Day 16 – “Goodbye, dear friends.”

After a very restful night’s sleep, I showered, packed my stuff up and decided that it was a good day to relax in the hostel before the flight.  I met Aga and Radek for breakfast in the lobby.  Tom decided to sleep in because he didn’t feel well.  While we were waiting for our breakfast to come I worked on my awesome Chinese wooden puzzle.  This was also when I solved it the first time! 🙂  Must not have been too difficult. Right.  Actually, I solved it twice (two different ways) while waiting for breakfast.  Wanna know the secret? Don’t pay attention to what you are doing! Seriously. Both times I solved it I was visiting with Aga and not really concentrating on what I was doing.  It was awesome! 

So, the night before I had gotten a text message from Norman. (remember him?) He said that he was heading to his hometown for the rest of the holiday and would be stopping in Guilin to catch the train.  He wanted to know how long he would be there so that he could see us one last time.  🙂 So adorable.  He timed his arrival perfectly and we were able to hang out for a while before all of us had to go our separate ways.  This is the thing I simultaneously love and hate about traveling.  I love meeting new people.  Traveling alone forces you to do that.  I also hate it because it’s for such a short time and then you have to say goodbye.  The four of us (Aga, Radek, Tom and me) have decided to travel together again in June.  I hope it actually happens.  Norman also wants to join us. 

We spent the next 2-3 hours just hanging out in the hostel and playing pool and just enjoying each other’s company.  We took some pictures of the group and then said our goodbyes, for real this time.  It was very sad to see Aga and Radek go.  I hope I will get to see them again.  Next it was going to be Tom and me, heading to the airport. 

I love this group of crazies. From L-R: Maya (also worked at the hostel in Xingping with Norman), Tom the German, me, random guy in the back (can't remember his name--all I remember is that he's half German, half French), Norman (the destroyer), Radek, Aga, another man who I don't know (Japanese)

Tom and I found a rickshaw driver to take us to the airport express station and then hopped on the airport express bus.  The ride to the airport was quicker than we thought it would be.  The flight to Hong Kong was quicker than we thought it would be.  I arrived in Hong Kong, made it through customs (who says Hong Kong isn’t a different country?), and was on a bus within 1.5 hours of landing.  My destination was strangely close to where Tom was going (he studies at a university in Kowloon Tong and that was only 2 subway stops away from where I would be staying) so we rode the same bus through town.  It was sad to say goodbye to Tom also.  He and I made plans to have dinner together one night while I was there so I would get to see him again. 

I was officially by myself. It was an odd feeling. I wasn’t worried about finding the retreat center, it just felt weird to not have my new friends with me.  I hadn’t been alone since I got off the train when I first arrived in Guangxi Province.  🙁

I had excellent (and very accurate) directions to my home for the next four nights.  I got there and was greeted by a familiar Beijing FOCer’s face!  I was very excited to see my ‘family’.  That night was filled with hugs, picture sharing, sausage and cheese eating (Shannon surprised us from America and also brought bounty with him!!), and just general enjoying each other’s company.   I slept very well that night.  Hong Kong would be my home for 4.5 days!