Leaving Pingguo for the last time in 2019?

I woke up relaxed as pretty much everything was ready, so I decided to pay Ma Laoban a visit as I haven’t seen him for a while. As luck would have it he was in and bade me sit down for a chat. I explained that I was leaving in an hour or so and he decided now would be a good time to give me a present of four bottles of concentrated wild pear juice. But not only were there four bottles, they were boxed, and for some reason he needed to unbox them. I had arrived at his shop knowing I was in good time but it dawned on me that the longer I spent here the less time I’d have to get to the station.

Ma Laoban is such a good friend but I didn't need the pear juice episode

I graciously accepted my gift and before I worried about how to get them into my luggage (I couldn’t) he started to worry about whether I could get them into the train. I told him it would be fine but he insisted in trying to call a mate who worked in the railway business, but couldn’t get through at first. He tried again and while he did I checked online and clearly you could take fruit juice on the train, but he had to get it checked before he agreed. Then he was concerned about bringing it on the plane but I told him I’d check it in. Again, this wasn’t good enough and he made another call, during which I started to get really concerned about the time. I’d hoped to see him and give him a hug goodbye but I was getting bogged down by pear juice miscellany.

Eventually I took my leave of him (and got the hug), and got home just in time to remove two bottles from the polystyrene box and leave the rest on the dinner table, before ringing Li Kun to see if he wanted to share lunch of jiao zi as that was all I had time for, and I wanted to say goodbye to him too. He came straight away, but was not able to park outside the jiao zi place for some reason - apparently they now have parking attendants and it would not look good for him, a member of the police/government, to be breaking the rules. So he found a place to park and came back five minutes later not knowing that I was getting a little anxious about catching the train in under an hour. The jiao zi were a great way to say “goodbye” to Pingguo till the next time but  Li Kun insisted on bringing me back to his house to drink tea. I couldn’t really argue as I have a go at people arriving at the train station nearly an hour before their train, so complied and enjoyed a few mini glasses of red tea at his place until 20 mins before the train, when he drove me to the station and it would have been cutting it very fine had there been a queue at security (or had they wanted to search my bags). I barely had time to go to the loo before we were called to board. And so much for goodbyes here...it was more of a “seeya” and maybe it’s better that way.

This place has become so important in the last few years...I can have a full meal with the kids for 18 kuai - and today Li Kun also appreciated her dumplings

A little bit sad at seeing Li Kun shutting up shop for what was probably only an hour or so

I got to the Nanning coach stop to the airport not too long after 2.30pm, and the driver asked me what time my flight was. I instantly thought about it and decided it was better to lie and tell him it was 4pm instead of 5pm. I don’t know if I thought that would give him more urgency or something but he then said “no”,  I couldn’t get on the coach. What? I remonstrated with him that I certainly needed to get on this coach but again he said “no”. As we were outside of the coach I walked around the front of it and thought sod it, I’d put my suitcase inside and get on anyway, and paid my 20 kuai for the ticket. I was hoping he meant that if I took the coach I’d miss my four o’clock flight, and he didn’t want to be in any way responsible. Bloody hell if only I’d told the truth. As it transpired we arrived soon after 3.30 so probably would have made a 4pm flight due to VIP access to the lounge security, but he wasn’t to have known that.

The sanitary bags have become a bit more readable

So, bag checked in, I went to my friendly landside lounge and had a quick decant before thinking sod it I could manage an internal flight without Dutch courage, though I may have partaken in the train and coach. And indeed the flight to Wuhan was fine. I grabbed my luggage and looked for the shuttle to my hotel. It wasn’t really clear but some security guards pointed me to where it should be. When the bus arrived I got on and asked the driver if he was going to my hotel. He didn’t know, but I thought I’d take a chance, but before that he closed the doors while my luggage was outside. I was more than annoyed and told him that was my bloody luggage outside and without changing his expression he opened the door to enable me to fetch them. As I walked inside the bus I saw a western girl and sort of up-nodded my head in a way to “tut tut”, and immediately felt a bit racist.

Then, a little later into the journey when I was trying to see where we were relative to my hotel when we were at a stop, the western girl spoke to the driver in perfect Mandarin asking if he could leave the doors open a little longer as more people needed to alight. Damn I was jealous, and it took all my resolve not to try to talk to the driver so that I could let people know I could also speak the lingo. But for once in my life I didn’t take the opportunity to show off or steal her thunder; she had spoken for a good reason, and I wouldn’t have. And then a voice (a Chinese voice, thankfully) told me I should get off here for my hotel too. I thought we were some way away but took the advice and indeed it was 100 yards away, and in fact the western lady (she was a lady more than a girl now in my book) was going to the same place.

I was still jealous listening to her in front of me at the reception explaining that she had a flight early tomorrow morning. Not jealous that her Mandarin was better than mine (it almost certainly was), but that there was another Mandarin-speaking westerner in my midst.

Well it was a shitty hotel but I didn’t really care. I had a bite to eat (and thankfully the western woman wasn’t there) and got the chance to speak to the waitresses. And I managed to stay awake till midnight to that fateful match I knew we’d lose to Liverpool. Damn, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for us really, and in a way I’m not too pissed off the stream was crap. We’ve had two massive years, winning the PL twice...Liverpool probably deserve it and they’re being bloody efficient about it.

The cheap hotel room had clearly not been cleaned