i am less than 2 hours away from checking out of the guanyinqiao haiyou hotel (2pm) and heading to the jiangbei airport. i just had lunch and got myself some fried squid for a snack and some dongbei bread for the road. i couldn't get into my room at first because checkout time is officially 12pm. but because i'ma VIP member, i can stay until 2pm. earlier i was down on the 4th floor talking with the housecleaning crew we were having lunch. i asked them if they wanted my metal ikea shelf, they enthusiastically said yes.

it's pouring outside, a terrible day to be traveling. i just hope that in less than 2 hours the weather will clear up a bit and give me a stretch of dry weather so i can get my suitcases into a taxi without them getting completely soaked.

my time in china is just about to be over. my time in chongqing will be over in a few hours. i still have to spend a night in beijing, where hopefully the airline can find me some free lodging, otherwise i'm sleeping in the airport.

i will be back in boston friday afternoon (3pm), although it'll actually be 3am saturday morning china time for me.