Up to Baise with a hitch for Chuan Chuan and Xiao He's wedding

Although I woke up at a godly 8am I lingered in bed till 10am before getting up and washing etc. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to pack but I still wasn't sure how long we were going for. Er jie had created a family group on Weixin and I'd asked on there as I needed to know how much to bring. She'd said pack for two days but Tan said we'd be back the next day. I ask Tan again in the morning and she shouted that we'd be back tomorrow, not that any ticket had been purchased. So I packed two pairs of boxer shorts and socks and an extra thin tee-shirt just in case.

I had just poured a bit of V into lemonade when I was called by the kids to say they were outside and the cab was coming in 2 minutes! So I grabbed what toiletries I could and went out keyless as I couldn't afford any more time or anger. The didi che indeed turned up when I did and we got to the station 35 minutes before the train was due. Leilei and Xixi duly showed their passports and got through, but Tan's ID card was refused. She went to the manual place where we have to go and the lady said she didn't have a ticket. Well she did as I'd bought it, and I showed her the trip.com app with the details. But as I did my heart sank as I realised the problem as I showed her; I'd used Tan's passport number as that was what I had saved in the app for booking flights. But of course she only had her ID on her and not her passport.

I guess it was my fault, but can't China marry-up IDs and passports? So an angry woman was even angrier, and we walked to the manual ticket office. I tried to tell her that they should just change the ID info on the existing ticket, or at the very least cancel the ticket and reissue it via the ID. But Tan wasn't listening and Xixi was asking where I was, so I came back with Tan saying she'd get the next train if this one was full. I even tried cancelling it on the app but it said it was too close to the time of departure and I should go to the ticket office to do it. It probably would have been worth it but there was no value standing with an angry Tan, and anyhow at least it meant I could be in the same carriage as Xixi.

So Xixi and I did security and this time they didn't make me taste my carry-ons, and not two minutes later Tan came through security after having bought a business class ticket as that's all that were left. So much for all the fuss.

The journey was the typical 55 minutes and the young lady next to me offered me some grapes, as well as to the people opposite, and for once I accepted, and a bit of starfruit, which she taught me was called 杨桃 here. Everyone's so friendly here, and not just to me as a foreign-looking person.

杨桃in the foreground and葡萄in the background, kindly shared by my temporary neighbour on the train to Baise

Baise was even hotter than Pingguo at 39° and Chuan Chuan had come to pick us up luckily but even the walk from the train to outside was so sultry. As soon as we got in the car Tan said something to Chuan Chuan and then said who wanted to stay a few days? Jeez, I got told off earlier for asking if we were staying more than one night. Obviously no-one was prepared for a few days so it was declared we would come back later in the week.

We got to the hotel and just chilled. Well Tan and I did but the kids wanted to see the cat café Leilei and Nezha had gone to last year. Tan then asked me to book tickets for 3pm tomorrow and there were only 10 seats left. Ok so it was to be a single night after all. But I was to book it via the Weixin app, which I'd not used before. Luckily it was mostly in English, but a good 10% hadn't been translated. I needed to input all of our details manually, and couldn't even paste in Tan's long ID number. It took nearly an hour of inputting and double-checking as a single wrong digit would cause more disproportionate anger. But eventually I'd managed it and three of us were actually sitting next to each other (and there there 14 seats left on the 15:13 train, not 10). 210 kuai was more-or-less what I'd paid with trip.com anyway. I've now added Tan's ID to my trip.com contacts but I have no idea which ID they'll use if I use it to book train tickets again.

Apparently we weren't to eat till 6.30pm and I'd had a little of the carry-on so I went out and found a supermarket to get some beer and crisps for afterwards should the need arise, then pinged the kids to come back as I knew we'd not be given 5 minutes' notice before we'd have to leave the hotel for the restaurant next door. Indeed when we got back and I was brushing my teeth Tan announced we were going and chastised me for not being ready.

But it was a fantastic meal, the best this year. Crispy bits of pre-cut meat that you poured a bit of watermelon juice over (although Tan said it was sour red berry juice she was wrong, but I didn't go on about it). The duck was out of this world, and I couldn't stop munching the eggy fried things and the lotus root and mangetout. And although at another table I knew that the kids would be stuffed too.

Most splendid meal of the year

My favourite - I think crispy duck on the left and crispy pork on the right, with mini jars of watermelon juice to add if you like

Due to the nature of the occasion, I decided to join most of the drinkers in red wine. Yes, it tasted a bit crap, but I've done worse. The grooms parents were great fun, and both seemed rather happy to toast everyone. I did my bit and toasted almost all of the adult drinkers one-by-one and could tell it was appreciated. Then I went to toast the younger people with their full-fat Coke at the two other tables. In fact I think all the women bar the broom's mother were on the Coke.

Relatively unposed pic of some of the ladies

After about an hour and four glasses of wine I said I'd move to the beer, and interestingly just about everyone else did too. It wasn't long before caima started and I think I impressed the Baise folk as much as I did the Pingguoans. People came and went, a cake was cut, lots of photos were taken, and it was a very jolly evening all told till around 9.30pm when people started to leave.

Not my first toast with Xiao He, the groom, as by now we were on the beer

The happy couple slicing the cake

Clockwise from top left: A Heng, Qiqi gege, Leilei, Xixi, Chuan Chuan, Tan

Back at the hotel I was glad to have put those beers from the supermarket in the mini-fridge as it was too early to go to bed, and a bit later went for a walk. Blimey, it was busier than Pingguo with all the people eating outside. Of course I was called over to one after a while and sat down with them for a few brews and a chat till midnight when I reckoned I'd better call it a night.

For some reason (beer) I found I didn't know where the hotel was and rather than check the name of the hotel on the keycard and search online, I just asked Leilei to send a dingwei, which he did and I was back 15 minutes later, and didn't last too much later before getting another early night.