Last minute shopping on last day

Well it had to happen - our last day. I was gutted, but didn't have time to be as I still had things to do. I went to the local tea shop and bought a beautiful tea tray thing with a moulded cow on top. It sort of made sense as Tan is a cow. The woman who told me it was 260 kuai wasn't there today, but the boss was, who told me he hadn't slept that night for a reason I didn't understand. And the tea tray I wanted was apparently 350 kuai. Well I didn't want to argue so I bought it along with a couple of other bits and pieces. In its cardboard box it wouldn't fit in my canvas bag so we had to remove it to get it inside. I should really have re-adjusted my hard suitcase to fit the tray inside but I didn't have much time and still had to go to the supermarket for some last-minute purchases.

At my last trip to my supermarket (mine because I have a "VIP" card that I have been using to collect - points? - who knows? - I bought a few packs of sunflower seeds and dried jackfruit to take back. I knew we had enough space as I'd popped into Ma Laoban's computer shop and although he wasn't there at the time his wife was, and lent us their scales so I could measure our luggage. We had a couple of spare kg hence I bought bits and pieces including a chamois cloth from the supermarket. Unnecessary but why not?

Tan had gone out during the morning as unfortunately someone from her home village, Bangxu, had been hit by a vehicle, and she was 6 months pregnant. Luckily, it wasn't too bad, but a bit scary nonetheless. Our flight was at 3pm, so we had arranged to leave at 11am. Before that though I went for a last visit to my juice bar where I had a large watermelon juice for just 3 kuai. I told the woman that most other places in Pingguo sold an inferior product for 4 or 5 kuai but she didn't seem to register that I was trying to tell her to up her prices. I told her she should charge more but didn't labour the point. I also gave her and her daughter a little present of some French biscuits and a box of tea bags similar to what I gave to the tea boss yesterday. She seemed really appreciative of that, but perhaps not as much as I have been over the last month or so of her wares.

Well, I got a call from Tan as I was saying my goodbyes to the juice bar woman and her daughter, so I bid a final farewell, and drove home for the last time, where I met some friends waiting to take us to Nanning. A Zheng had a decent sized van that held 8 people plus lots of luggage, and A Wu also brought his aging Zefiro. It was yet another quick goodbye, something very, very un-Western. There are no long goodbyes here, but I did hug the ladies, including Waipo and Erjie. They didn't recoil as they may have done a few years ago, but they didn't seem as sad as I felt. It is a really different thing saying goodbye here.

I went in the van with A Zheng and Lin Hong, while the kids went with A Wu. We got to Nanning airport around 12.30pm and checked in our luggage (with a "Fragile" sticker on the bag with my tea tray). I suggested we all go for a final meal outside the airport as inside was expensive and not really authentic. Tan disagreed but the others didn't, and as we had a couple of hours we got in the vehicles to drive 5 mins to a place I think we went to a couple of years ago. There were a couple of police vehicles there, and we saw them finishing their meal. We ordered some chicken, fish and tofu. I realised this was my last proper Chinese meal for a long time, so went out to watch them cook it. There were chickens all around the place, and I imagined they'd just grabbed one around the neck with their hands to make our soup. So nice and fresh. I really enjoyed the meal and had my last Li Quan beer for some time too. I was very glad we made the decision to have this meal outside the airport.

And then we'd finished and it was time to go back to the airport. This scenario we'd been through many times before but it doesn't get easier for me. As we went through security we waved our friends and family a last goodbye. I don't think Xixi really understood what she was leaving. Well, it was a standard flight to Shenzhen, and for the first time this year we did not have to stay a night before the flight back to London. While we were waiting for the shuttle bus to the ferry terminal to take us to Hong Kong airport, Tan noticed that there was a bunch of triads around us, who were apparently waiting for someone to turn up at the airport and beat him up. She gathered this from their phone calls apparently. If they were triads they were pretty obvious as they all wore black and looked quite mean. I was quite looking forward to what might happen, but Tan wasn't, and to her relief our bus turned up and we took our last little trip in real China this year.

It is quite convenient taking the boat from Shenzhen to HK airport. You can whip through customs in two minutes flat, and when you get to the airport there's no more customs stuff except for picking up your luggage and checking it in with the airline. Which we did when we arrived there at 7.30pm. Then we had nearly four hours to wait till our plane. We had an unsatisfactory "Japanese" meal at the airport for 25 quid and realised with a bump we were no longer in China. When we finally got on the plane it was the one coming from Sydney to London so mostly filled with fat, pasty ex-pats, the likes of whom I hadn't seen for so long it made me feel quite uncomfortable. I can't complain about the kids. They slept for a decent amount of time. But despite my tiredness I only managed a couple of hours before the end of the flight. We arrived ahead of schedule, to the chagrin of those who live close to the runway, at 5am. But our Chinese friend was waiting for us with his car when we got out. And that was it. A wonderful wonderful two months back at home in Pingguo had most definitely come to an end, and I was due to work in three hours. No regrets though, no regrets whatsoever. Wo ai Pingguo!