while

It was rather a last-minute decision. I do need to get a job next month although that's been my excuse for going back the last four times. And it's only just over three weeks till Xmas. So I booked a flight that was leaving in five hours. But I had nearly done the same yesterday so was mostly packed. I actually tried to book a 5.50pm flight which had trip.com allowed me to book I may well have missed. But I told Xixi and she seemed happy as I would be able to bring stuff back for her...and somewhat similar with Tan although she didn't seem quite so happy.

I would have taken the tube but there were delays on the Piccadilly so I ended up back on the Lizzie line which had its own delays but I managed to get to T4 just over two hours before my flight, and with no queue for bags or security I made the lounge via a detour of duty free and was surprised to see that it was self-pour. That meant three meaty G&Ts and a tiny W chaser before being called to board. I was pretty tired so sleep wasn't that hard after a couple of white wines with the meal even though I was stuck in a middle seat for the whole journey and didn't spot a single empty seat anywhere.

 Jetpunk and G&T...nice combination

Last lounge...

Well I was well annoyed that according to Amex and Priority Pass, all the lounges in Beijing were closed at 10pm. We did immigration with relatively no problems and found ourselves in the right area at not too long after midnight with nowhere to wait. But I did a little recce and found a lounge, but they didn't accept Amex, but pointed me to another one. I followed their instructions (in Chinese) and found it but it was bloody closed as expected. I was out of hope but walked around and happened upon another lounge, and with no expectations I asked if they accepted Priority Pass. "对", she said, and with that I found the kids and nearly dragged them upstairs. I asked them what time they closed and they said 3 or 3.30am. 

Last lounge

To be fair the kids weren't that excited. But I was, and went to the bar and asked the lady for a G&T, and she said it was "self-service". I appreciated that but didn't want to speak English so was happy that she spoke to me in Mandarin after that. I hope she was ok with that, though understand if she would have preferred to speak English. But it was my last couple of hours here.

Jeez, it was 47% gin and after two months of mostly 2.5% beer it took its toll, and I was more pissed than I'd been for years. I didn't want to go for the flight so early but the kids suggested I should and we got on last for not the first time. Sorry kids. For a 10.5 hour flight I woke up with 2h48 to go so that's a bonus.

And that was it. We landed safely after a bit of turbulence that by now when tired I don't care about. I'm no longer sad to be back. It's more like waking up from a good dream, or going to sleep. Gosh I will miss it like anything and will try to find excuses to get back. But now my priorities are getting Leilei to uni and Xixi to 6th form. They are so independent now...I wonder if I'll get the chance to be independent in China again. I really hope so.