Goodbye Shanghai

The rain sent me off. I stared out of the window for the longest time, absorbing the last grey view of the city. Decided to break the no-alcohol inflight rule and had champagne. Wine or whisky would kill me. But champagne works. They offered Krug. I finished 2 teeny glasses. The plane taxied. I continued with more glasses of champagne after that. I grinned and told the stewardess to just leave me the bottle and I'll pour it myself instead of troubling her. Of course she didn't do so. Heh. They never do.

Time to leave. With the Chinese visa in hand and full VPN access to the internet on the Macbook, I'd have stayed longer if not for the angsty matter of wanting to catch Opeth who scheduled the gig on this night. (No surprise that they had to cancel their gig in Maldives because of the coup d'état.) I had wanted to stay a full month in Shanghai. Gaaaah. Oh well.

I bravely came here for Chinese New Year with one aim- to spend time with the bff. I was a tad worried that the man might be bored in his week here, but he wasn't. Thankfully, the shops (more like bars and makan places) were open throughout the festive season this year. All in all, it's been a happy trip for me, and hopefully for the bff too. Muahahaha. We sometimes irritate the hell out of each other. To be able to hang out 24/7 is an amazing feat.

Saying goodbye to the bff is always difficult. It doesn't get easier. Knowing that I don't like looking back through the windscreen as the car drives away from humans, I always tell myself not to look back. Still I did. That image of the bff and her partner waving choked me up. I gulped the cup of Costa (last of it!) coffee in hand and slouched into the seat, a little sad. I could feel tears welling up. No crying, impie. But we deal with it. So I sniffed and blinked away tears. We know there will be another get-together, be it in Shanghai again, Singapore or elsewhere. Sigh. It would be sooner though, if I could join her on her work trip up to the northern hemisphere. We'll see.