Train Day

We all took Cameron to school and then walked home. We had to walk a little faster because it started to rain. We didn't melt thank goodness.

Home for 10 minutes then in the van again. Mr. Xue took us to the Tanggu train station. Dad wanted to ride the high speed train since he has never been on one before. We rode the 9:24 train. We sent Mr. Xue to get the tickets yesterday. As we were giving our tickets at the entrance a Chinese lady let Dad go.  He said "Xiexie"(thank you).  The lady got a big smile and said "Bu keqi"(you're welcome). I told my Dad "See, they like when you use their language".

Playing the AARP Ipad...again.

At the train station and excited to ride the train.

Inside the train station.

Our excitement is mounting.

We sat in our first class seats but we only had a partial window. It was rainy and smoggy anyway so we couldn't see much.

Fun times.

Enjoying the partial view.

We arrived in Beijing at 10:25. We looked around for a place to eat. From the spot we were standing in we saw 3 McDonald's, 3 KFC's, papa johns, and a few Chinese places. We decided on papa johns. We ordered an all meat pizza. After 10 minutes we were eating some yummy pizza.

A little taste of home.

Mom wasted no time tasting it.  Yum.

After lunch we went upstairs to where the departures go out of. This was a first for everyone riding the train back to Tanggu. We wanted to make sure we found our gate. We hit the bathroom, found gate 22, then walked around. The train station is big with a lot of shops.

Boarding time. Showed our tickets and went down the stairs. Train 5 was right there. Found our seats and 5 minutes later, at 11:45, we were on our way.

Dads seat this time had a big window so he could look out. It stopped raining and the sun was trying to peek out. As we started the guy in front of Dad put the sun shade down which was also part of Dads window. Luckily Dad could still see out or the fight would have been on.

Top speed = 185 miles per hour.

So happy to be able to see out the window.

We arrived back in Tanggu at 12.35. This was the fastest Beijing trip I have ever had. The day was dads idea and mom and I have to admit...it was a good one. Pretty fun just to ride the train. Dad finally can say he has been on a bullet train going 298 km/h or 185 miles/h.

Back at the station Mr. Xue was there waiting for us. It was tricky getting out of the parking lot but we finally were on the road to the veggie market. We bought some chicken from my chicken lady then went home.

2:50 we went to school to get Cameron. Back home. He did homework then played some games with Grandma. We watched the videos from Thailand. We had dinner then played Euchre. Mom and I won. We are up 4-3 and it is the first team to 5 that wins it all. Off to bed.