(I bought Carol's camera from her today, so I now own my first digital camera! I'm still getting used to how it works.)
Carol found out that you can take a shuttle bus from one of the Guangzhou hotels right to the Hong Kong airport. This was a good option, since she has lots of stuff! The regular route we take includes a lot of boarding and de-boarding trains, busses, and subway cars, so a straight-shot on a single bus sounded excellent.
We left the school at 7am in a taxi, and got to the shuttle bus pickup point at about 7:30. We would have an hour until our bus was scheduled to leave. Here Carol lounges with her luggage, safely out of the rain. She had quite the time loading her China life into five bags!
We got on the bus and had a nice trip to the Hong Kong/China boarder.
We were on a big coach bus that could fit fifty or more people, but there were less than ten passengers on it. Carol went to the back of the bus where there were five empty seats in a row, and had a nap. I laid with my head and torso on two seats on one side of the bus, and my legs on the other side, creating a bridge over the aisle.
We arrived at the China border and were surprised that we had to truck all of Carol's baggage through customs. We got off the bus and entered one side of the customs building, lugged the luggage through the customs stations, and exited through the other side of the building where our bus was waiting for us. We loaded the luggage back onto the bus, and travelled to the Hong Kong border where we followed the same procedure. It was quite a lot of effort, since Carol's bags were heavy. It was a good thing I was there to help!
There are a lot of people doing the same thing, so the bus companies give you a little sticker to wear that identifies you as their customer. This helps them identify you when you come out of the customs station and are not sure where the bus is. I felt dorky at first, since I felt like I was in a tour group wearing a "Hello, my name is..." sticker. Later I was happy to have it though!
We made it to the Hong Kong airport, and got Carol sorted. It was nice to have a cart to push her stuff around in! Carol was happy to push the whole cart herself and I didn't protest.
Here, Carol works to change her flights around since our travel agent failed and couldn't get the job done. Carol needed a flight that was direct to Toronto, since her ear shouldn't be subjected to more pressure changes than it needs to be. The agent assured her that ticket was booked, but we found out when we got to Hong Kong that it wasn't, and the agent had booked Carol on a flight that re-fueled in Alaska.
We weren't surprised by our agent's poor performance at this point, because up until now, the agent has made this whole process more confusing and complicated for Carol than it had to be. Sometimes, if you want something done right...
Carol poses in front of the gate, and I took pictures Mom-style.
With a few short steps, Carol shuts down her China experience.
I left the terminal and found some planes to watch. I had high hopes for this picture...a plane landing with Hong Kong and China's flags fluttering in the foreground. It didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped unfortunately. Oh well.
I left for the Mainland soon after Carol went through security. I like Hong Kong and it was sunny, so my mood was good. But once I arrived back in Guangzhou I found myself to be very grumpy. It'll be a new experience teaching without Carol around!
Carol...the times were good and it was great being here with you. Thanks for bringing me on your China adventure back in August! I'll finish it off for the both of us, and I'll see you in a couple months. Thanks for the company and the good times... it won't be the same here without you.
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