Woke up around 8.30 this morning, after waking up in the night a few times due to torrential rain and thunderstorms. The lightning was really bright, even through the curtains and my closed eyes. When we got up, however, the rain had stopped and the sun was attempting to get through the scattered clouds.
We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of muesli, toast and coffee before taking a shower and getting ready for whatever the day had in store. Margaret recommended a beauty salon nearby where she goes for a foot and ankle massage as well as a pedicure. That sounded good to me; I love being pampered and the price was about a third of what it costs back home.
We walked around to the salon and Trevor went into a little café/bar to read the English newspapers they had available and while away the time while we were having our treatments. Margaret opted for a foot massage and I decided on the manicure and pedicure. We sat in large, reclining armchairs while the manicurist sat on a small stool in front of us and set to work. It was lovely and relaxing and the lady did a thorough job; it was done at a much less hurried pace than it is at home and the result was excellent.
When they’d nearly finished my fingernails, Trevor came back in to join us, then we all went off together afterwards to have a look round the local shops and maybe get some lunch.
We went to a little café we’d been to before; it’s clean and comfortable and you’d think you were in someone’s living room in their house. Trevor and I opted for a beer and he decided to have a cheese and ham sandwich while I settled on their “special salad” as it was listed; I only wanted something light. Margaret had a cup of tea and a sandwich.
I waited ages for my salad to arrive and when it did… what a disappointment! It was simply a bowl filled with chopped cucumber and chopped raw carrot, nothing else. But the problem is, I don’t like cucumber and I always pick it out of any salad I have. So that basically left me with a bowl of raw carrot. I’m surprised I didn’t develop long ears and a little fluffy tail. 🙂
After we came out we walked along and looked in all the little local shops. A lot of them were selling cheap tat and designer knock-offs, but here and there you’d see a little gem of a boutique, selling all sorts of stuff from Chinese satin purses to rucksacks to lacquered trinket boxes. It was into one of these little shops that we went for a browse around, and I soon spotted a neat little satin evening bag, in shades of pink and purple and black. The price tag was 35 Yuan but we ended up getting it for 30 Yuan (three quid!!) I mean three quid for an evening bag. You pay more than that for a glass of wine back home! 🙂
When we came out of the shop the heavens opened; it had been threatening to rain again all morning, despite the persistent heat. We tried to dodge it by going in and out of the various shops, and we ended up in a baker’s shop-cum-café, where we sat at one of their chairs and tables. We had some coffee and I had a cake, which was a bit more substantial than the raw carrot I’d had for lunch. 🙂
Once the rain eased off we headed for home, where we changed out of our damp clothes and got dried off a bit.
At about 6.00pm we got the usual call from Alan to say he was in Frog’s, so we wandered around there and had a couple of drinkies, enjoyed the banter with the crowd, then went to a really good Mexican restaurant where I demolished a great big plate of nachos with loads of jalapeño peppers (yum) and a couple of frozen margaritas. 🙂
Then it was back to Alan and Margaret’s for a nightcap and a bit of telly. We watched a daft American comedy film called Grown Ups, then went off to bed for what would be our last night in Shenzhen. 🙁