Thursday, 2^nd January, 2020 1800

I really need to stop making plans. Seriously.

I had a call this morning which started with a “wei” from the other end and which I was about to dismiss as one of the infuriating marketing spams but I barked “English!” into the phone and suddenly the girl apologised and started speaking English, albeit tentatively. She then realised she needed a more fluent colleague and said “Lily/Linda” would call me back.

It was enough for alarm bells to start ringing. She was calling from the Sebel hotel (part of the Sofitel) in Xining. They weren't calling to reconfirm our booking.

I was right.

It seems as though the government – provincial or national I know not – have a week-long conference and have taken over the entire hotel. Nobody is allowed to stay there from 10^th to 18^th January, the exact dates Alice is staying here with me so no possibility of rearranging. Whether or not by “nobody” they mean nobody or just foreigners is unknown but they asked if I could get an official letter from the university signed and stamped to confirm I am employed here, they would do their best to get me permission to stay because I am a frequent flyer at their hotel and they know I am a long term resident in China! Personally I reckon it's just foreigners and I suspect it may be national government.

Poor old Brenda is labouring under a heavy bout of the common cold but nonetheless went into work this afternoon to produce said letter, which I shall go and pick up in the morning and get faxed to the hotel. Bit of a problem if I am still refused a room because there are no rooms left in decent hotels in Xining, in fact I was lucky to get the one I did and having already had Alice pay for our first class train tickets I am not going to be overjoyed in the slightest. If I want a break somewhere else it will need to be further afield and more expensive. On the plus side, if it is the bigwigs and we can stay, I might get a photo with the second most powerful man on earth, even though I can't stand his or his oppo's policies. In case you are wondering, Putin is only third these days.

Probably though there will be no room at the inn for us.

Plans, eh?

Just to add insult to injury I wasted three hours travelling in search of my cigars and coming away with a box of the same ones I can easily get near the supermarket when I go shopping tomorrow.

I never had these problems in Chizhou......