the journey home

Sunday...time to come home.

We had requested a wake up call, but we weren't so certain it would come. Our train left early...7.10, so all night we were getting up, checking our watches and sinking back into oblivion again.

In true form, there was one incident that was so loud it woke us both up. We wondered if it was a wake up call, but no, a quick glimpse at the watch revealed that it was 11.54 or thereabouts. So back to sleep we went.

At 5.30 we were both awake, wondering if the phone would ring at 5.45.

We sat there, drowsy, wondering.

The phone stayed silent.

We got up, quickly dressed, pushed all our belongings into bags, and as we were brushing our teeth, someone pounded on the door.We looked at each other. We were pretty sure we had been really quiet, so what was this all about?

Janne answered the door. It was our wake up call!

Hair in the inevitable ponytails, we headed off downstairs.

The night manager was asleep on his chair, but woke up quickly, and accepted our room key. We then gestured that we wanted our $100RMB room deposit back. He did not seem to be willing to do this. He tried to explain, we tried to understand. Sherry had warned us that the staff required the deposit because they were worried about the condition of the television and the air conditioner, but seriously?

After 10 minutes, the lady who had come to our room for the wake up call walked down the stairs, spoke a few words to desk man, who bent over, rummaged through some papers, and then handed us 100RMB. She had been through our room, checked that we hadn't used any of the for sale toiletries, that the television still worked, and that the air conditioner was still firmly installed instead of in our handbags.

HOORAY!

We saw a taxi across the road and jumped in.

Janne showed him the slip of paper that said PLEASE TAKE ME TO THE BUS STATION.

He gestured, "2". We agreed. Yesterday it has been 6RMB! excellent deal!

He took a slightly different route than we had taken yesterday, and this did not impress us. But eventually we got there. Janne grabbed her bags and i gave the man 2RMB. He got very mad. He wrote down "20". I laughed. Did we look dumb?

We shook our heads and Janne got out of the taxi. Fearless and beautiful, a great combination.

He motioned to his meter and indicated that it was 6RMB to turn the meter on. I decided this was fair and gave him four more RMB. Then he did something we considered slightly creepy...he trailed after us for a bit. Janne struck up conversation with another man, and all was beautiful.

We decided to do last minute wees. (Remind me again for a blog on china bogs).

Then we found our bus, our seats, and sat down for breakfast. Excellent.

Oranges, apples, peanut butter sandwiches, some fruit bars janne had bought and caramels. Excellent.

The bus ride was pretty uneventful.

And suddenly we were in Changsha. We had to transfer to the airport. We could have done it by bus, but we decided to take another taxi. THere were lots of stationary taxi's who looked very happy to help us out, but we pushed by them and flagged one down. Janne showed him a piece of paper that said, PLEASE TAKE ME TO THE AIRPORT, and so we headed that way. It had been raining...and the car infront of us braked suddenly, as did our taxi...who slid...and rearended the car.

The taxi driver motioned to us to stay.

After five minutes we decided to leave.

It was easy finding another taxi and the drive to the airport was smooth.

The airport was excellent, and we landed in Shenzhen. We walked out of customs, and saw a sign offering bus rides to central. We decided this was the bus we would take. It was leaving in five minutes.

More excellence.

Jump on the bus.

Drive through Shenzhen...wow it is massive....and then change buses at the border.

At the border, something in me snapped a bit. There were some ladies in front of us and they had switched to our lineup because theirs was moving slowly. They still had friends in another lineup. When it came one of the ladies turn to see the Immigration officer, she motioned to her friends from the other queues, who headed over to our lineup. cheeky monkey!

No, that wasn't going to happen.

I tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to go back to her queue or get to the back. She and her friend looked at Janne, me, everyone else in the line, and meekly went back to the queue.

Yay, victory truly was ours.

In Hong Kong now....text message home,..New Territories, Kowloon, change buses, then take the tunnel...in Central....

jump a taxi, where we kept saying what a great trip it was.

it really was unforgettable. not just the sights, but the streets, the challenges, the compromises, the way you handle the small adversities. we had done it, together and it had been a trip of a lifetime.

and there is nothing better than coming home when you had a wonderful time away. so many arms, a birthday cake, and best of all charles, who was so excited for me to go.

i loved it and i rediscovered a love for china. i want to go back there alone or with a friend, soon. and i have another destination in mind.