[Itinerary Page]The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
May 11 - Last Day in Guilin
It seems like the trip just started and here we are starting to pack for home. There seems to come a time on every trip when the thinking changes from a focus on the trip itself to almost a fixation with leaving. If it has been a good trip, that shift happens almost at the end. If the trip starts to become too difficult, if your traveling companions become too tedious, or if the scenery, accommodations or food becomes too disappointing, the change of heart can happen much earlier.
We don't have a word for it in English but you know what I mean ... the feeling that you are just plain ready to head for home. I have had a few flashes like that on this trip but have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly they passed.
As a general rule, traveling with just one other couple for an extended period is fraught with peril and we have only tried it once before. The problem is too much forced togetherness and no place to get away if agendas differ. But Marv and Miao have been great to travel with and the experience has been richer for their presence (especially since Miao was the only one who could speak the language!) Getting away is a great eye-opener ... but it always feels good to get home.
So what do you do with only one day left in China? Go shopping, of course! We are not hard core shoppers. Certainly we really don't need anything at this point. Margene always does most of our annual Christmas and birthday shopping on these trips so there were the last-minute trinkets ... and the one or two items for ourselves that we had been debating (like the silk duvet). Often the last day is just a chance to wind down and get organized before taking on the general confusion of plane travel.
And even though we will spend most of tomorrow sitting, it will still be a long day and one we need to rest up for. Around noon we fly from Guilin to Shenzhen (about an hour) and take the bus to Hong Kong (probably two hours). Then we hang around the HK airport until 10pm when we get our Singapore Airlines 747 to San Francisco. It arrives four hours before we leave! Go figure! We clear customs in San Francisco and catch a United flight to Seattle. All in all, easily 30 hours in transit before it is all over. It's a good thing we are still young and resilient!
© 2008 Restaurant Doctor