Had a lovely good morning Starbucks and the walk down to starbucks showed that the summer really is coming, its getting warmer and warmer! Nearly shorts weather!
I bought the train ticket for the next day from a lovely woman who was very interested in the foreigners and asking lots of questions, and we then went to catch up on western groceries as we were near a huge walmart and one of the few Tesco in China!
I bought the train ticket for the next day from a lovely woman who was very interested in the foreigners and asking lots of questions, and we then went to catch up on western groceries as we were near a huge walmart and one of the few Tesco in China!
After picking up a few bits and bobs, (curry powder!!) we paid and then wandered over into a tea shop near the checkouts.
I soon got chatting with the girl selling tea and used it as a chance to practise my chinese really! She was very friendly and we spent over an hour chatting about all sorts of things, we bought some tea from her as a gift for the teachers back home and considered a beautiful red tea set, but at £120 it was a bit much!
As we were walking back to the hostel we saw another cheaper looking tea shop and looking in saw exactly the same tea set as Chris had lost the day before! But instead of wanting 150rmb they only wanted 50! Chris pretended not to hear and I dared not tell him so we left it and walked on. We walked past an empty shop filled with China products, bowls, cups, etc all at discount prices, a bit of haggling later chris had a vase and I had a nice little tea set, happy! The whole shop were listening as we haggled and he asked 400, i offered 300 all in, he said higher, i said 301 which had the whole shop laughing and he gave in, i don't know if I insulted him, but it worked!
I soon got chatting with the girl selling tea and used it as a chance to practise my chinese really! She was very friendly and we spent over an hour chatting about all sorts of things, we bought some tea from her as a gift for the teachers back home and considered a beautiful red tea set, but at £120 it was a bit much!
As we were walking back to the hostel we saw another cheaper looking tea shop and looking in saw exactly the same tea set as Chris had lost the day before! But instead of wanting 150rmb they only wanted 50! Chris pretended not to hear and I dared not tell him so we left it and walked on. We walked past an empty shop filled with China products, bowls, cups, etc all at discount prices, a bit of haggling later chris had a vase and I had a nice little tea set, happy! The whole shop were listening as we haggled and he asked 400, i offered 300 all in, he said higher, i said 301 which had the whole shop laughing and he gave in, i don't know if I insulted him, but it worked!
After this we headed back to the Hotel again and while Chris got some sleep I chilled out down in the bar meeting a new friend Lisa. She was in her early 30s I would guess and we chatted, it turns out she taught a foreigner chinese in the past, and is also a teacher! So she was interested in how I was doing, and we had lots to talk about!
Chris came down later and we played a great game, a bit confusing, but very funny. With 5 or more people every draws a card, there is one King, One Jack, and 3 others (for 5, over 5 more kings and jacks are used) the King is the Killer, the Jack is the policeman and the others are civilians. There is also a judge, they control the game.
Everyone then closes their eyes except the judge, the killer opens his when asked by the judge and chooses a person to kill, everyone closes their eyes again and then the policeman opens his eyes, he guesses at who the killer is and the judge will say yes or no. The policeman will close his eyes and then everyone will open their eyes. The judge will say who was killed in the night, and then the killed person can make a statement to everyone else about who he thinks did it (but he doesn't KNOW for sure, he never saw it happen remember) then everyone in the circle is allowed to make a statement, including the undetected killer and policeman, and everyone can choose a person they think it is (but don't have to) then it is put to a vote and everybody gets one vote. The person with the most votes is put in prison, and the play continues, the dead person and if voted for, the person put in prison are out, everyone closes their eyes (people out can look but must be quiet) the killers again kill, the policeman again guesses, everyone opens and makes a statement and it goes round again, with a big group and multiple killers it can get very hectic but very fun!
This game was harder as we had to play in Chinese, and in the end I was asked to be the judge, giving all the instructions in Chinese, unfortunately I concentrated so hard to the chinese I forgot who the murder had killed, ruining the game a little as I kept having to go back! But they all played along good humouredly. lisa was great at getting people to play so Chris and I, Lisa herself, 2 bar tenders, 2 random girls Lisa had met that day from another hotel, another hotel guest and his visiting girlfriend all player with much laughter and a few beers. excellent!
The next day we had a relaxed morning followed by an afternoon train back to Lingxi, a lovely relaxing holiday before back into the madness of teaching again!
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