Our last full day in Pingguo was rather anticlimatic. That's not a bad thing in a way; it means we won't be here after tomorrow but we'll be back some time later and things will follow on as they always have. It was just a normal day - Xixi going out with Waipo and Jiuma, and Leilei seeing his friends and going to buy some toys. I spent no more than 20 minutes putting some stuff in suitcases but there wasn't much to pack. It was more a case of deciding what to leave here. In the end I left at least half of the clothes I brought here. Together with clothes I have left over the last few years I probably have as big a wardrobe here as I do in England. It just means the photos will often look the same - I'm sure I have shirts here I wore five years ago here.
I did make a point of going to the tea boss with whom I spent some time yesterday, and gave him a pack of French biscuits and a pack of lemon and ginger tea bags. I was glad to see that he opened both and his friends enjoyed both.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Dian dong che breakdown and last supper 2010
With our impending return in my mind I decided not to be annoyed at waking up after four hours' sleep. I did the breakfast run and then went to get a melon juice from my local woman's shop just across the road. I've been coming to her for the last month or so, nearly on a daily basis. I have a bit of a banter with her two-year-old daughter, then normally pop next door to the tea shop for a chat with whoever is there at the time while waiting for my juice. Today I was quite interested in the tea service things that sit on tables. There were a couple of really nice ones and the girl today said they were around 260 kuai each. I said I would probably come back and get one. Then I popped back to pick up my honeymelon juice, which was just beautiful.
At midday I took Leilei to A Hua's shop where Tan and the ladies were mulching the hours away chatting as you do. It so happened there was some food so I left him there while I went 50 yards down the road to the tea shop I have known well for two or three years. I really like this place and I feel comfortable here, although have not spent enough time here this year. But the boss knows me pretty well so we enjoyed a few glasses of Tie Guan Yin tea until Leilei had finished his lunch and came to join us. There were a couple of woman around the tea table, and they appreciated Leilei's company, despite him hardly talking to them, and they asked me to bring Xixi too. So I said I'd have a look for her, and dropped off Leilei to play with Qiqi at home. The two of them then went off to "Yi Xiao", which is Leilei's favourite place, being a cheap toyshop not far from Jiuma's place.
I took the electric bike down to where Xixi normally is, but there were just a couple of aunties there telling me she'd gone out with Jiuma but was around "somewhere". Well, I wasn't worried; here is the safest place I've ever been to with the kids. So, in the baking sun I took the bike out once more to have a look around. As it was near the end of our stay this year I took a little film of the journey, where I did in fact bump into Xixi (not literally).
A Short Ride in Pingguo Where I met Xixi Quite by Chance
I prised her from Jiuma and some other woman. Actually, as soon as she saw me she jumped onto the bike, so I told them we'd be out for 20 minutes or so, and we went on our way towards the tea place again. Well, we got most of the way but after five minutes I simply lost power on the bike. There was nothing obviously wrong, except the speedometer went up to the max 60kph for the only time in its life, but we limped to a stop at the crossroads. So we walked it to the pavement and parked it with some other bikes and walked to the tea shop, by which time there were no women left, only a couple of blokes, so we had a couple of cups of tea before leaving back to Jiuma's place.
Once there I felt rather naked without the electric bike. I realised I'd been counting on it like I would my boxer shorts. So I thought I'd better give A Wu a ring to tell him. It took a bit of time but we eventually sorted out that the bike was broken, and roughly where it was, and I met him there a few minutes later. We then drove to the place that sold electric bikes, where we found in a backstreet behind, surprise surprise, a place that fixed them. I described the problem, and they followed A Wu and me in the car on their bike, with a tow rope. It transpired that they did indeed need this to take it back to the garage. We exchanged phone numbers and I walked back to our place under the afternoon sun, simply as I knew I wouldn't have this chance for some time.
Enjoying a cup of tea at my favourite place in Pingguo
And, not an hour later I received a call from the garage place to say the bike had been fixed. Great! I got on a san lun che and even paid the driver 3 kuai instead of 2 when we arrived five minutes later. I asked what was wrong with the electric bike and they explained that it was something "electrical" (no shit, Sherlock), but did show me the piece that had blown and been replaced. I'd brought 500 kuai with me as I had no idea how much it might have been for the diagnostics, the tow back to the garage, and the fix. The bloke only wanted 5 kuai. 50p! I even tried to tip him by giving him 10 kuai and not wanting change but they forced the 5 kuai change upon me. Something that is so typical here.
Roll on the evening, and I popped into A Wu's office to tell him the good news about the electric bike. He had just taken delivery of two jade stones set in plynths a bit like statues. Apparently one was worth 30,000 kuai. Well, he was pretty proud, and wanted to take a couple of photos. I then told him that I wanted to invite my mates out, as is my custom, before I was to leave Pingguo again, and said we planned to go to the seafood place, but first go to our new place for some tea.
Looking serious at A Wu's office with the new jade on the left hand side
A Wu said he'd come for the meal as he'd already seen the house, so I went to prepare stuff there with Leilei at around 6.30. I'd invited our American friend and his youngest daughter, as his wife was out of town with their eldest two, plus Ma Laoban, who is a bit of a tea connoisseur as he doesn't drink. They arrived at the same time, and we enjoyed an hour or so chatting about computers, as Ma Laoban's shop sells them and our American friend uses them, and other stuff. We wrapped up the tea drinking by 7.30pm and I took the American daughter with Leilei on the electric bike, and Ma Laoban took the dad on his motorbike to the seafood place.
A Wu turned up, followed by Li Kun and some other mates, and soon there were ten or so of us around the table. For weeks the seafood boss and his wife had been asking me to take the kids there, and although Leilei was there having fun with the American, Xixi was at home. So I popped back and took her back to the meal, much to the delight of all at the table (and indeed all tables around). She and Leilei and the American daughter got on really well. So much so that the dad and I, and everyone else left them to get on by themselves as we gourged on prawns and langoustines and other stuff I don't even know how to say in English.
It was only half an hour later when we realised we hadn't heard much from our kids, so we set out on separate paths to find them. It took a few minutes but we needn't have worried, as I eventually found them running around near the guangchang. As it was nearly 9pm I took Xixi back and easily to sleep, and then Leilei half an hour later when the Americans left for the night. Despite my fatigue, we lasted till getting on till midnight before I rang Hongping to see if he was around. Indeed he was at a table just a few feet away, so Lu Hai and I moved on to have a couple of beers with him, till we finally left some time not long after 1am.
A very enjoyable night with friends at the seafood place
At midday I took Leilei to A Hua's shop where Tan and the ladies were mulching the hours away chatting as you do. It so happened there was some food so I left him there while I went 50 yards down the road to the tea shop I have known well for two or three years. I really like this place and I feel comfortable here, although have not spent enough time here this year. But the boss knows me pretty well so we enjoyed a few glasses of Tie Guan Yin tea until Leilei had finished his lunch and came to join us. There were a couple of woman around the tea table, and they appreciated Leilei's company, despite him hardly talking to them, and they asked me to bring Xixi too. So I said I'd have a look for her, and dropped off Leilei to play with Qiqi at home. The two of them then went off to "Yi Xiao", which is Leilei's favourite place, being a cheap toyshop not far from Jiuma's place.
I took the electric bike down to where Xixi normally is, but there were just a couple of aunties there telling me she'd gone out with Jiuma but was around "somewhere". Well, I wasn't worried; here is the safest place I've ever been to with the kids. So, in the baking sun I took the bike out once more to have a look around. As it was near the end of our stay this year I took a little film of the journey, where I did in fact bump into Xixi (not literally).
A Short Ride in Pingguo Where I met Xixi Quite by Chance
I prised her from Jiuma and some other woman. Actually, as soon as she saw me she jumped onto the bike, so I told them we'd be out for 20 minutes or so, and we went on our way towards the tea place again. Well, we got most of the way but after five minutes I simply lost power on the bike. There was nothing obviously wrong, except the speedometer went up to the max 60kph for the only time in its life, but we limped to a stop at the crossroads. So we walked it to the pavement and parked it with some other bikes and walked to the tea shop, by which time there were no women left, only a couple of blokes, so we had a couple of cups of tea before leaving back to Jiuma's place.
Once there I felt rather naked without the electric bike. I realised I'd been counting on it like I would my boxer shorts. So I thought I'd better give A Wu a ring to tell him. It took a bit of time but we eventually sorted out that the bike was broken, and roughly where it was, and I met him there a few minutes later. We then drove to the place that sold electric bikes, where we found in a backstreet behind, surprise surprise, a place that fixed them. I described the problem, and they followed A Wu and me in the car on their bike, with a tow rope. It transpired that they did indeed need this to take it back to the garage. We exchanged phone numbers and I walked back to our place under the afternoon sun, simply as I knew I wouldn't have this chance for some time.
Enjoying a cup of tea at my favourite place in Pingguo
And, not an hour later I received a call from the garage place to say the bike had been fixed. Great! I got on a san lun che and even paid the driver 3 kuai instead of 2 when we arrived five minutes later. I asked what was wrong with the electric bike and they explained that it was something "electrical" (no shit, Sherlock), but did show me the piece that had blown and been replaced. I'd brought 500 kuai with me as I had no idea how much it might have been for the diagnostics, the tow back to the garage, and the fix. The bloke only wanted 5 kuai. 50p! I even tried to tip him by giving him 10 kuai and not wanting change but they forced the 5 kuai change upon me. Something that is so typical here.
Roll on the evening, and I popped into A Wu's office to tell him the good news about the electric bike. He had just taken delivery of two jade stones set in plynths a bit like statues. Apparently one was worth 30,000 kuai. Well, he was pretty proud, and wanted to take a couple of photos. I then told him that I wanted to invite my mates out, as is my custom, before I was to leave Pingguo again, and said we planned to go to the seafood place, but first go to our new place for some tea.
Looking serious at A Wu's office with the new jade on the left hand side
A Wu said he'd come for the meal as he'd already seen the house, so I went to prepare stuff there with Leilei at around 6.30. I'd invited our American friend and his youngest daughter, as his wife was out of town with their eldest two, plus Ma Laoban, who is a bit of a tea connoisseur as he doesn't drink. They arrived at the same time, and we enjoyed an hour or so chatting about computers, as Ma Laoban's shop sells them and our American friend uses them, and other stuff. We wrapped up the tea drinking by 7.30pm and I took the American daughter with Leilei on the electric bike, and Ma Laoban took the dad on his motorbike to the seafood place.
A Wu turned up, followed by Li Kun and some other mates, and soon there were ten or so of us around the table. For weeks the seafood boss and his wife had been asking me to take the kids there, and although Leilei was there having fun with the American, Xixi was at home. So I popped back and took her back to the meal, much to the delight of all at the table (and indeed all tables around). She and Leilei and the American daughter got on really well. So much so that the dad and I, and everyone else left them to get on by themselves as we gourged on prawns and langoustines and other stuff I don't even know how to say in English.
It was only half an hour later when we realised we hadn't heard much from our kids, so we set out on separate paths to find them. It took a few minutes but we needn't have worried, as I eventually found them running around near the guangchang. As it was nearly 9pm I took Xixi back and easily to sleep, and then Leilei half an hour later when the Americans left for the night. Despite my fatigue, we lasted till getting on till midnight before I rang Hongping to see if he was around. Indeed he was at a table just a few feet away, so Lu Hai and I moved on to have a couple of beers with him, till we finally left some time not long after 1am.
A very enjoyable night with friends at the seafood place
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Cars and a lovely chat with friends over tea at the fang zi
Since cars were introduced to China in 2003 I have witnessed a large growth in this phenomenum. When I first lived in Shanghai in October 2003 till February 2004 I noticed that most cars seemed to be Volkswagon Passat saloons (or at least looked like them), and were cabs. There were other cars, but mostly not recognisable to the Western eye. More so, in Guangxi I hardly recognised a single four-wheeler, except for a tiny minority of Japanese 4X4 (not least because A Zheng drove such a car for the leader of Pingguo).
Every year the variation of cars in Pingguo has become richer and richer. Brand is the main thing, and there are now a few BMWs and Mercs around. But I am more interested in the less "boss" type cars, and more non-showy-but-pricey cars. I first saw a Beetle (new shape) here two years ago, and it is still going strong. But this year for the first time I have seen a Mini Cooper and a Mini Clubman. Not to mention a few very recent Peugeot 207s and 307s. Even a couple of new Renaults. What I would love to know is where the owners get them serviced. To my knowledge there are no branded garages in Pingguo, so how do they get the parts, and the knowledge to fix the engines that rely on electronic diagnostics? Knowing the Chinese, they probably have it all sorted and in fact you do not need to go to an "authorised" dealer to have an expensive service. But it still makes me wonder... And today I saw a beautiful late-model Jag roll by our house...complete with the leaping cat coming out of the bonnet - not like the European variants that have the "health and safety" badge instead of the cat.
Anyway, for days I'd been telling the sensible boss (Hancheng) of the seafood place about our new abode, and how I'd invite him for tea one day. He told me the only good time would be around midday as he slept from 3am till 8am, then went and bought veggies for work in the morning, then had another sleep till the late afternoon before the long work hours. I hadn't realised he was married, or had a son, until I invited him to pop around for some tea that morning. It transpired he couldn't make it till 1pm, but at that time he arrived with his 9 year old son and his lovely wife. His wife had brought a number of presents that she really oughtn't have done, like a pack of expensive dried mushrooms, some dried gingery things that looked delicious, along with some beautiful Vietnamese biscuits and a couple of packs of mostly-dried fruit.
We spent the next hour drinking tea and chatting. It was very nice to be with my own friends, whom I'd not known for long, but just getting along very swimmingly. Good for the confidence in the language. Not perfect as at times I had to ask Hancheng what his wife was saying, but generally the conversation flowed without Tan to help me out. It is this sort of situation that I really like as I can't fall back on anyone and just have be like any normal friend. I learnt that the Tie Guan Yin tea I was serving was if anything likely to stop you sleeping - something that others had said was not true. I was well and truly shattered by the time we left our place at 2pm and maybe because I now knew that the tea could keep you awake got a very very small siesta before 6pm.
But after a quick bite to eat I drove down to the most hustly-bustly part of Pingguo to buy two wicker stools I'd had my sites on from a couple of days ago. They wanted 50 kuai each so I offered them 80 kuai for both (they weren't brand new) and was accepted without a bat of the eye. Damn, I probably could have got them both for 50 but sod it. Surprisingly, they were both larger than the two identically styled stools we already had. But in fact this was a good thing as for anyone with a slighty-larger-than-normal-arse the smaller ones would be quite uncomfortable. Ok, even I preferred the bigger ones, so it was nice to have a couple to give to the kids.
I really wanted to stay up to watch Man City start their European trek in style. I actually managed to watch the first half till 4am but then flaked it and only just managed to turn the laptop off before I did myself.
Every year the variation of cars in Pingguo has become richer and richer. Brand is the main thing, and there are now a few BMWs and Mercs around. But I am more interested in the less "boss" type cars, and more non-showy-but-pricey cars. I first saw a Beetle (new shape) here two years ago, and it is still going strong. But this year for the first time I have seen a Mini Cooper and a Mini Clubman. Not to mention a few very recent Peugeot 207s and 307s. Even a couple of new Renaults. What I would love to know is where the owners get them serviced. To my knowledge there are no branded garages in Pingguo, so how do they get the parts, and the knowledge to fix the engines that rely on electronic diagnostics? Knowing the Chinese, they probably have it all sorted and in fact you do not need to go to an "authorised" dealer to have an expensive service. But it still makes me wonder... And today I saw a beautiful late-model Jag roll by our house...complete with the leaping cat coming out of the bonnet - not like the European variants that have the "health and safety" badge instead of the cat.
Anyway, for days I'd been telling the sensible boss (Hancheng) of the seafood place about our new abode, and how I'd invite him for tea one day. He told me the only good time would be around midday as he slept from 3am till 8am, then went and bought veggies for work in the morning, then had another sleep till the late afternoon before the long work hours. I hadn't realised he was married, or had a son, until I invited him to pop around for some tea that morning. It transpired he couldn't make it till 1pm, but at that time he arrived with his 9 year old son and his lovely wife. His wife had brought a number of presents that she really oughtn't have done, like a pack of expensive dried mushrooms, some dried gingery things that looked delicious, along with some beautiful Vietnamese biscuits and a couple of packs of mostly-dried fruit.
We spent the next hour drinking tea and chatting. It was very nice to be with my own friends, whom I'd not known for long, but just getting along very swimmingly. Good for the confidence in the language. Not perfect as at times I had to ask Hancheng what his wife was saying, but generally the conversation flowed without Tan to help me out. It is this sort of situation that I really like as I can't fall back on anyone and just have be like any normal friend. I learnt that the Tie Guan Yin tea I was serving was if anything likely to stop you sleeping - something that others had said was not true. I was well and truly shattered by the time we left our place at 2pm and maybe because I now knew that the tea could keep you awake got a very very small siesta before 6pm.
But after a quick bite to eat I drove down to the most hustly-bustly part of Pingguo to buy two wicker stools I'd had my sites on from a couple of days ago. They wanted 50 kuai each so I offered them 80 kuai for both (they weren't brand new) and was accepted without a bat of the eye. Damn, I probably could have got them both for 50 but sod it. Surprisingly, they were both larger than the two identically styled stools we already had. But in fact this was a good thing as for anyone with a slighty-larger-than-normal-arse the smaller ones would be quite uncomfortable. Ok, even I preferred the bigger ones, so it was nice to have a couple to give to the kids.
I really wanted to stay up to watch Man City start their European trek in style. I actually managed to watch the first half till 4am but then flaked it and only just managed to turn the laptop off before I did myself.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Birthday meal and lack of body clock but first night in new fang zi
Despite falling asleep at 11pm I was up at 3am. My body clock is seriously fucked up. So after trying unsuccessfully to get back to sleep I turned on the laptop and watched the last two minutes of the first half of Young Boys vs. Spurs. It was 3-0 and was the only gratifying thing at that time as I wanted Spurs to fall out of the Champions League and into the Europa League so they could meet City and we could get revenge. No such chance as they scored two in the second half to lose 3-2 and have two away goals to take to White Hart Lane. Favourites in my book.
I blundered through the morning and then couldn't even get to sleep in the afternoon. Tan's birthday was back on the 13th but we didn't do anything as she was in Nanning. So, today she called me up about 3ish and said that she'd invite our friends out for a meal tonight to celebrate. I sorely wanted to get some sleep but also had to sort out some more housy things like getting the accoutrements for the tea table as I was expecting visitors to want to drink tea with me later on.
The birthday meal was at 6.30pm, and we took up three tables in our private room - even Waipo and Jiuma came, something quite rare to see them eating out in such decadent surroundings. However I was just too tired to enjoy the evening properly. I drank about five glasses of sugar Coke in an attempt to stay more awake and add something to the night, but was quite frankly glad when it came to an end around 8pm. But part of the celebration was for our new fang zi, so most of the women and some of the men traipsed back to our new abode for fruit and tea. I quite happily made my first appearance as tea host, and made some "tie guan yin" tea for the blokes at my "running dog" tea table.
Pouring tea for Lao Pan's husband Lao Lan and their son on Running Dog
Later, when everyone had gone, I thought I'd at least sleep one night in our new place. That wouldn't have been a bad idea had I told Tan. As it was I'd just dropped off when I got a call from her at 1.45am (why did I forget to put phone on "silent"?) asking where I was. She understood ok, so I was just dropping off again when Awl IM'd me (I should have closed Skype on my phone) in a vodka stupor at 2am and I had to tell him I couldn't chat at that time. Finally must have got to sleep some time after 2am. But at least in our own place.
I blundered through the morning and then couldn't even get to sleep in the afternoon. Tan's birthday was back on the 13th but we didn't do anything as she was in Nanning. So, today she called me up about 3ish and said that she'd invite our friends out for a meal tonight to celebrate. I sorely wanted to get some sleep but also had to sort out some more housy things like getting the accoutrements for the tea table as I was expecting visitors to want to drink tea with me later on.
The birthday meal was at 6.30pm, and we took up three tables in our private room - even Waipo and Jiuma came, something quite rare to see them eating out in such decadent surroundings. However I was just too tired to enjoy the evening properly. I drank about five glasses of sugar Coke in an attempt to stay more awake and add something to the night, but was quite frankly glad when it came to an end around 8pm. But part of the celebration was for our new fang zi, so most of the women and some of the men traipsed back to our new abode for fruit and tea. I quite happily made my first appearance as tea host, and made some "tie guan yin" tea for the blokes at my "running dog" tea table.
Pouring tea for Lao Pan's husband Lao Lan and their son on Running Dog
Later, when everyone had gone, I thought I'd at least sleep one night in our new place. That wouldn't have been a bad idea had I told Tan. As it was I'd just dropped off when I got a call from her at 1.45am (why did I forget to put phone on "silent"?) asking where I was. She understood ok, so I was just dropping off again when Awl IM'd me (I should have closed Skype on my phone) in a vodka stupor at 2am and I had to tell him I couldn't chat at that time. Finally must have got to sleep some time after 2am. But at least in our own place.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Guitar, piano, and finally an early night
Sleep at 5am, up at 8am. Aargh. I just wanted to stay awake till lunch again so I could have a siesta and some sanity for the afternoon, so I popped out on the bike to spend a little time in our new apartment before we have to leave it for who knows how long? I don't like calling it an apartment - it sounds rather American, not that I have anything against them. I remembered back in June when we went for a bbq with our American friends and I enquired about international schools in Nanning for the kids, and they said there was one at least. I had asked about the kids that went there, explaining that I was concerned that if my kids were ever to go to such a school they would end up talking with an American accent. Thankfully the Americans took no offence at my faux pas, and then explained that most of the kids there were South Korean anyway. Interesting. But anyway, I dislike "flat" even more than apartment as it makes it sounds dark and even chavvy (the England flag has long been removed). But "house" seems a little wrong as it does not stand on its own. It's a bit of a quandary, but a very nice one to have, all things considered.
Now it had just started raining before I left. So I made the intelligent decision to take a brolly with me. Unfortunately it didn't attach to the bike as so many do here, so I had to hold it. This worked ok for about 10 seconds until I was out of the apartment complex and within the blink of an eyelid it decided to deluge. So much so that the streets were nearly deserted. Ha! Funny how water can make something deserted (desert - geddit? - ok I don't write wedding speeches). Anyway, being British, or maybe simply stupid, I decided against turning back and only being half soaked, and headed on towards our place. Predicatably, despite the umbrella, I arrived soaked to the bone as I had been attacked by raindrops the size of pigs eyeballs from every angle.
So I got to the apartment/flat/house - actually I think I'll just call it "fang zi" as they do in Mandarin - and found my guitar. My lovely, if rather small and not fantastic quality, guitar. Maybe it was to do with having been on the 14th floor but it was dreadfully out of tune, something slightly weird as it had held its tune since last year when I found it back in June. I used the only way I know of tuning up a guitar by ear alone and hummed the first note of "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, and got the 'A' string more-or-less correct, if an octave lower. Then I did the low 'E', then the 'D', the 'G', the 'B' and finally the "ping!". Damn, the little 'E' string had snapped and I couldn't even sing the blues.
I looked around, and saw that as well as no guitar I had no television, no computer, nothing to power with the electricity that actually worked. I should have been happy in my element but I really hankered after playing the guitar. I noticed that the rain had eased off, and even my shirt, hanging out on the balcony, had somewhat dried. So I went back down the lift to the music shop where I'd purchased the guitar two years ago to get some strings. I recognised the girl there and I guessed she recognised me. For some reason she thinks I'm slightly loopy. At least that's the look in her eyes she gives me when she talks to me. But I managed to request the strings, and the fact that it was an acoustic and not an electric guitar. She went to get what I needed and I found one of the tiny piano rooms in the place. It had been months since I'd tickled the ivories so I sat down and bashed out a rather rusty "The Entertainer". The piano was somewhat out of tune, but I'm sure my fingers tortured Joplin's ghost* more than that, and then possibly laid it down to rest with a rendition of "Maple Leaf Rag". I don't know if the shop assistant appreciated it or not, but she came in and turned on the light to the room during "Maple Leaf Rag" - maybe she thought I couldn't see the keys - how embarrassing!
* I ripped that from John Fowles's "The French Lieutenant's Woman", which I had to study for English Lit. A level.
Before going back to the fang zi, I went to have a look for a couple more stools to complement the two we already have there. Ma Laoban said I should order them from Nanning, but I didn't have time, and eventually found a couple of second hand ones in a second hand furniture shop. They also had tables and desks there and I made some measurements as I'll need one for my study. I said I'd pop back in the afternoon and rang Boss Yang to see if he and his pregnant wife and his son could meet me for lunch. He said they'd be there in 15 minutes, so Leilei and I went to the place that just opened up last month where they do a very good chilli frog hotpot. It was a nice meal, although Leilei only ate zhou, and Boss Yang's son gave Leilei a model kit of something that looked like a transformer but had about 200 pieces - slightly too much for his years at the moment. Although Leilei was painfully shy at first, by the end of the meal he was inviting Yang's son back to our house to play. Before that, though, we all went to see our new fang zi, and they were all impressed.
Leilei and Boss Yang's son
Anyway I did manage a bit of a siesta. I don't know why these last few days have been so hard - it's as bad as I can remember since having babies waking you up at all hours - someone here said it was my body getting back into UK time. Well, whether that was true or not, Li Kun woke me up at 4ish to invite me to have a drink that evening. Of course I said yes. But first I went for a meal with Er Jie and a few other people I didn't know. I actually drank Cocacola with sugar for the first time in years in an effort to wake up and enjoy the beef rib hotpot. Then Li Kun came to pick me up. He is pretty sensible in that although he has use of a van, he came in a san lun che as we were going for a few beers, and wouldn't drink and drive. Good man.
We decided on a bar called "1951". It was one of the very few actual bars I've been to in Pingguo, and was resplendent in US-style decor, complete with a central bar containing a number of bottles of Western spirits, the likes of most I hadn't seen in Pingguo before. Although I fancied sitting at the bar, Li Kun was insistent that we have our own table, and went on to explain that when you invite a friend out it is customary to have your own space and not share with strangers. I explained that that was part of the fun in UK pubs (at least if you're single), and we both shared a laugh about our different "wen hua" (culture). We had a bucket of small bottles of Li Quan Qi du, meaning the 3% beer, and a portion of fries with ketchup and slices of cucumber and carrot with a soy sauce and wasabi dip, plus a portion of crab legs too! It seems you never go out just for a drink here! Another of his friends turned up an hour of so later, and I recognised him from a couple of years ago. We chatted till gone 10pm but Li Kun could see that I was flagging, so he kindly said he could see that and he'd take me home no problem. We got a san lun che back to Er Jie's place, where I got out and he went back to finish the beers with his mate. A nice, if exhausting day came to an end five minutes later when I crashed out on the bed at 11pm
Now it had just started raining before I left. So I made the intelligent decision to take a brolly with me. Unfortunately it didn't attach to the bike as so many do here, so I had to hold it. This worked ok for about 10 seconds until I was out of the apartment complex and within the blink of an eyelid it decided to deluge. So much so that the streets were nearly deserted. Ha! Funny how water can make something deserted (desert - geddit? - ok I don't write wedding speeches). Anyway, being British, or maybe simply stupid, I decided against turning back and only being half soaked, and headed on towards our place. Predicatably, despite the umbrella, I arrived soaked to the bone as I had been attacked by raindrops the size of pigs eyeballs from every angle.
So I got to the apartment/flat/house - actually I think I'll just call it "fang zi" as they do in Mandarin - and found my guitar. My lovely, if rather small and not fantastic quality, guitar. Maybe it was to do with having been on the 14th floor but it was dreadfully out of tune, something slightly weird as it had held its tune since last year when I found it back in June. I used the only way I know of tuning up a guitar by ear alone and hummed the first note of "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, and got the 'A' string more-or-less correct, if an octave lower. Then I did the low 'E', then the 'D', the 'G', the 'B' and finally the "ping!". Damn, the little 'E' string had snapped and I couldn't even sing the blues.
I looked around, and saw that as well as no guitar I had no television, no computer, nothing to power with the electricity that actually worked. I should have been happy in my element but I really hankered after playing the guitar. I noticed that the rain had eased off, and even my shirt, hanging out on the balcony, had somewhat dried. So I went back down the lift to the music shop where I'd purchased the guitar two years ago to get some strings. I recognised the girl there and I guessed she recognised me. For some reason she thinks I'm slightly loopy. At least that's the look in her eyes she gives me when she talks to me. But I managed to request the strings, and the fact that it was an acoustic and not an electric guitar. She went to get what I needed and I found one of the tiny piano rooms in the place. It had been months since I'd tickled the ivories so I sat down and bashed out a rather rusty "The Entertainer". The piano was somewhat out of tune, but I'm sure my fingers tortured Joplin's ghost* more than that, and then possibly laid it down to rest with a rendition of "Maple Leaf Rag". I don't know if the shop assistant appreciated it or not, but she came in and turned on the light to the room during "Maple Leaf Rag" - maybe she thought I couldn't see the keys - how embarrassing!
* I ripped that from John Fowles's "The French Lieutenant's Woman", which I had to study for English Lit. A level.
Before going back to the fang zi, I went to have a look for a couple more stools to complement the two we already have there. Ma Laoban said I should order them from Nanning, but I didn't have time, and eventually found a couple of second hand ones in a second hand furniture shop. They also had tables and desks there and I made some measurements as I'll need one for my study. I said I'd pop back in the afternoon and rang Boss Yang to see if he and his pregnant wife and his son could meet me for lunch. He said they'd be there in 15 minutes, so Leilei and I went to the place that just opened up last month where they do a very good chilli frog hotpot. It was a nice meal, although Leilei only ate zhou, and Boss Yang's son gave Leilei a model kit of something that looked like a transformer but had about 200 pieces - slightly too much for his years at the moment. Although Leilei was painfully shy at first, by the end of the meal he was inviting Yang's son back to our house to play. Before that, though, we all went to see our new fang zi, and they were all impressed.
Leilei and Boss Yang's son
Anyway I did manage a bit of a siesta. I don't know why these last few days have been so hard - it's as bad as I can remember since having babies waking you up at all hours - someone here said it was my body getting back into UK time. Well, whether that was true or not, Li Kun woke me up at 4ish to invite me to have a drink that evening. Of course I said yes. But first I went for a meal with Er Jie and a few other people I didn't know. I actually drank Cocacola with sugar for the first time in years in an effort to wake up and enjoy the beef rib hotpot. Then Li Kun came to pick me up. He is pretty sensible in that although he has use of a van, he came in a san lun che as we were going for a few beers, and wouldn't drink and drive. Good man.
We decided on a bar called "1951". It was one of the very few actual bars I've been to in Pingguo, and was resplendent in US-style decor, complete with a central bar containing a number of bottles of Western spirits, the likes of most I hadn't seen in Pingguo before. Although I fancied sitting at the bar, Li Kun was insistent that we have our own table, and went on to explain that when you invite a friend out it is customary to have your own space and not share with strangers. I explained that that was part of the fun in UK pubs (at least if you're single), and we both shared a laugh about our different "wen hua" (culture). We had a bucket of small bottles of Li Quan Qi du, meaning the 3% beer, and a portion of fries with ketchup and slices of cucumber and carrot with a soy sauce and wasabi dip, plus a portion of crab legs too! It seems you never go out just for a drink here! Another of his friends turned up an hour of so later, and I recognised him from a couple of years ago. We chatted till gone 10pm but Li Kun could see that I was flagging, so he kindly said he could see that and he'd take me home no problem. We got a san lun che back to Er Jie's place, where I got out and he went back to finish the beers with his mate. A nice, if exhausting day came to an end five minutes later when I crashed out on the bed at 11pm
Monday, August 16, 2010
A/C in the house and the value of time
Up at 5am after two and a half hours' sleep - yet again couldn't get back to sleep so I got up. The routine of getting breakfast for all came and went, and Xixi went to Jiuma's place as per usual. I was just waiting till midday so I could have some lunch and get a siesta, so at around 10.30am I gave Lin Hong a ring as I had decided to buy the standalone air-conditioning unit for our bedroom in the new flat, even if the only one available was the display model we saw on Saturday. Tan was due to come home in the afternoon and I wanted her to be comfortable in at least one room if she fancied a snooze. However, Lin Hong was busy in a meeting, and said she'd call back at 11.30am. I had hoped not to hear that as I was looking forward to a nap soon after, but it was kind of her to say she would help. She actually called soon after midday, and came to pick me up a minute later. We drove to ai yi's electric shop again and this time the actual ai yi in question was there. She told me in no uncertain terms that the air coolers would not be sufficient for our bedrooms. I explained that the rooms were small but she wasn't having any of it. Finally we agreed that she would come to see our place. So much for a midday nap.
Lin Hong drove ai yi and me to the new flat, and ai yi was suitably impressed by it. Only after seeing the rooms did she agree that we didn't need fully-fledged A/C for every one. But I did agree that a wall-mounted unit would be handy for the main bedroom, and we were told we could have one fitted for 1600 kuai. I thought "why not?", and was told to wait in the house for half an hour for some workers to come and sort it out. I wanted to first get some something to read while waiting so popped back to Er Jie's house, as I'd been told the workers would first ring me so they would know I was there to let them in. When I got back 20 minutes later I found I'd forgotten the key, I had a load of stuff I'd brought from Er Jie's house, and I didn't fancy lugging it back, not that there was anyone home anyway to let me in. So I rang Lin Hong to ask if she could come round and she said she'd be there in a couple of minutes. Two minutes later two workmen arrived with an A/C unit. I asked which floor they were going to and they said the 14th - so much for calling me first. I explained that I was waiting for someone with the key to open the door and they said not to worry and went upstairs. I called Lin Hong again who said she was about to arrive, something that didn't happen for another 15 minutes. Not that the workmen seemed to mind though.
Time does not seem to equate to money here. It really is cheap labour. This is something that permeates the culture and has taken me some time to get used to. People just expect that you have time on your hands. I think it may even have something to do with the frequent miscommunication I see (among Chinese as well, not just with me); it appears that even if what you are told is wrong, then it's just wrong and you find out what is correct a bit later. A simple example of this would be if you asked where a certain shop was and were told it was "down that road for one minute on the left", but you found out later it was the opposite direction for five minutes. You would have lost a few minutes of your time, which here may not be as much perceived value as it would be in the West.
Anyway, while I was waiting in the car park for Lin Hong I got a phone call from her saying she was in the flat. Somehow our paths must have crossed and I missed her. So I got to the flat to find the two workmen unwrapping the A/C unit and its accompanying fan housing. It took no more than an hour from start to finish, during which time one of the blokes climbed out from our 14th floor balcony and hopped onto some supporting structure to start drilling holes for the fan structure. He was not insane, though, and had a rope around his waist that was firmly secured to the balcony bars. Still, he did not obey the "don't look down" law, though it didn't seem to affect him. By around 3pm the job was done and all I had to do was sign my name "Peng Duoming" and serve them some glasses of water before saying thank you and goodbye.
I said "don't look down!"
I was about to have some shut-eye under the cool of the A/C, but got a call from Tan, who had got back from Nanning and was outside the front door with Leilei; apparently I had not heard them knocking. I was shattered by this stage so went back to Er Jie's house to get a well-earned siesta. I had planned to go out in the evening with Tan to get a fridge but by the time I got up it was a little late. We will no doubt have arguments as to where it is best placed. I still say in between the xie gui and the water dispenser, she will probably say in the kitchen even though there isn't much room. As I'd had a late siesta I popped out to the seafood place for a bite to eat after midnight, and when still couldn't get to sleep later I watched some of the Man U - Newcastle game that kicked off at 3am.
Lin Hong drove ai yi and me to the new flat, and ai yi was suitably impressed by it. Only after seeing the rooms did she agree that we didn't need fully-fledged A/C for every one. But I did agree that a wall-mounted unit would be handy for the main bedroom, and we were told we could have one fitted for 1600 kuai. I thought "why not?", and was told to wait in the house for half an hour for some workers to come and sort it out. I wanted to first get some something to read while waiting so popped back to Er Jie's house, as I'd been told the workers would first ring me so they would know I was there to let them in. When I got back 20 minutes later I found I'd forgotten the key, I had a load of stuff I'd brought from Er Jie's house, and I didn't fancy lugging it back, not that there was anyone home anyway to let me in. So I rang Lin Hong to ask if she could come round and she said she'd be there in a couple of minutes. Two minutes later two workmen arrived with an A/C unit. I asked which floor they were going to and they said the 14th - so much for calling me first. I explained that I was waiting for someone with the key to open the door and they said not to worry and went upstairs. I called Lin Hong again who said she was about to arrive, something that didn't happen for another 15 minutes. Not that the workmen seemed to mind though.
Time does not seem to equate to money here. It really is cheap labour. This is something that permeates the culture and has taken me some time to get used to. People just expect that you have time on your hands. I think it may even have something to do with the frequent miscommunication I see (among Chinese as well, not just with me); it appears that even if what you are told is wrong, then it's just wrong and you find out what is correct a bit later. A simple example of this would be if you asked where a certain shop was and were told it was "down that road for one minute on the left", but you found out later it was the opposite direction for five minutes. You would have lost a few minutes of your time, which here may not be as much perceived value as it would be in the West.
Anyway, while I was waiting in the car park for Lin Hong I got a phone call from her saying she was in the flat. Somehow our paths must have crossed and I missed her. So I got to the flat to find the two workmen unwrapping the A/C unit and its accompanying fan housing. It took no more than an hour from start to finish, during which time one of the blokes climbed out from our 14th floor balcony and hopped onto some supporting structure to start drilling holes for the fan structure. He was not insane, though, and had a rope around his waist that was firmly secured to the balcony bars. Still, he did not obey the "don't look down" law, though it didn't seem to affect him. By around 3pm the job was done and all I had to do was sign my name "Peng Duoming" and serve them some glasses of water before saying thank you and goodbye.
I said "don't look down!"
I was about to have some shut-eye under the cool of the A/C, but got a call from Tan, who had got back from Nanning and was outside the front door with Leilei; apparently I had not heard them knocking. I was shattered by this stage so went back to Er Jie's house to get a well-earned siesta. I had planned to go out in the evening with Tan to get a fridge but by the time I got up it was a little late. We will no doubt have arguments as to where it is best placed. I still say in between the xie gui and the water dispenser, she will probably say in the kitchen even though there isn't much room. As I'd had a late siesta I popped out to the seafood place for a bite to eat after midnight, and when still couldn't get to sleep later I watched some of the Man U - Newcastle game that kicked off at 3am.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Broken sleep and broken English with teacher
Up at 4.30am again after three hours' sleep. I tried to get back to sleep but to no avail. So I browsed around on fark.com to read some interesting online articles and comments on them before getting some breakfast at 8am. I started to feel really sick after eating one of yesterday's "you tiao", the long fried dough things you dip in soya bean milk. So I tried to get some sleep but today was a particularly noisy one in the house with upstairs doing lots of drilling a few feet from my head. I gave up at 11.30 and drove to our new house. The problem was it was nearly as noisy there too as most other places there are still doing the "zhuang xiu" (decorating), whereas we have pretty much finished. Our new curtains shut out most of the light, but by closing the door too it shut out most of the moving air through the room. The cheap fan I bought the other day made it a bit more bearable but it wasn't air conditioning. Despite the noise and humidity I managed a small amount of sleep in between going to the toilet, but gave up at 4.30pm and came back to Er Jie's place with the A/C. It was still noisy but I managed to sleep most of the time between 5-8pm until A Wu called to ask me to go out and eat.
As I hadn't spent much time with them today, I took the kids out too, who were then immediately taken out to see A Da by A Ni. I really didn't fancy a beer but managed a couple of sips with some friends and had a slightly English chat with one of their wives, who is an English teacher at the local middle school. Funnily enough she didn't want her 6 year old to learn English yet as she wanted him to concentrate on Chinese. I think she may have changed her mind when she saw my two rattling on in Chinese with each other.
As I hadn't spent much time with them today, I took the kids out too, who were then immediately taken out to see A Da by A Ni. I really didn't fancy a beer but managed a couple of sips with some friends and had a slightly English chat with one of their wives, who is an English teacher at the local middle school. Funnily enough she didn't want her 6 year old to learn English yet as she wanted him to concentrate on Chinese. I think she may have changed her mind when she saw my two rattling on in Chinese with each other.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Xixi wants to stay and first match of the season
I really hoped it would say 7am on my phone, but it read 4.23am instead. I couldn't get back to sleep after that, so just did some surfing on the internet till 8am when I went and got some breakfast. I woke up Xixi and we played about for a while before she was taken off by Waipo to play. Then Leilei and I went out to do some more house shopping. We went to the marketplace and bought some bits and pieces at a hardware shop before depositing them in the house. I noticed that the curtains had been put in in our bedroom and they're not bad at all, and don't let in much light, which is rare for here. I then took the son down to Jiuma's place where we found Xixi playing with all her friends. Apparently Jiuma had asked Xixi if she liked China and she said "dui!", and whether she wanted to go back to England and she said "bu yao!". Oh dear...
As Lin Hong was there I asked her where was a good place to buy a fridge and within a minute I was whisked off in her car to an aunty's shop near the guang chang, leaving the kids there. It dawned on me when we were there that we didn't really have a good place for a fridge. The kitchen is pretty tiny, and there's not even enough working space to put one on the side, so it looks like it will have to be in the main living area. I decided I'd need to do some measuring so we didn't get a fridge, but we did get a cheap water dispenser for 180 kuai and a set of knives in a wooden block. I really wanted to get a water filter, rather than the style that you have to keep ringing someone up to get a new bottle delivered every couple of days. I pointed to such a filter and explained that I wanted this style so that we could fill it up with tap water when we needed. Lin Hong nodded, but when we got to the house of course it was one where you just plonk an upside down large water bottle on top. Oh well, no big deal, and I suppose if we'd started to use a filter in our last week here it would probably need to be changed come next year. And at least we already had such a water bottle in the house so now we have drinking water. As the water dispenser needs to be plugged in if you want hot water, we've had to put it next to the xie gui where there is an electric point. Judging by the size of the kitchen, I'm thinking that this will probably be the best place for a small fridge too.
We got back to Jiuma's place at 1ish, where there were about eight adults all cutting up pig fat into small cubes for something or other - maybe that is the business they do here. I had some noodles thrust upon me as others were eating and thought why not? So I had my lunch there before heading back for a much needed siesta. I slept most of the time from 3.30-6pm and then still couldn't wake up, so grabbed another hour as the kids went out to the swimming pool.
Of course today was the first day of the footy season, and the first game was Spurs-City. Apparently the game was on Guangdong TV, but I couldn't find it, and as Waipo was in the house and wanted to watch tv too, I settled for finding a decent stream. Wow, what a hero Joe Hart was for the first half! We fully deserved to be 3 down, but we somehow salvaged a 0-0 draw. People are going to expect a lot more than that this season, but it least it looks like England's future goalkeeper may have been decided.
Lu Hai called me to go for some seafood at 10pm, but I wasn't really in the mood. However, I went as we don't have much longer here and I don't want to waste time. I spent no more than an hour before deciding it was bedtime for Leilei, something that even he didn't struggle with after a long day with no sleep.
As Lin Hong was there I asked her where was a good place to buy a fridge and within a minute I was whisked off in her car to an aunty's shop near the guang chang, leaving the kids there. It dawned on me when we were there that we didn't really have a good place for a fridge. The kitchen is pretty tiny, and there's not even enough working space to put one on the side, so it looks like it will have to be in the main living area. I decided I'd need to do some measuring so we didn't get a fridge, but we did get a cheap water dispenser for 180 kuai and a set of knives in a wooden block. I really wanted to get a water filter, rather than the style that you have to keep ringing someone up to get a new bottle delivered every couple of days. I pointed to such a filter and explained that I wanted this style so that we could fill it up with tap water when we needed. Lin Hong nodded, but when we got to the house of course it was one where you just plonk an upside down large water bottle on top. Oh well, no big deal, and I suppose if we'd started to use a filter in our last week here it would probably need to be changed come next year. And at least we already had such a water bottle in the house so now we have drinking water. As the water dispenser needs to be plugged in if you want hot water, we've had to put it next to the xie gui where there is an electric point. Judging by the size of the kitchen, I'm thinking that this will probably be the best place for a small fridge too.
We got back to Jiuma's place at 1ish, where there were about eight adults all cutting up pig fat into small cubes for something or other - maybe that is the business they do here. I had some noodles thrust upon me as others were eating and thought why not? So I had my lunch there before heading back for a much needed siesta. I slept most of the time from 3.30-6pm and then still couldn't wake up, so grabbed another hour as the kids went out to the swimming pool.
Of course today was the first day of the footy season, and the first game was Spurs-City. Apparently the game was on Guangdong TV, but I couldn't find it, and as Waipo was in the house and wanted to watch tv too, I settled for finding a decent stream. Wow, what a hero Joe Hart was for the first half! We fully deserved to be 3 down, but we somehow salvaged a 0-0 draw. People are going to expect a lot more than that this season, but it least it looks like England's future goalkeeper may have been decided.
Lu Hai called me to go for some seafood at 10pm, but I wasn't really in the mood. However, I went as we don't have much longer here and I don't want to waste time. I spent no more than an hour before deciding it was bedtime for Leilei, something that even he didn't struggle with after a long day with no sleep.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Dog paws
Tan and the girls went to Nanning in the afternoon, after having visited A Ni's mum, who's in hospital with a lung infection unfortunately.
Er Jie and her husband and Qiqi have been back for a couple of days, and she told me we were going to eat at the place around the corner. Great, I was quite hungry, so we went to the restaurant that opened two months ago and she ordered a huge hotpot for us (including the kids, a neighbour and Jiuma and Waipo). Before it was even served I got a call from A Wu asking me to come over to his friend's house for a meal. I told him I was just about to start a meal, so he said I could come over in an hour. I said I'd ring him. The cow ribs were very tasty and I was quite stuffed.
We got home an hour later and I remembered I needed to buy plane tickets for next week boohoo, so went to the Ctrip website. Conveniently they have a skype button, which means you can make a free call. Even more conveniently, I didn't have to wait any time in a queue. I ordered plane tickets from Nanning to Shenzhen at 3.10pm. That should give us enough time to make it to Hong Kong for the 11.30pm flight back to UK. I did enquire about direct flights to HK, but there were only two seats left and they were three times the price anyway. During this time I got calls from A Wu asking where I was, and I explained I had to finish buying the tickets first, so eventually got to his friend's place around 7.30pm.
In fact there were two "tong xue" (colleagues - from primary school), and they were having a sumptious meal that I just couldn't take part in. However it was nice company, and it was all I could do to do a couple of gan beis. The main speciality they had was dog paws. A Wu made the ingenious statement that they were special because you only get four per dog. I couldn't let them down so I took the smallest one, and started knawing at it. It's not that much different from a really large duck foot, except for the shape and you get more padding. They took delight in seeing me eat it so put another one in my bowl straight away, this time taking photos of me. I made my excuses to get up and play with the host's 6 month old baby girl. She was delightful, and managed a smile or two. So light as well, and no nappy of course. Finally left, bloated, at around 9pm.
Another delicacy - dog paws
Leilei had been up all day and I made the mistake of calling Tan so he could have a word with her at 11pm. As she put the phone down he started wailing for mama, and wouldn't stop for half an hour by which time he'd cried himself to sleep.
Er Jie and her husband and Qiqi have been back for a couple of days, and she told me we were going to eat at the place around the corner. Great, I was quite hungry, so we went to the restaurant that opened two months ago and she ordered a huge hotpot for us (including the kids, a neighbour and Jiuma and Waipo). Before it was even served I got a call from A Wu asking me to come over to his friend's house for a meal. I told him I was just about to start a meal, so he said I could come over in an hour. I said I'd ring him. The cow ribs were very tasty and I was quite stuffed.
We got home an hour later and I remembered I needed to buy plane tickets for next week boohoo, so went to the Ctrip website. Conveniently they have a skype button, which means you can make a free call. Even more conveniently, I didn't have to wait any time in a queue. I ordered plane tickets from Nanning to Shenzhen at 3.10pm. That should give us enough time to make it to Hong Kong for the 11.30pm flight back to UK. I did enquire about direct flights to HK, but there were only two seats left and they were three times the price anyway. During this time I got calls from A Wu asking where I was, and I explained I had to finish buying the tickets first, so eventually got to his friend's place around 7.30pm.
In fact there were two "tong xue" (colleagues - from primary school), and they were having a sumptious meal that I just couldn't take part in. However it was nice company, and it was all I could do to do a couple of gan beis. The main speciality they had was dog paws. A Wu made the ingenious statement that they were special because you only get four per dog. I couldn't let them down so I took the smallest one, and started knawing at it. It's not that much different from a really large duck foot, except for the shape and you get more padding. They took delight in seeing me eat it so put another one in my bowl straight away, this time taking photos of me. I made my excuses to get up and play with the host's 6 month old baby girl. She was delightful, and managed a smile or two. So light as well, and no nappy of course. Finally left, bloated, at around 9pm.
Another delicacy - dog paws
Leilei had been up all day and I made the mistake of calling Tan so he could have a word with her at 11pm. As she put the phone down he started wailing for mama, and wouldn't stop for half an hour by which time he'd cried himself to sleep.
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