Sunday, August 3, 2008

Return trip to Beijing

Today we managed to obtain 4 train tickets from Mudanjiang to Beijing on August 5. Tickets are extremely difficult to buy so close to the Olympics Opening. Took Grace's father several phone calls and much goodwill dispensed to obtain these tickets. 3 tickets are in the same cabin but 1 is in a different cabin. There is hope we may be able to swap tickets with our overnight cabinmate, but chances are not high as it involves swapping an upper bunk for a more convenient and sought after lower bunk. If the fellow passenger sharing our cabin is an elderly, or a mother sharing the bunk with young child (below 1.1m), then our chance is close to zero.
Grace's mother just launched Plan B with another call to her colleague for help, trying to get 4 tickets on August 7 in one cabin. If that fails, Plan C is to fly back to Beijing on August 9. We have officially run out of cash in Mudanjiang and are now making purchases on loans from Grace's mother.... Out of town ATM withdrawals costs 1% in bank fee, capped at RMB100 (ie for withdrawals beyond RMB10,000).

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