An evening walk, an invitation to a massage parlour, a bird in a box and photos in the street.

Well it had been a tough few days.  Too much work for the conference, too much computer time and I had to get out.  So I went for a walk.  Just a wander around town.  I thought I'd go to the mobile phone shop and check if I needed to top up my account.  I was just about to cross the road when a woman, maybe late thirties approached me with a leaflet.  I said no.  She said "Anmó" and reached over and squeezed my neck.  Massage!  Well I didn't want one, but I'd be interested to find out where the place was, and check it out.  So I told her I didn't want a massage but if she could show me where the place was, then I might come another day.  It was about ten minutes away.  We walked and talked and exchanged WeChats.  Eventually we went down a side street and she led me to a small doorway.  I looked inside and it opened out into a big hall with a set of stairs. 

She led me up the stairs.  At the top of the stairs I was greeted with a bow and some Chinese greeting from a young lady.  It was not what I expected!  It was a big palatial building.  All marble with a long corridorvand maybe twenty rooms along each side.  I would have loved to take a few pictures but it didn't seem right.  For your information, I have included a snapshot from the leaflet to give you an idea of what it was like.

The leafleteer introduced me to the staff and ushered me into a room and left me.
The room was fairly big, maybe 20 x 15 mtrs.  On the left wall was a TV and on the right side were three immaculate beds.  The lifted up the end sheets on one bed , moved the cushion and showed a sink.  She explained it was for pedicures.  She then moved along to the end bed, pointed to the air-conditioning unit, pulled back the sheets and asked me to sit down.  I did.  She then mentioned something about coffee, and free and left me on my own.  I took a quick video of the room.  She returned with a small cup of coffee and a plate of watermelon.  I ate and drank.  She tried to persuade me to have a massage but I refused politely.  I took a photo of us and had a little more coffee and watermelon. She then said that she had to go and suggested I go with her.  We left, but I may visit again.  It seemed quite legitimate.

Bird in a box
As I left the massage place I decided to take a photo.  As I was taking the photo thus little gang of kids stopped and gawped at the big foreigner.  There's something about Chinese kids, they are so cute!  Anyway, we talked a while mainly asking names, which unfortunately I forgot instantly,  and explaining to them that I was English, not American.  Then I noticed that one of the boys had a small bird on his finger, a fledgling, something like a sparrow.  As the conversation finished he removed it from his finger and popped it in the red shoebox that they were carrying.  They said goodbye, and I asked for a photo before they left.  They were happy to agree.  I took one of the bird too!

Bird photo

They then headed off down some steep stairs.  At the bottom of the stairs was what looked like the square near the supermarket, so I asked them if the supermarket was down there and they told me that it was.  They told me that it was, so I headed down the stairs and into the supermarket.  After a few minutes the kids appeared and the girl in white tapped me on the arm and with a very serious face, tried to tell me something.  The girl in black reinforced this.  Soon some of the shop assistants cane over and watched.  As hard as I tried,  I have no idea what she was trying to tell me, but she occasionally tapped the umbrella that I was carrying.  My best guess was that I wasn't allowed to take it into the supermarket.  (You are not allowed to bring any bag into the local supermarkets...Lockers provided.). I told her I didn't understand, smiled and gave her a thumbs up sign.  She nodded, and walked off with her gang.  I did my shopping and bought a few snacks for them.  Outside, they smiled and waved me goodbye.  I offered them the snacks.  The girl in white looked at me very seriously and declined.  My experience so far is that Chinese don't like to take gifts off foreigners or maybe they don't like accepting gifts even though they do like giving them.  Anyhow, I said they were a gift, and they accepted.  I waved goodbye and walked off.  Shortly afterwards they appeared again and offered me one if the bags back, the bigger more expensive one.  I'd given them two bags of snacks, one cost maybe twenty pence, and the other cost a pound.  A pound can buy a simple meal here.  I reckon they thought it was too much to accept.  However, I reassured them that it was a gift, and they all smiled.  I asked if I could take another photo, and they agreed.  Again, I said goodbye and walked off.  What a lovely encounter!  ...but I find it interesting, that even in China at that age it is still the girls who are in charge!

Pictures in the street
I wandered around a while, then headed off home.  There must have been a few new people in town who had not yet seen  the foreigner and wanted a photo with him.  I happily obliged.  These two girls walked past me turned, stared and went "Aaaaw!". A couple of minutes later, they appeared besides me and started talking to me.  One of them made a hand signal like a photo frame.  I asked if they wanted a photo.  They looked surprised looked at each other and said in Chinese "He speaks Chinese!".  They took their photos, I took mine and we walked off our separate ways.

Later on a mum and with her kids stopped for a photo shoot!  Another interesting afternoon and evening in Jiangkou.