Woke up with cold moved to final phase: the lingering cough, sometimes accompanied by a coughing-induced headache. So far, the headache has not come. Knock on wood.

Packed out stuff for the trip to Beijing. The flight is not until 7pm, so we had some time to kill. Took a taxi downtown to eat and shop. Went to a hot-pot place, which I found quite enjoyable.

Then shopping. Sabrina bought an umbrella. I looked again for camera gear, but could only find consumer stuff, nothing pro, or even “prosumer”.

Returned home to get our bags, and then taxid to the airport. This flight is from the other older airport in Shanghai. Security proved to be much more lax than I’m accustomed to these days. I like it.

The plane was quite late to depart, about an hour. And now, with the flight just over half done, we’ve been forced to land in Jinan, due to bad weather in Beijing. It remains to be seen whether we will get to Beijing today.

12:30am. After sitting on the ground for hours, remainder of flight cancelled. Beijing airport is closed now. We have to stay in a hotel in Jinan. Sucks. But better than sitting in the plane all night.

1:37am. A bus came, and took us to the terminal. We’ve been here for 15 mins now. Apparently no hotel has been arranged yet, and they don’t know when the next flight will be. Maybe we’ll be spending the night here. We just sit and wait. The guy that was sitting beside us has been very upset, and making quite a spectacle of himself.

2:30am. They got us a hotel. Bus is here to take us.

3:30am. The hotel was a long drive away. Man. Checking in now.

3:45am. Sleep, at last. Must wake up for breakfast and 8, and return to airport at 8:30. Sucks.