I got the ferry from Hong Kong to Macau at 11am on the 1st of February and then spent a few hours in an internet cafe and a shopping centre. I had been planning on getting back to Kunming by train from Guangzhou, but I heard that because of bad weather in China, train ticket sales had been suspended until after New Year, so I bought a plane ticket from Zhuhai instead. Thank God for buying e-tickets online :D

Family reunion is a Bahá’í gathering in Macau, and held in Dom Bosco youth village in Coloane, where I was in August. The taxi driver who took me there was very impressed with my handwritten address in Chinese, and we chatted about China and Scotland on the way. His Mandarin and English were both really good. The reunion was a billion different kinds of awesome!. I met people I’d met in August and not seen since, like Serene and Mike, Andy and Lindsay, Shirin, and Julie, as well as meeting some wonderful new people like Elissa and Jon, Shamim, Fariba, Sabrina and Zarrin, who I’d spoken to on facebook, but never met until then. We were sharing a room and it was a surprise to see her. Anyhoo, I was surrounded by wonderful people. Some of the sessions were a bit long and difficult to keep my attention on, but less went over my head than did in August. I particularly enjoyed Adam Varjavandi’s talk on Chinese characters (and it was also nice to meet someone else from Scotland). There were so many talended musicians there who sang for devotionals, which was beautiful. I also enjoyed Jon making animal balloons, though they distracted me from the whole of the following session. Oops! At Andy’s suggestion, Darragh and I went for a walk round this reservoir, which was amazing. It was so beautiful, and peaceful. It was pretty much the first time I’ve been somewhere calm and silent since coming to China. I could have stayed there all day. We had a nice chat too, and I straightened out some things in my head, which was good. Throughout the reunion, lunch and dinner had been divided into 2 shifts, of which I was on the second one, and by the last dinner I was tired of cold chicken bits and thinly disguised baked beans, so Elissa, Jon, Andy, Lindsay and I went to Lord Stow’s instead and ate lasagne. On the way, we had fun at an adult playground and saw some awesome views, only slightly spoiled by the mega-polluted water. We hadn’t really thought through how we’d get home, and no one knew the address in Chinese. We waited for a taxi with no luck, then discussed a little village that had more taxis. A lady walking past said the bus that was passing was going there, so we ran and caught it. We didn’t find a taxi in that village, so we started walking, and met a taxi on the way. The walk was pretty nice, especially as the weather wasn’t too cold. On the 5th, I had to leave in a hurry because it took longer to get to Zhuhai airport than I’d anticipated, so I didn’t get to say goodbye to many people, but I’ve since found most of them on facebook, which is great. Where would I be without facebook? I got a taxi to the Macau-China border with 3 other people, David and a couple who’s names I’ve forgotten. :( They were all really nice. I had a long chat with David in the customs queue and got even more things straightened out in my head. It’s great to share experiences and get imput from people. I left them after we crossed the border and got a taxi to the airport getting there just after check-in started. Fantastic timing. I got back to my place in Kunming at about 10pm.

I feel so inspired and uplifted and motivated after those few days. It’s wonderful.