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Other entries in London

Going home again

My last morning saw an early start. I checked out without all the hassle I was expecting from not having my reservation recorded. Evidentially it had being solved. The taxi was fast as well, were they trying to get me out of the country a.s.a.p. ? All the congestion from last night had gone.

With the last of my remaining Yuan I bought myself a china teapot and cups in Duty Free to take home and to always remind me of that tea-ceremony. The flight was 11 long hours and I hardly slept. My cabin was full of Germans who were pretty loud, but I didn't care. I just sat there reflecting over what I'd seen over the past 3 weeks. It was ironic too that the flight path was following the train route I'd taken to get to Beijing. I wondered what Chris, Amanda and Clare were up to and if they were any nearer to finding their Siberian tiger. I wondered what Caron was doing, no doubt somewhere in the Gobi desert in a ger or on a camel. I thought about Xin Nin and her uncle and started to consider how lucky I really was that I could do this sort of trip. But most of all I thought about getting back, being able to do some washing and having the chance to get some sleep once the plane had landed.

I've seen some quite different cultures in the past few weeks and the trip could not have been any further removed from my US trip if I tried. So, I was home again for another three weeks, with another chance to catch up on things before setting off for part three of my big adventure, my unquantified time in the southern hemisphere.

And that, of course, was my biggest unknown yet.