Truly Back in Pingguo

We were at Heathrow Terminal 4 an hour before baggage drop-off opened, and we would have been checked-in online if China Southern had allowed me to check in Xixi after having allowed me to check in the rest of us.... But it was ok and the kids were happy to spend a couple of hours in the lounge, which actually had very decent food. Of course Xixi spilt hot chocolate over her jeans so after Tan washed them I was tasked with drying them. A hithertothen unused perk of the lounge, at least on a journey's departure, was the shower suite, where I was given a room with a hair dryer and spent the next 10 minutes with it inflating Xixi's right trouser leg. When it was dry enough in my eyes I brought it up only to find it wasn't dry enough (things feel drier when they're warm) and there was also a sleeve of her hoodie to dry. This time I got Xixi to help out plus a glass of refreshment....

Either the flight was nondescript or I've pretty much got over any concern over flying I might have had before. I tried to watch Logan, but just couldn't get into the genre or the bad acting. Then I managed 3/4 of a film supposedly about Mars but more about the first person born there and how he coped on earth. I had really hoped for some decent sci-fi but again all I saw was bad acting and a boring romance. Not to mention he was chatting with her in real time even though it would have taken seconds if not minutes for each message to be relayed. So I ended up watching the Bourne Legacy again and fell asleep half an hour into it. Magically I awoke with only three of the 11 hours to go meaning I'd slept for around five hours. There was no queue at immigration, no need to take and re-check-in baggage, no problem at security and not long after we were in the Bayun lounge at Guangzhou airport with a good two hours before the next flight, during which I caught up on some work, and managed a couple of cold beers as it was now well after 6pm. I even nodded off on the 1h15m flight to Nanning, where we were met by Er Jie and A Heng, and our luggage just a few minutes later.

Xixi doing the same joke as last year in Arrivals (ok it was my idea)

Last year was closer to being funny

I went with the kids in Er Jie's boss's 4x4 while Tan went with A Heng in a white BMW. We arrived in Pingguo shortly before 1.30am but went straight to Tian Yang Po's bbq place around the corner from ours. As she was firing up new charcoal I went for a wander and found that my friend Huang from the Bei Hai Seafood place had already shut up shop, but as I walked back I was beckoned over to a table of blokes and a woman and had a beer forced in my face and duly ganbei'd. I was truly back in Pingguo. I managed to get away after a couple more and having myself added to someone else's WeChat, before I was beckoned over again by four more blokes just 50 yards from our table. I managed a couple more ganbeis before Xixi walked over to tell me to come over to eat. What a pretty excuse to leave that I couldn't have bettered by any words.

Well of course the bbq was good, and Er Jie's boss got a six pack of 500ml beers, which I checked and they were 2.9% so ok. Xixi was given a second-hand iPhone 5 - the first time I've ever seen something second-hand given as a gift here. There were a few more people now but we left well before 3am to get to the house. They are rebuilding the road on the door-side of the building and there was a drop of about 9" which unfortunately the BMW went down, causing some noise and scratching. Eventually in the house with all the luggage I thought the kids would sleep but no chance...a shower seemed to wake them up. I noticed although the flat was nice and clean, there was no water, so I ventured out to buy five bottles and managed not to get caught up in any more ganbei'ing before getting back and having my own shower. Bed was some time between 5 and 6am.