Day 6: Wednesday Shenzhen to Baoji

Today is mostly a travel day from Shenzhen to Baoji.  XP picked me up from the hotel around 9:30am.  I forgot my PJs hanging behind the hotel door.  While checking out, the maid told the front desk and I went back got it. I had a pretty good impression about this hotel. We bid on a Chinese groupon for a low price for the one-night stay. It took them a while to figure out the transaction but there are no surprises.  Although the building and hall way seem a bit dated, the room is in fact very clean, one of the cleanest I’ve seen for 3-3.5 star hotels in China. It’s also quite. 
Arrived at the airport about 1.5hr before the scheduled departure time. The airport food in Shenzhen is very expensive. Ended up having a Chinese meal at the KFC. Although the flight is code shared with Air China, a Star Alliance member, my Gold status was not recognized and the miles couldn’t be counted since SZ Air has not officially been added to Start Alliances.  Nor can I use Air China’s lounge even they have the same flight.
My flight at Shenzhen was late.  It’s not just waiting.  When arrived at XIA, I was 5 minutes late for the airport bus back to Baoji.  Originally, I grabbed a cab trying to go back to Xi’An to catch a train then realized that I may be late for that due to the rush hour traffic. So decided to bite the bullet and paid 500 yuan asking the Taxi driver directly go to Baoji, which is 170km away.  The freeway to Baoji is having major work done but we were lucky. 
Got in Baoji about 2hr.  In the end, I arrived there earlier than initially planned. I quickly checked in the hotel for a very low price (SH booked for me using her company discount) and had a shower.
I left Baoji 24 years ago. Can’t believe it took almost a quarter of a century for me to come back.
The city has much changed but I still managed to recognize a few streets, with the help of the GPS + Google Map on my iPhone. 

The hotel is in a very good location. HB and ZW made reservation at a restaurant across the street. We also met with BJ. Three of us were not only classmates in middle school, but elementary school.  We were all exited and HB drank a bit more and stayed with me in the hotel instead of driving back.