Hammock time!

Ever since I moved to Xiamen, it surprised me to almost never see people in hammocks. Only once I saw one, suspended between two trees along the scenic coast. Until that moment, I even thought hammocks were unknown in China, but a quick online survey showed that there are actually many shops offering them at very reasonable prices (50 to 80 RMB). It took a long time until I actually bought one though. Not in the least because navigating Chinese websites is still a real challenge for me. Websites such as taobao.com are very popular, and you can buy virtually anything online, at considerable lower prices than in a shop.
To order my hammock I needed help from a Chinese friend, and eventually it was Ling Ling who offered her assistance. More than that, she bought it for me as a birthday present, very sweet! It arrived two days later, and again I needed some help of a local to explain to the delivery man how to find my exact address.
The package looked rather smallish, compared to the hammock I have in Amsterdam, but after unpacking it seemed OK. Advertised as a 三人 (3-person) hammock, it is actually smaller than the one I have in Amsterdam, which was sold as a single-person hammock, but in my experience is big enough for two people (of my size or smaller). This one also seems just big enough to accommodate myself plus Ling Ling, but definitely not three!

Included in the package was a carrying bag (made from the same colourful broadly striped cotton cloth as the hammock itself), and a pair of ropes, made from recycled strands of polyester fabric. The ropes were not very long, and also rather thin, so I went out to get some proper nylon rope. I bought 10 meters for 9 RMB, cut it in two, so each end can easily be looped around a tree trunk or branch and then tied to the eyelets on either side of the hammock.
Yesterday was a beautiful warm and sunny afternoon, so a perfect day for a field test. I took my bike to the so-called Music Square at the seaside, and found two trees spaced 6 meters apart close to the shore. I was watched by a coconut vendor while hooking up, and once I installed myself, received a lot of attention from passers-by, at times taking pictures of the eccentric laowai.

Not long after that my friend Miao Qi arrived, whom I'd already met last September. She had called me to ask if I would be interested in a game of badminton, but after I told her of my hammock, she come over by bike to see and try it out for herself. Miao Qi is an aspiring journalist, and will move to Shanghai after her graduation this June. We now and then meet to talk about contemporary Chinese issues, and eat seafood together. She is also a keen photographer, so lots to talk about. She brought her brand new Kindle e-book reader, which is amazingly light (170 gram), less than a typical mobile phone. The matte black & white e-Ink screen is beautiful and very pleasant to read in bright sunlight, and with its ultra-low power consumption you could take it on a month-long trip without ever needing to recharge the battery. Better still, it cost her only 600 RMB (less than 75 Euro).