Our last day in China was definately an interesting one. We started the day by going to the yu garden, which we learned was built by a man for his parents so that they could enjoy retirement and grow old together. Because of this, the name of the garden translates to “to please one’s parents.” After exploring the beautiful elements of nature in the garden we had the opprotunity to explore the sops that surrounded the garden. These shop keepers were much more aggressive than the ones in the Muslim quarter and their prices were much higher as well. Matt and I wondered arround in search of me a luggage bag (I knew that if I packed everything in my suitcase in would be way over weight) and Matt gifts for his mom and older sister. Allong the way we mannaged to find me a luggage bag, which i successfully bargined down from 380 yuan to 150 (about $22). The most sketchy part of our visit was when a guy approached us trying to sell us watches. We politly declined and began to walk on to the other shops, but the guy got on his phone and began to follow us. It appeared that he was not going to take no for an answer. Eventually we stopped in front of a police stand which successfully scared him away. From there we went to our farewell dinner where we were presented a video of pictures that recapped the trip, though our final good bye wouldn’t be till at the airport. Though saying good bye to Nancy, Dora, and Lilliana was a sad conclusion to an awesome two weeks little did I know this was only the start to what would be along day.
Arrival at the airport should have been our first indicator that security was going to be much more intense than in the US. As we went through the forth and final layer of security things began to fall apart. A few of the other guys on the trip forgot that they had lighters in their bag (that they had placed in their bags before departing the US, forgotten about, and gotten through TSA security at Pittsburgh international airport. The worst thing by far, that the Shanghai airport caught that the TSA had missed in the states, was a live bullet which was a very large security concern for obvious reasons. Fortunately, the security agents recognized that the owner of the bag was scared out of their mind and acknowledged that it was a simple, yet severe, mistake and allowed them to pass through security. Naturally, there were other, more typical, things security confiscated from our group like sunscreen and water bottles but this was by far the biggest airport story I have ever been a part of. The flight was mostly in eventful as I slept most of the trip, but I couldn’t wait to get salty, greasy food when we landed in CA. I had an awesome experience on the trip, but there truly is no place like home!