Aside from a few lakes and parks the only attraction there is (for me) in Anqing is Yvonne. Once again my hotel, the Gelasi, advertises minibars yet has none, nor can they provide a fridge. In fact, considering it is one of the higher ranked hotels in the city, I find it incredible they sell no alcohol at all in the hotel. There was a stall close by which did keep a few cold bottles in an Esky and stocked limited amounts of wine.
Yvonne had suggested she take me to Lobster Street (not its real name, it’s what the locals refer to it as) for dinner and I agreed. When we were leaving the hotel I said I was thirsty and could do with a pijou so she asked at reception. There was a bar upstairs next door so we popped in. It was similar to a couple we have in Chizhou, where you get a private room and they offer western style food. As we weren’t intending to eat there I simply ordered our drinks and asked the waitress to leave the menu so I could peruse it for future reference. I spotted pizza and I was a goner. Lobster Street was put on hold and I ordered a Hawaiian while Yvonne ordered Bolognese. She enjoyed hers but my pizza was not so well received. It was soggy. It had been ruined by the over-zealous application of cheese, so much so that it was exactly like eating melted cheese on its own - no taste of anything else. Pizza was very firmly off the menu for the duration thereafter.
Earlier today I took a walk. I am not seeing Yvonne until later as she is undergoing training for her new summer job, selling toothbrushes and toothpaste at Carrefour. I walked a fair distance in high temperatures and then found somewhere to slake my thirst. Again I was the centre of attention but the owners and customers were very charming and welcoming. Then a man came in, stopped at my table and started jabbering away to me and pointing to his nose. Despite my protestations of “tim bu dong” (I don’t understand) he persisted so I nodded and said that yes, western people have bigger hooters - especially my family. Still he carried on and I started to think maybe I had some dirt on my own nose and rubbed it. Nothing came off and so I decided to ignore him and respond to a text that Yvonne had just sent to me. Whilst doing so, I was vaguely aware of a small commotion going on behind me but so intent was I that it never really registered. When I finished I turned around in time to see Mr Nose being ejected onto the street by the male owner. Worried that the chap had been thrown out because they thought he had bothered me, I turned and made an enquiring face to the Grandma. She in turn dismissed it, indicating that the man was bonkers. I stayed for another half an hour and am now back in my cool room killing time before we go to Lobster Street. This time I intend to go despite Yvonne wondering if they might not be too spicy for me, after all, they must serve other dishes as well as lobster. Not that they are really lobsters, they have less meat that prawns and simply look like infants.
2000
Oh yes, evenings out in China do tend to start and finish early in the smaller cities! Yvonne came at five and we took a taxi. We were dropped off at the start of Lobster Street and I suggested we have a drink somewhere we could decide where to eat. Nearby there was a restaurant with trestle tables on the pavement and despite the heat I said I wanted to drink ale outside and watch the world go by. My companion started pointing out all the lobster restaurants, which were interspersed with a chicken breast place called rather pointlessly Best Top Chicken and other eateries. I asked what the place we were sat outside specialised in and lo and behold, it was lobster!
We ate there on the pavement.
To hedge our bets (for my benefit) Yvonne ordered egg and tomato, sweet fatty pork and of course a platter of lobsters far too large for us to hope to eat in one sitting. It was a lovely meal - and if, instead of eating the lobsters the Chinese way which is putting the whole thing in your mouth, cracking it with your teeth and spitting the shell out, you use your hands to peel them, they weren’t so spicy. Add nice food to the entertainment of watching people who have never heard of parallel parking taking aeons to park and in most cases simply abandoning them way out from the pavement and you have the makings of a great time. My only regret is that once again this idiot neglected to take his camera.
Tomorrow she starts her job properly and will be working until 2100 every day quite far from the hotel so it is time for me to head back home. I have a few lazy days in store and then on Saturday morning I am testing pronunciation at Helen’s little school (another free lunch after) and on Sunday I am back up to the mountain school for a third and final time this summer. If it’s still taking place, next Friday I am off to Heavenly Village and the Thursday after that it’s off to Shanghai for a few days with Joanna, hopefully sharing a dinner or two with Capt Orange.
The hotel booked, last night I pondered over my travelling arrangements. Whilst the 7.5 hour train journey getting there was, after my experience going to Huainan, not too daunting, the return trip was. There is only one train a day to Shanghai from here and one back. The return leaves at 2330 which would mean a sleeper. I could not find one photo of a sleeper car where the bunks have privacy curtains and questioned whether I would get any sleep anyway. The Chinese are noisy enough in hotels so God knows how they would be in a 4 berth room. They can sleep through an apocalypse but I can’t! the coaches take about the same time but you can’t smoke.
My thoughts turned to flying. I was horrified to find that in the three years which have elapsed since I last made that trip by air, fares have increased threefold. It cost me 520y return that time but now that wouldn’t even cover a single. I bit the bullet. In fact I swallowed it. I compared economy with first class, the former at 1500y and the latter at 2000y. I have flown business class but never first. Sod it, for 500y extra why not? Flights are booked and paid for, no tickets required (I simply present my passport) and although I doubt I will have the chance to enjoy the first class airport lounges (our airport probably doesn’t have one as it’s too small and my return flight is early in the morning) but I will be among the first on and off the planes. I wonder if they serve food and drinks on short hops?
This summer holiday is racing by and that is my only regret. I am having some great experiences even though it looks as if there might not be a new bike this year!
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