Monday 10^th August, 2020 1230 En route to Hefei

I never investigated breakfast at the last hotel, partly due to lack of appetite and partly because Joanna told me there was nothing of interest for me. This morning I did get her to bring me a croissant afterwards though.

We boarded the train at 1130 and we are the only ones in business class. Waste of money for an hour and a half journey but she'd never travelled in it before. And as you can see from the photo, she lost no time in making the most of the seat!

1900

Mini reunion with Smile, one of her classmates and ergo one of my oldest chicks, She seems to be doing ok as a Clerk to the Justices or whatever they are in China. We all went for dinner in Bitburger (well, I had half a dinner, meant to take it back to the hotel to have for breakfast on the way to the airport but forgot it). Joanna had a huge Aberdeen Angus rib steak which to her credit she ate. And then in view of having to leave the hotel by 0600 it was bedtime.

Tuesday 11^th 2045 Chongqing

Getting up was a bit of a chore but I managed a shower at least. The taxi was early so we left at about 0545 and arrived at 0625. And then we had the fiasco with names on tickets once again. In China I use Trip.com and select frequent travellers, details of which the site saves and autofills. It seems it did the right thing for Shanghai to Chizhou but not for Hefei to Chongqing. All to do with ID. Chinese people can travel just using their credit card type ID (us laowei need passports) or their passport. I wouldn't cart a passport around if I didn't have to and so neither does she. But one has her name in English, the other in Chinese characters. Her name is exactly the same but because it is a different language, quack quack oops. Luckily no need to cancel her ticket and buy another for more money, she just had her details changed and ten minutes later we were good to go.

Apart from the masks you wouldn't think the Chinese domestic airline industry had a problem with Covid. Business class was full. No idea about cattle class though.

One of my lessons is entitled “My Hometown” and I think it gives examples from Kunming and Chongqing among others. I have on many occasions demonstrated what a “concrete and steel jungle” is and I now know they weren't lying! It is quite literally a city seemingly consisting of skyscrapers.

Too hot for me to do much, went with her and sat while she had noodles and went off exploring, I went for a sneaky 11¥ plain cheeseburger simply to fill a hole and then back for a nap. Tonight I had grudgingly agreed to go for a hotpot (a terrifying prospect when you remember we are in what used to be in Sichuan before becoming its own region).

But tonight she took a bath, decided she was too full from the lunchtime noodles and didn't want to eat. Thankfully the lobby bar had some snacks on offer during happy hour and I don't need much to keep me happy. McDonald's is fifty yards away anyway.

Tomorrow I will get her to check our bookings to Nanning and Shanghai to see if we need to head off problems at the pass.