So long, Sias.. I’ll be back soon

23 hours of travel down, just 8 more to go.

That means I’m in Los Angeles (LAX) with a 3 hour layover before my red-eye flight to Philadelphia. It just took about an hour to retrieve my bag and get through customs. My bag was the one that had clearly been opened by security in Beijing, and rather then bothering to close it properly, they’d wrapped it with plastic ties. 

As I stepped out of customs, I saw a Starbucks and headed over for a large breakfast tea. I did manage to get a couple of relatively long sleeps on the plane, although I dare anyone to spend over 12 hours in cattle class and not feel like crap. I also watched 3 movies, including one of my all time favorites, ‘Random Harvest’ with Ronald Colman and Greer Garson. The plot has more holes than swiss cheese, but I was still crying happy tears as the industrialist recovered his memory, learning that his wife was actually his, ermmm, wife (you have to see it.. trust me).

When I went into the bathroom to freshen up, I was shocked to see that my face is like a dot-to-dot puzzle, covered with mosquito bites. As I mentioned before, I had a stream of students visit me in my apartment on Monday night, and the mosquitos took advantage of my policy to leave the apartment door open, whenever students visited. I tend to react badly to mosquito bites or insect bites of any kind, so I’m in for a few uncomfortable days.

While I’d been waiting to deplane, I swapped SIM cards and checked email. I’d already gotten a couple of messages from one of my Chinese daughters, and it made me realize just how rapidly the world is shrinking. This time yesterday, we were sat on ‘Snack Street’ watching the vendors make their noodles and dumplings, and 24 hours later, I’m the other side of the world.

I’m happy to be coming home to my darling wife, but I’m also sad to leave behind my Sias family. The last two weeks have been one of the richest and most rewarding times of my life, and I’m going to be counting down the days until I’m back there.