I woke up pretty drowsy and managed to get my shit together and check out before midday. I was double checking my flight times as I handed in my keycard to the receptionists at the hostel. My eyes widened and my left wrist elevated to show the time. My heart sank as I realised my flight was that morning at 730. I instantly regretted choosing not to double check my flight the night before and being to confident in my memory (which is actually really bad so I don’t know why). I just remembered ironically having a slight smile telling the receptionist I missed my flight – as if the receptionist can fix it for me. After spending about $20 dollars on calls to Kuala Lumpar to contact the the airlines ( god damn Malaysia airlines phone line), I somehow managed to salvage what I could of the bad situation and only had to fork out a few more hundred to change my flight to the following day – as opposing to having to buy a whole new flight ticket DURING the Christmas and New Years season. It was also fortunate that they somehow found a bed for me for one more night as they were all booked out. I sat there among the other hostel residents not knowing what to do next.
So I just turned to the only thing I could trust which was food (most of the time) and ordered some food from the hostel bar which I had not yet tried except for the drinks. I got some chicken sandwiches and chips which was pretty good but didn’t go down too well as my cold had taken a turn for the worse – probably a quite gradual turn in which I didn’t pay much attention to at all. I spent some time at the bank where I found my bank account quite dry managed to scrape up some money for shopping and food for one more day.
I got some congee which was just what I needed to warm up my body without to being tough on my throat. Afterwards, I went on a bit of a shopping frenzy without really thinking too much about how I would fit it in my backpack.
I also took it as a final opportunity to take in the city before i left
Christmas isnt what it is like in China compared to most countries with far less decorations and celebrations however, even so, the city still shone beautifully as it always has.
I went one last time down to The Bund to see the harbour side and took some final photos before meeting some friends back at the hostel to go out for dinner.
We planned to have hotpot but we spontaneously ended up at a Vietnamese restaurant.
pho in china
other Vietnamese goodies
Pool back at the hostel on my last night
I didn’t have one drop of alcohol that night and prepared well to leave the country including countless checks on my flight time. I said my goodbyes for the second time to the amazing people there at the hostel which i had spent the last week with and climbed into bed.
It was the 83rd and last night i would spend overseas. It was a room that reeked of smoke from cigarette butts lying around in cups and my cold was definitely not getting any better. My time in Shanghai was great but i couldn’t wait to get out of the place and back home.
adventure of a leaf time 