Somehow I got up at 8am and by 8.30am realised it was probably a good idea to get out of bed despite only four hours' sleep, or maybe because of it. I'd put some clothes to dry in the dryer and completely forgotten to turn it off last night so hoped Jiuma hadn't witnessed this as she'd had a go last time I used it. The clothes were bone dry so at least I could use them for today. As per last time I was leaving more clothes than I came with as I had to bring back 10 zongzi that weighed 7kg, not to mention two pairs of leggings for Tan and an electric hairbrush that I won't even ask about.
But I was pretty much ready, so went for a last drive around Pingguo for a bit and to my chagrin found that my two favourite eateries were still closed for the New Year. So I got home at 11am and pinged Li Kun to see if he could make it for lunch. Indeed he could, when he finished work at 11.30am, so soon after that we went to the Ping lu International hotel where on the ground floor was a fantastic restaurant that served you food in a metal tray in 30 seconds flat. Two portions of meat, a portion of rice, a portion of greens, and some soup. For 21 kuai each.
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| Cracking last meal with Li Kun that lasted all of 10 minutes |
We spent no more than 10 minutes eating as I knew I needed to get a didi che to the station by 12.45pm, which Li Kun would arrange. So I got home to take a last dump and took my luggage downstairs, not having enough time to be as sad as I normally would be. It was baking outside. Now nudging 31 degrees. Strange to think only three weeks ago it plunged to 3 degrees. As usual, the didi che turned up and Li Kun and I shook hands and had a bit of a hug. I told him it meant a lot to spend time with his family again, and I think he understood.
This time when I went through security at the station they said I had liquid in my carry-on. Yes of course I did. It was for pre-airport. But for the first time in years they made me drink from it to prove it wasn't explosive I suppose. Well it was nearly 1pm so I didn't care too much that it had a bit of V in it. That seemed to satisfy them, at least after tasting two of the three bottles. It was a mere 5 minute wait before it was time to queue and when at the platform I had the wherewithal to ask the attendant where would be the best place to wait as I didn't have a seat or coach number. They said to go near the front at coach 15, and to be fair it was probably the best choice. I managed to have enough space for my luggage, though there were other people pretty close by, and it was one of those areas where the smokers come as they're not allowed to smoke in the seated area.
But most importantly, I got to Nanning at 2.40pm and after a slight scare waiting for the lift (the bloody women on the stairs wouldn't let me take them due to my luggage...why?), I got to the waiting place with a few minutes to go before my next train to the airport. 16 minutes was just enough time to log on to expertflyer.com to check the seat allocation and find that there were no longer any empty seats next to me, but row 73 still had some. This can be invaluable information. At the airport I appreciated that these days you don't always have a specific area for a specific airline, but wanted to check that with the bloke in front of me. He confirmed, then broke into conversation with me which was challenging but rewarding at the same time.
Once again, the queue lasted all of 5 minutes, and I engaged with the check-in guy in 100% Mandarin again. He overlooked the fact my suitcase was 1kg overweight and didn't ask to look at my hand luggage, which was clearly many kg over the 5kg they stated. So I went to my landside lounge to indulge in the drinks I brought with me before doing security. But it seemed things had changed. The bloke gave me a receipt and told me to turn left after security to go to the lounge. So I told him I still had some liquids to finish and could I do that in what used to be the landside lounge, which still appeared to exist, albeit without much in the way to eat of drink. Of course I could. So I spent the next 40 minutes there.
Security would have been a breeze, had I not made the schoolboy error of forgetting to take my laptop out (despite taking everything else out including my e-reader). But maybe because it was lounge security they were really cool about it and and just took it out and rescanned. Had it been Gatwick I'd have had to wait in a queue to be checked before doing that. That's about the only advantage of this lounge though. Once through security I went to the crappy official lounge for just long enough to take two cans of soda water and one of sweet lemonade, and poured myself a couple of carry-ons for the flight to Shanghai.
The flight was nicely uneventful and on time for a change. At Shanghai, immigration was also fine and quick. But I had four hours to go till the London flight. I went to a lounge but they said I needed to take a shuttle to my flight's part of the terminal. I said fine, but I didn't need to go any time soon so I'd chill here if that was ok with them. Well it was, and I enjoyed a first G&T for five weeks. Well, more than one. A couple of hours later I said goodbye to the team and took the shuttle to close to my gate, but I still had at least an hour till boarding, so found the other lounge and and a decent bite to eat. Hmmm...it was getting late and mine was the last flight of the day at 1.50am, so I found myself to be the only one in the lounge. It was a bit sneaky but I poured some gin into my carry-on bottles as who knows when it could come in handy?
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| Temptation in the lounge at Shanghai |
Well of course I was one of the last people on the A330 to London, and was slightly peeved that there was not a single empty seat. At least I was in the aisle of a row of three seats rather than four which was most of the rest of them. Thanks to the booze and the Phen and the mel, and the fact it was gone 2am by the time we took off, I barely remember eating (if I did) and woke up with little more than three hours to go of an 11h40 flight. We arrived shortly after 6am, 20 minutes early, and I remember not being scared of the landing this time. Maybe I've learnt something. Probably not.
But I've been so lucky and privileged to have had yet another few weeks in Pingguo. The only negative thing is that I know I'm going to have withdrawal symptoms, and if it's like December last year for a few days they will be severe. I suppose with all the dopamine hits I've been getting, not to mention the relief after having played the guitar in front of so many people, being back in my UK home is going to hit hard. It will be lovely to see the family of course, but there will be a China hangover for sure. It would be wrong if there wasn't. But regardless I will still be looking for my next excuse to go back...preferably with one or both of the kids.
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