Last day in Pingguo yet again, but great to meet up and eat with Ma Laoban

I'd bumped into Ma Laoban yesterday, who'd told me to ping him tomorrow (today) at 9am to meet up. I'd bargained with him to make it 11am as I knew 9am would be optimistic. Nevertheless I was up soon after 10am, and as almost everything was packed I pinged Ma Laoban to let him know I was about. He told me he was at his new office and sent a dingwei but it was literally miles away (about three), but the dian dong che was full so I had no worries about not making it.

It seemed to be a new place north of the city where there were a couple of outdoor swimming pools, but I wasn't sure so I pinged him and yep indeed he emerged from a building and we went in and drank tea for the next 45 minutes. Then he said we'd have lunch in half an hour and he'd send a ding wei. Fair enough. So I went home and remembered to get my cleaned Converse from the local place. Not only were they nearly as clean as new, but the owner also noticed the rubber on the sides had started splitting away from the material of the shoe, so fixed them with glue. Now they really were nearly as good as new. All that for 10 kuai. Damn, so many things I'll miss about being here. Not long after I received Ma Laoban's dingwei to eat near A Wu's office from last year. For once it was a relatively simple affair; just him and a woman with her kid and some other bloke (her husband I think).

Fixing a clean shoe

The main course was fish, which I was a bit concerned about knowing that I was due to fly in seven hours, but there was some lovely deep fried pork and nice soup, and I even had some rice this time. But the company was the most important...we ate and chatted till 1.30pm when I said I'd better leave as Tan had already ordered a cab for 3pm and I still had last-minute stuff to do.

Finally a meal with one of my best mates Ma Laoban (right)

We go back 18 years...

So I drove to Li Kun's as you do, as I said I'd leave my dian dong che with him. I hope he or his family can use it, rather than the 80% of its life it's spent doing nothing while we were away. I entered his studio and he invited me for tea. I probably shouldn't, but I did, and I grabbed the guitar for some reason and started playing 有没有人告诉你？ and we both broke out into song for a couple of minutes. Actually it was quite moving...I'm so going to miss this place. Damn, I should have played it at Xiao Bai de Tian but never really mastered it. An excuse to go back if ever there was one. But this lovely moment could only last a moment or two, and Li Kun said he'd take me back. He did and I hoped he'd make use of the dian dong che. Of course I got a call 5 minutes after he'd dropped me off to say I'd left my Converse in the back that I'd just had cleaned and repaired for 10 kuai. I laughed a belly-laugh as you do and a couple of minutes later picked them up and said my final goodbye to Li Kun.

So back home I had half an hour to do any last-minute stuff, and indeed Tan foisted upon me two large boxes of tea to take back. Thankfully my luggage had come to 21.5kg so they just about fitted, but bloody hell dear, couldn't you have asked me a day or so ago? Then she reminded me that the house may be up for sale soon so I put all my clothes and shoes that I couldn't bring back into a black bag, and sent a pic to Li Kun to ask if he wouldn't mind looking after them for a while. How long a while may be I have no idea...it could be weeks, months, years, or never.... But it's important as it will really affect how much stuff I have to bring back next time if there is a next time. Anyway, Li Kun said he'd be able to store it...and more importantly my guitar I'd bought 6 years ago.

And that was it. 3pm came around as did the cab driver, and the three of us got in after managing to get most of the suitcases into the boot, and the rest in the middle of the back seats. I may have had a wee drink on the way to Nanning airport as it was two hours away. But, as with most of the last years it wasn't without a bit of fuss. Both my and Leilei's check-in luggage were stopped, but they found nothing untoward, and let us through after we'd opened them up. It almost seems like a power trip with the security people these days but we don't get angry in any way.

I'd told the kids that one of them wouldn't do the lounge as it would be £20 for an hour or so of wasabi peas and crappy sugary drinks, but when we got there I wasn't that tight and let them both be my guests. We'd spent a cracking couple of months after all and I didn't want them to miss out on a tiny bit of luxury. The flight to Beijing was on time and pretty straightforward, and we arrived before 11pm, five hours before our next one to London Gatwick.

It would have been wrong not to let one of them in...