Rats

on the record, the place is Effects Cafe in Hai Kou, Hainan.

it started out reasonably well. HL and i went in and happily ordered our tea sets, and they were of excellent value. before we sat down, the waitress brushed away little black crumbs from the table. guess what they are. the sofas are frayed and betray little tears. guess why.

suddenly, a mouse scuttled out from under MY seat to the opposite seat. well...that's not too bad, yet, is it? sometimes things like that happen...then its cousin ran out to join it. is the place infested with mice? we complained to the waitress and just then, a third mouse appeared. all hell broke loose. HL screamed so loudly that all the staff of the cafe dashed out to see what was wrong, and my legs were well up on the sofa. goodness me! the place is crawling with mice. now you can guess why the sofas were torn and there were black crumbs...we could puke. obviously we didn't want to eat the food in the place, so we paid up and fled.

funnily enough, nobody else was surprised or alarmed. the other customers were at first startled by our screams, but when they were told, 'it's just mice', they shrugged and continued to enjoy their tea. the waitress told us that they were not afraid until our screams frightened them. ok, i guess, i am glad that we didn't damage their business too much :P

*** ***
our guardian gargoyle abandoned us.

after bringing us back to Hai Kou, he made us fill in feedback forms, and i am sorry to say that we were honest. he got really upset with us and blustered and protested. then, he went off in a huff, leaving us stranded in our hotel and that is the very last time we saw him today. so now, we are on our own. never mind, we are going home soon and now, at least we are reasonably near the airport. sigh...