With my host family out again, I decided to try to fix the tap in the kitchen.  I went to B&Q (百安居) first, but it seems in China they don’t sell small items like tap washers or tap parts.  So after searching on AMap for plumbers, I found myself wandering around the back streets of some very run down parts of town.  A lot of the “shops” seemed like under-house garages.  The first place I found that sold plumbing goods really was such a place with what seemed like junk everywhere.  I somehow managed to make myself understood that I needed a washer and what size, expecting him to say he didn’t have any.  But he went to the back of the shack and rummaged around in some drawers, pulled out a small black rubber disc and handed it to me.  After thanking him and paying an insignificant amount, I continued on down the road.  Walking back along a main road now, I found there were several more shops of various kinds including a plumbing shop.  This time they had a complete tap “cassette”.  I wished I had found this shop first (although the washer wasn’t expensive).

This afternoon/evening I had some work to do, so I stayed in my room, but made sure to give the hamsters some exercise:

View from my room: