China: The Last

After our tour we went in search of food and came across a group of people dancing. They were in uniform and seemed as though this was, perhaps, part of their job. What the picture does not show is me on the far left joining in to learn some new moves to impress the ladies but I have to admit that after a full day it was somewhat half hearted.

Tuesday was our last day in China and so having done a little bit of reading I requested that we go to Hongqiao Market also known as the Pearl Market. My parents were a little hesitant to spend our last morning in China in a market but they reluctantly came along saying that they needed the walk.

We got there and my father set a one and a half hour time limit. Before we came to China I had decided that I wanted a watch and not just any watch a Mont Blanc Timewalker Chronograph Automatic. So I set about looking for one, testing depth of the price waters when I found a booth that had one. Walking from stall to stall, "My friend, my friend" they would say, "Have we met?" I would ask. To them it was all a game, what a game it was, they were good at it and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So much so that I ended up using the full hour and a half in this manner. But when we met up, instead of the expected, "We need to leave right away" both my father and mother agreed that we did not need to leave quite yet. "We just need to pick up a few more things was the reply." That suited me fine.

When it finally did come time to leave I had a new watch around my wrist and my father and mother both had a bag or two of stuff. The whole walk back to the hotel we compared our deals and swapped stories of how great our experiences had been. A good time was had all around but now it was time to get to the airport.

The airport in Beijing has a shuttle that runs off of the subway which makes it very easy to get to. In our case, we caught the bus from just down the road from our hotel and rode it to the subway. We then rode the subway till the transfer station to the shuttle, quick, cheap and easy.

Apart from a short delay on the runway, our flight was smooth and as comfortable as anyone can get in economy. We arrived in Busan just after 9:00 pm and took an incredibly fast taxi to the bus station only to find that the last bus to Geoje left at 9:00. No problem as there were many motels right beside the bus station. Motel SS was kind enough to offer us a room for the whole night and after a short sleep we caught an early bus back to Geoje.