China Part 22: Departure [END]

This entry concludes my China trip of 2015. There were some hits and misses on this journey though there were more disappointments. However when looking back, I remember the good times more than I remember the bad times.

I did more walking than I did shopping. Things that I actually wanted to browse for didn't end up happening. The "shopping" that I did in Zhejiang and Jiangsu can't really count as shopping since it wasn't really for me personally, but for the family. As selfish as it sounds, I really wanted to get something for myself personally. It was on the last day of my trip that I got a chance to do some personal browsing. What a way to end the trip altogether.

As I had mentioned in previous posts, I had a severe reaction when coming back to China. Health wise I wasn't so great, but this would eventually stop after 3 weeks. It really dampened my spirits when I really wanted to enjoy more stuff. Family obligations also screwed my own plans so there was that to deal with. My best highlights were focused almost entirely on food. Thank goodness for good food. But there was always something in the day to ruin it for me. As a result, I had a very bitter mood throughout my 2 month stay.

On the last day, I felt released from my own prison. I felt extremely happy being able to do stuff I've been wanting to do since day one of my trip. I walked into Xinhua Bookstore and splurged. I bought myself a stash of A4 manga paper and I regret not buying more. At least I have enough paper to last me several chapters. Then I bought a ton of art supplies like brushes, but also stationary related stuff like folders, nice pens for inking, and birthday cards. The bookstores this year kind of disappointed me because they carry so little books now. I use to be able to find tons of art books worth collecting and art related material. Now it's like the basic stuff that I have no interest in. My mom couldn't find her desired books either. Sadly the only books I found worth buying for myself was a yokai encyclopaedia with paintings by Sekien and Hokusai.

After splurging at bookstores, I splurged in Comic City. It's another mall connected to the train station, but more focused on a younger demographic. One floor is dedicated to girl's fashion, mostly Korean trends. The second floor is like the name suggests, to comics and anime. There are other stalls with miscellaneous items like toys, bags, and fashion accessories. It's a whole lot of fun for the younger crowd. I went and bought stickers for my friend, Lils, as a souvenir. Wrapping paper was cheap, I think 3 RMB for a roll, so I went ahead and got 2 rolls. There were many stands dedicated to anime, but a lot of stuff being knock offs or fan made. I wanted a Nyanko hand fan, but the colors didn't look right. Maybe next time they will have better stuff.

I dropped 35 RMB for an Assassination Classroom book. I had my suspicions about it because I wasn't too sure what it was. Bootleg or official good, I didn't care. The printing looked pretty cool and it came with postcards, buttons, and a card case. When I came back to the United States and opened the book up from the packaging, I laughed. The first half of the book was indeed official material such as seiyuu interviews, official artwork, and anime exclusive pictures. The second half of the book was fan art taken from the internet. Still overall, very enjoyable and I don't regret my purchase.

Even the back cover looked legit.

Card holder.

Buttons that I will never use.

Loads of postcards.

More postcards.

Ok This is straight up fan art right here.

On the night of my departure, I get pre-flight nervousness as usual. Did I pack everything? Am I going to get sick? Is the person next to me gonna be ok? In the end everything went smoothly. I kept telling myself to imagine it as a long bus ride home. I had 2 luggage cases to pull, a backpack, an art tube, and a shoulder bag and I was going back alone. My flight was at 1am in the morning so I spend most of my time watching Kyou Kara Ore Wa!! on my phone. My flight was half an hour late and thus my 15 hour flight began. I watched "Kingsman: The Secret Service" and enjoyed it immensely. Something to keep my mind off air sickness. I watched "Vegas to Macau" starring Chow Yun-fat and Nicholas Tse, but it was a terrible movie to watch. Unbelievably superficial and gimmicky. I tried to sit through "Into the Woods", but it didn't work out. Again, I thought it was a shoddy adaptation with bad acting.

I don't know how I slept on the plane, but somehow I managed. I arrived at JFK 5am or so. Customs took an extremely long time. So I took my time walking to the waiting area because I knew my dad wouldn't be there this early. I thought that he should be here at 6am. Instead I ended up waiting until 8am. Had I not given him a phone call, he wouldn't have left the house. He was actually waiting for my phone call. C'mon man, we talked this over less than 24 hours ago when I was still in China.

For the first time, I was actually glad my vacation ended. I couldn't wait to come back. I wanted to get away from all the unhappiness I had during my trip. In a few days I was looking forward to my Kamijo concert. There were some things that I learned from this trip. One is to never listen to my mom to keep on going. If you're thirsty, just stop and get fucking water. Guangzhou weather will kill you. Second is to navigate Guangzhou on my own next time. I think I'm more confident walking on my own without getting lost even though I can't read Chinese that well. Jeez, I must be fucking crazy. Lastly, is to eat even more food and splurge on things you want. Keeping your desires repressed isn't that great. When the time comes, a splurge is more helpful than harmful. Besides it's not like I buy crap. So until next time, my trip has come to an end.