I am exciting

February 2003

That afternoon we stopped at what I think was some kind of farm. We were led into a large tent full of tables, chairs and a bar.

‘The guide says we are going to try the pigeon’
‘I’ve never eaten pigeon’
‘I think you will like it’
I thought so too. We bought a beer. We were given polythene gloves and one pigeon each. Mine seemed rather slim, which I took to be a good sign.

After that we were free to wander around the grounds. There were a number of activities. I chose to do the archery, Maggie just wanted to watch; to save money she said.

The bow was old, and the arrows had a slight curve. I missed the target with my first, and let the bow graze my arm; it hurt, some blood came to the surface.

‘Hurt your arm honey? Better stop’
‘Its ok babe’

I was handed an arm protector, but still managed to hit the area again. This time it really hurt. I hit the target this time.

‘I thought you have done this before honey’
I had. I wanted to blame the bow, but instead said, ‘a long time ago’

With a very bruised arm we walked on. Later, back on the coach, we were told that we had a two hour journey to Guandong, where we were due to stay that night. Maggie was soon asleep in my arms.

However, after an hour we pulled into the car park of a large factory. Yet another opportunity to buy souvenirs. Maggie and I stayed on the coach; we kissed for a while and then she slipped her hand into my trousers. ‘Honey, I am exciting’.

We got out of the coach, walked out of the factory and up the road. Many people passed us on their bikes; coming home from work I thought. They all looked at us. Everyone looked at us.

Lady men

February 2003

She was grotesque. Actually he was grotesque. This close it was obvious.

‘The lady man, don’t you think honey?’
‘What do you mean by lady man? I asked
‘Like in Thailand’ she said. ‘Honey, we could go to Thailand, then you can see the lady man’
She didn’t explain what a lady man was.
‘Well we could go to Thailand, but I’ll pass on the lady men’

We didn’t talk for a while. I sat there eating the peanuts. No-one else came in. Then another of the ladies came over, and spoke to Maggie.

‘She asked if we wanted anything else, but I tell her no. Otherwise you will be the drunk, aye honey?’

As we walked back, we looked into one or two of the other bars, some of which had lady men too.

‘So strange huh honey? Don’t expect to see the lady men in mainland China’
I suppose I didn’t

Back at the hotel, Maggie telephoned her mother. Afterwards she said ‘my mother asked where I am. I said I was sat on your lap. So funny huh’

We made love in the small bed, it was just a single, and then she fell asleep in my arms.

We were up early, but by the time we got downstairs, we had missed most of the breakfast. What was left didn’t look edible. Then we were back on the coach heading for what was described as an art gallery.

In fact it was another souvenir shop. Maggie and I decided to go for a walk. The streets in this area were all but deserted, except for a few women sat outside of what looked like derelict buildings. Some of them waved, as we passed by.

‘You see how poor are these mainland China people?’
‘Yes I can see’
‘See how dirty they are?’
This always irritated me. ‘It must be difficult living in these conditions’
‘You don’t need to worry honey, as we know, the mainland China people don’t care about being dirty’

Women

February 2003

We needed to cross the road, which proved to be a difficult feat. The traffic was relentless, and only those who were prepared to sprint were quick enough to take advantage of the occasional gaps.

Also the road was very wide, two lanes each way, and had a number of smaller roads feeding into it. With lorries, buses, vans and bicycles everywhere, you needed to keep you wits about you. ‘Careful of your pockets’ warned Maggie.

A large group of youths passed us, staring unpleasantly as they did so. ‘Look at these men’ said Maggie, ‘so dirty. You see now honey how dirty are the mainland China people’. And then, ‘honey, I think they are talking about us, I can’t quite understand their accent, but they definitely said about the westerner man’
‘Don’t worry babe. You know perhaps they don’t like to see a beautiful Asian girl with the western man’
‘You think so, honey?’ I could tell he was pleased with that, and she soon started to relax again, as we passed them by.

We looked into the window of the first bar we came to, it was large but very full, and I didn’t want to stand. Then we saw a small doorway, with a neon sign above. Inside was a flight of stairs, we climbed up to find a small bar, populated by what seemed at first glance to be a small group of women. The all turned their heads as we entered and looked me up and down, smiling. I pretended not to notice, although I couldn’t help feeling a tinge of excitement, their stares were overtly sexual. We took a seat near a small window.

I ordered a beer for myself, and a diet coke for Maggie. One of the women carried the drinks over to our table, along with a dish of locally produced peanuts. ‘Don’t eat them, honey’ Maggie said. ‘so dirty’

I ignored her, and put a handful into my mouth. We both looked up at the woman, as I paid for the drinks.

Get a drink

February 2003

I decided not to answer her. On this occasion I hadn’t consciously been looking at anyone else, and I wanted to avoid any bad feeling. I was going home in two days time. ‘Come on’ I said, ‘lets go and get something to drink’

She was quiet as we walked over to an ice cream stand. ‘Do you want to try the ice?’ she asked.
‘Can do babe’

And with that her mood was back to normal. Although I’d noticed that in the last few days she seemed less happy, but had already decided that I would not ask about it, even though it was causing me a little concern.

Soon after, we were back in the coach on our way to a tea plantation, and an opportunity to buy some green tea. The plantation was fairly small, taking us just a few minutes to walk around. Then we were given a small cup, and allowed to taste the various varieties on sale.

‘Do you want to buy some’
‘No need, honey, my mother knows were to buy the green tea much cheaper than this’

Then we had another couple of hours on the coach as we headed for the hotel. That evening we were to see a show after our dinner.

After the show, we disobeyed the guides instructions and went for a walk through the town. The guide informed us that the streets were dangerous at night. Maggie was reluctant at first, ‘better not’ she said when I suggested going out.

She soon relaxed though as we walked down the street, looking in the shops, I held her close to me. Everyone who passed us stared at me, some said ‘hello’ of ‘how are you’. Maggie told me not to reply, but I did anyway. I didn’t want to be rude or cause offence.

Eventually we came to an area dominated by bars and restaurants. ‘Shall we get a drink?’ I asked.
‘Is it too dangerous, honey?’
‘I don’t think so babe’