9/23

9/23 8:23am CST

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It's our last day in Tangshan. These big Chinese holidays usually come with three days of vacation, so even though not everyone had their first day off, everyone definitely gets the second day off. Except those in retail, I guess. In the morning we taxi over to 2nd Uncle's. He's taking off for the Northeast for work, so we figure we'd send him off. It's a pretty pleasant parting. We decided to walk back. This was very rewarding, in that it reminded me of the way things used to look in the area around where my grandmother lived, and where I stayed for a bit back in 1997. It basically looked like halfway to a slum, which is still fine to me, as it represents part of what China has been trying to rise up from on its way to greatness.

Lunch is all about dumplings. 1st Aunt makes two kinds -- chives and pork and also pure beef. Because of my intestine issues, I have a few chive dumplings and peanuts but otherwise abstain. They're really good, though. After lunch, Ranran is extremely motivated to play a game of: stretch this elastic band, and then take turns letting go of it at your partner. I don't have too much else to do, so I humor her for about two hours at this game. She's my cousin's daughter after all, so I ham it up with variations and go along with her feigned outrages.

Eventually, mom's high school classmates show up. One just to say goodbye, and the other to drop us off at Beijing. Recall that, thanks to some poor logistics, we weren't able to get sleeping berth tickets from Tangshan to Shanghai. So we decided to get them starting in Beijing. So this requires us to get to Beijing (east of Tangshan) and then head south to Shanghai. It would probably have been cleverer to get the tickets starting in Tianjin, which is an hour closer to Tangshan and to Shanghai, but we didn't think that part through. My mom's classmate's own car was too small, so he managed to convince a connection from his old job to pick us up. This guy was really doing a favor -- not only is it holidays for Mid-Autumn Festival, but it's also his birthday! He says he often goes to Beijing or Tianjin for his vacations, but still.
Even though it was kind of pricy, we bought out a 4-person room on the sleeping car, so that we wouldn't have a stranger among us and so we'd have extra storage space for our luggage. My parents waffled a bit on whether it was worth it, but with some deliberation and goading on my part, we went with it. Because the tickets originate in Beijing, and it's the holidays, this is technically the most costly hotel we've paid for since we've been in China. Oh well.

So now, around 10pm, the train has lurched out of Beijing South station and is aimed like a bullet for Shanghai. I think this one tops out at 250 kph. We'll be there by 7:30 am.