Day 9-10 Home.
The next morning was a bit quiet for both of us. We were both sad, and also I was a bit crook that night - probably all that food the day before. Also I had some business problems going on back home that I needed to sort out by email in the hotel lobby while Anna and her brother checked out for me. They were worried we were going to be late for the airport, but I had told them an earlier time than really necessary just to be safe.
When I arrived in Guangzhou, I just went straight to the hotel room and crashed. The cramps in my legs as well as the now very dodgy belly meant I couldn't venture far.
The next morning I was worse, so I arranged with the hotel for a late checkout and also paid for another half day as my flight wasn't until late in the evening. By early afternoon though, I thought I just have to try and do something while I am here, so I ventured out to the subway and figured out how to get to Gangding (thanks Irishman for the suggestion). This place was awesome with dozens of shops of all sizes and everything digital. I bought a few gifts to bring home and managed to get the prices down a bit, although I'm sure if Anna was there she would have done better.
I knew before hand that there would be fakes, and there was this USB stick I just knew was too good to be true but I bought it anyway as it would make an interesting talking point back at the office. It was a tiny USB stick packaged properly as HP, but labelled as 500GB. Sure enough when I got home and gave it a test for 24 hours it was fake, so beware of these things. You not only don't get what you pay for, they overwrite your valuable data once they get past their real capacity, and Windows happily continues to report the full capacity is there. From different shops I also bought a Kingston 64GB stick thinking this was real, but it also tested later as a fake (2GB). I also bought a SanDisk 32GB microSD card but haven't tested that yet. I also bought a few mobile battery packs to recharge phones and things, as gifts for my kids.
Later that night I was glad to have the hotel room still so I could have another shower and pack and weigh everything for the plane. At the airport I checked in ok even though my bag was a few KG overweight they let it through. I then mucked around for ages trying to get the airport wifi to work (I couldn't) as well as charging my phone. When I finally went through to security I was told : "bag, open". After a few minutes of translation I figured they were telling me to go back outside as there was a problem with my checked in bag. All the way out going against the tide, and then at the overweight baggage counter they asked about batteries, and I remembered I had put the kids mobile battery packs into my suitcase. No problem I swapped them out with some other junk that was in my carry on bag, hoping they would not want to weigh that. The Chinese guy put it through the xray and came straight back, gave me the thumbs up and sent me back to security. Another long walk, and the security lady did not like me. She said I had to go and "open bag", so I told her the story that I already had done this. There was much arguing between me and her and a couple of other security men came over and joined in. Finally they took my passport and boarding pass and sent me through the x-ray, at which point I realised one of them had taken my boarding pass and was heading all the way out to the overweight baggage counter again. So I sat and waited for ages, and he finally came back and said, no it had not been done and I had to go back through and open my suitcase. Well I am usually calm, but I blew up and told them this was all bullshit. What do I need to do to prove to them - I gestured should I take a photo for them? Should I get a signed note from the other people? Don't these various sections talk to each other or flag it on the computer? There was no point, I had to go back again, fuming and hearing that boarding was underway for my flight. Back outside at the other counter there had been a change of shift and the lady and man I was dealing with before were gone. More explanations and waiting while they tried to find my suitcase while I was telling them they won't find it because it was already done and it will be on the plane by now. Eventually they figured it out, gave me back the boarding pass and gestured me back to security. I wasn't moving until I had some proof. They would not sign a note, they did not want their photo taken, they were messing with the computer but couldn't seem to get it do work. Eventually the lady said she would phone security and they would let me through when I got there. I had no faith at all, but little choice but to go through again. While walking back I was wondering what she was saying on the phone ("that big angry kiwi is coming back your way. Can we mess him around some more or should we let him through this time?"). This time most of the security counters were closed as the rest of the plane and any others leaving at that time had long gone through. The lady looked at my pass, a little puzzled about the multiple stamps, but I think she wanted to go home so let me through. This time, thankfully the xray did not pick up my belt and shoes and I went through fairly quickly. I still don't know if she got the message from the other lady or whether she just couldn't be bothered, but I made the flight - last on the plane again. Maybe I'll learn now to go through security earlier.
I was pleasantly surprised to find my bag was there when I got to NZ, and I went straight through customs with nobody even slightly interested in looking at the wine, food etc that I had declared.
