Despite a slowish drive we arrived at Heathrow in good time for a swift couple of Guinnesses after we checked in. The plane journey was via Munich and the bad news we heard was that there were thunderstorms so we had the prospect of missing our plane and the dreaded turbulence. The former didn't happen as there was a knock-on effect and most flights were delayed by half an hour or so. But the turbulence did and I still haven't learnt to deal with it properly. Thankfully I wasn't sitting next to Steve so I survived the flight without most of a double vodka and orange poured over me. And the kids were ok too, which is a bonus. Munich provided a fright as we had to go through security again but this time we had four bottles of booze plus numerous perfumes as presents. I was greatly relieved that they let us put them through the machine, but afterwards one lady security guard asked me about the perfumes. I said where we'd got them but she said unlike the alcohol they weren't in a sealed bag so they couldn't be taken. I looked aghast (though probably not as aghast as I would have, had it been the other bottles) and said we had no idea and the shop should have sealed the bags for us. Bless her German cotton socks that she relented and let us through, saving us about 100 quid.
The flight from Munich was very turbulent. We had four seats together in the middle of the plane and I was on the outside with the two kids in the middle. My left hand was grasping the bottom of the seat except when I was drying the sweat off. I turned to my right to check if Leilei was ok and he looked right at me with a beaming smile. I would never lie to my kids but the smile I gave back was as genuine as the "Addiddds" tee-shirts you often see worn on the streets of Pingguo. I looked around and saw people (mostly Chinese) reading papers, sleeping, chatting - no-one noticing the rollercoaster I was experiencing. I asked myself how many planes crash per day, or week, and the answer was probably around 0.01. I know flying is safer than driving - I'd probably just prefer it if I could drive. We even managed to get a little sleep, as the kids were content to watch some kiddy films during the flight in-between going to the loo.
Although we were nearly an hour late arriving in Beijing we had two and a half hours to make our connection. Passport control was made a lot quicker by a kindly policeman on a Segway who motioned for me to follow him. Previously I would have been concerned but I'm used to this country now and I knew he was there to help - he brought us to a diplomat's queue where we were processed in moments. The next job was to arrange all the duty-free in our luggage, which we managed with a little fuss. The internal flight allows 20kg per person but Lufthansa allowed 30kg. This meant we really only had around 17kg each before duty-free. Well we managed to be just about within our limit despite our hand luggage being well over the 5kg. So far so good. We got another diplomat service for the security for the internal flight and had an hour on our hands during which the kids played with the moving walkways and Tan tried in vain to get a few minutes' kip. As soon as it was time to board Xixi announced she wanted to do a poo poo (for the third or fourth time this journey). I duly took her and we got on the plane with plenty of time to spare. After the doors had been closed for for 20 minutes or so people were getting irritable. Then the dreaded announcement came that there was a lot of traffic at the airport and we were waiting for our slot. The pilot updated us a couple of times over the next hour with no new information. He had a European accent and I guessed he was Portuguese as this China Eastern flight was using an Air Macao plane. The stewardesses insisted in repeating every announcement in English even though I was probably the only person who could speak it. Everyone was ignoring the keep phones turned off warning and blatantly calling friends in Nanning to update them of the increasing lateness. Finally, three hours later we were allowed to make a move. After an age of taxiing I noticed we were just two planes back in the queue for taking off. Hooray! Then, as we got onto the runway we just seemed to dawdle and in fact we just taxied the length of the runway before turning off and a few minutes later ending up in a queue for another runway. When we finally got some info from the pilot it transpired that due to stormy weather and winds we had been advised to change runways. I quickly turned on my phone and texted A Wu we were soon to leave - I had been about the only one whose phone had been off during the taxiing.
It didn't make it easier that the air hostesses kept telling us to buckle up as we were approaching "strong" and "very strong" turbulence. I'm sure they wouldn't say that on a European flight. Well the plane wobbled its way through the skies on its southern journey, barely lending us five minutes at a time of smooth flight during which we were quickly served beverages. No beer or wine to calm my nerves so I logicked my way through things by imagining how many other planes were going through such weather and surviving. Actually it was not as bad as the Munich-Beijing flight but I don't like being told I am to experience "very strong turbulence" at any time. No-one else on the plane batted an eyelid though of course.
At last at 9.45pm the plane touched down and every mobile phone was switched on instantly while still on the runway. No-one was being told off - probably because everyone knows they don't interfere with the planes at all. Otherwise you wouldn't be allowed to take them on in the first place. By 10pm Leilei and I were waiting for the luggage and the girls were with A Wu, A Ni, Lin Hong, A Zheng and a few Nanning friends who had come to greet us. All the luggage was intact, so after luggage inspection (they actually check your luggage receipts with the bag - a really good, if slightly time-consuming, idea) I gave a big hug to my didi (little brother) A Wu, plus a smaller hug to A Ni and Lin Hong as they are ladies and it's not really in their culture to hug blokes that aren't their husbands.
With little ado we stuffed the two large saloons with our suitcases and made haste to Pingguo. Tan had said one of them would be an Audi Q7 but judging by a quick Internet search neither was. However they were both very nice new luxury saloons, a style that has become more and more prevalent over the last 6-7 years. And to think before 2003 there were no cars in China...it makes the mind boggle.
A Wu was his usual self and we had a laugh on the journey back with A Ni, Leilei and Xixi (who wouldn't travel with Tan in the other car because she is a daddy's girl). I did insist that the kids put their seatbelts on at least for the motorway, as A Wu drove at up to 160kph until we passed the site of a very recent accident involving a number of lorries, one of which had its cabin completely buckled in and I tried to avert the kids' eyes lest they see the remains of a driver who probably just had the last and shortest sleep in his life. It puts my dislike (as opposed to fear) of flying in proportion; it certainly IS far more dangerous on the roads, except for when I'm driving.
A Ni and the kids while they were starting to get less shy
Due to our greater speed we arrived at our block of flats well in advance of the other cars. It really did feel like coming home. This place really is a second home and there was no excitement in the way you have about coming to a new area - it was replaced by anticipation of living in your own place for the first time. I'd even had the foresight to remember to bring our front door key I took back last year. Without great aplomb I attempted to put the key in the lock but it wouldn't budge. No matter what I tried it wouldn't open the door so we were stuck until the slowcoaches arrived at midnight. When they met us up at the 14th floor Lin Hong announced that she had changed the locks while we were away. Grrr.
Anyway the house was better than when we had left it. Ling Ming (Tan's eldest sister's son) had been living there while decorating his own house until early July, and had kitted it out with some nice cross-stitching pictures on the walls and some quite effective wall-decals of leaves and birds which I do rather like even though it sounds kitsch. We also now have a washing machine, an extractor fan, a combi-microwave and some kitchen utensils. I also found a couple of things I left last year that I'd forgotten about, namely a bottle of red wine and a tub of Marmite. If only we'd brought a bread-maker...
Our living room with a nice "room tattoo"
So much for the house. Within 15 minutes I'd showered and left Tan to bed the kids while I went out to get some BBQ. We went to our favourite place "Tian Yang Po" and I had 8 pig eyeballs plus an array of other delights though somehow missed out on duck tongues. Beer was poured but I didn't indulge too much as I needed to sleep and bring back some food for Tan. I brought her 10 skewers of duck intestines and 5 duck tongues plus a bit of pig ligament which she promptly attacked when I got back at 2.30am. We stayed up till 3.30am putting clothes away and spent our first night ever together in our new abode.
A lovely bunch of pig eyes!
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