Dragon Boat Festival Part 3: The Village???

Tuesday

Today Cecilia and I were supposed to be taken to a village so we could explore a more rural area of China, Matthew had told us to go to his office at 930 because he was tired (he is really pushing his luck). We arrived to find out that there was no one there! Matthew didn't turn up until 1015!!! We were then told to wait in the office until I ride came. So we burnt time until 1130... 

Our ride turned up with Mrs Wan (the big scary boss lady) and we headed out of town and past the airport (East). After an hour or so we turned down a dirt road, Cecilia and I were excited to do some exploring. We then pulled over outside what appeared to be a gigantic greenhouse. 

This garden centre looking building was actually a 'village restaurant', or just a restaurant... It was gigantic! Each corner had its own themed decor; there was an African corner, a Chinese corner, a European corner and a Middle Eastern corner. Naturally we got stuck in the European corner (the most boring...). 

We were stuck there with no one who spoke any English and hungry because we couldn't eat until the whole party arrived (an hour and half after we arrived). Once they arrived the food came and there was so much of it! We had a big table with a big lazy susan but still they were balancing plates on other plates to make it all fit! The food was very tasty but Cecilia and I were soon full.

That's when the Baijo appeared. We were told that we had to drink with everyone present and not just one shot, the more important the person the more shots we had to do. I had to 6 with the guest of honour because as I am a man, I have to drink double what Cecilia did. I am pretty sure that Cecilia and I got through a bottle between us... After the taste of that awful medicine, Baijo almost tastes ok. Almost.

Needless to say we all soon felt rather merry! Everyone was taking turns to give a performance of some kind, it soon was Cecilia's turn and she sang a rendition of the Swedish national anthem (which she doesn't really know the words to, I might add.), I then sang 'Ain't love a kick in the head' and then we both sang 'We will rock you'.  Mr Qi sang some songs and a man danced! They were playing a drinking game that doesn't really make sense to me. I teamed up with Mr Qi because he wasn't drinking due to the fact he was driving, I drank on his behalf. Usually this would have been fine but today wasn't his day, so the baijo was flowing my way! 

Cecilia and I also befriended some Chinese kids who took it upon themselves to teach us Chinese. They kept scalding me for being a bad student, maybe it was because I was tired and very drunk, or maybe it was because I didn't understand what they were saying...

It soon became abundantly clear that the village was a lie. We were just here for lunch. We still had no regrets about not staying at Qinghai Hu though as the food was delicious and the company was incomprehensible and very amusing. In the end of the day it was a free meal in a very fancy restaurant!

We eventually made it home and met up with the others. They had had a good time at Qinghai Hu and had many funny stories to tell. Still no regrets though!

Wednesday

Lesson planning and resting day was put on hold because Cecilia and I went to the cinema! We saw the new Star Trek film and it was pretty darn good! Expensive though (cost us 90RMB to see it, that's £9!). Not much else happened that day; we met Mike for some dinner (Beef Noodles) and then headed home. When I got home it was back to lesson planning for the week (well Thursday and Friday at least!)!