The Last Full Day, Out With a Bang

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Things worked out in such a way that I was a group leader on the last two days of this trip; the first day, yesterday, we lost our bearings and a few hours of our day, and the second, today, we fly back to the states. I've chosen to turn the last two days into one entry because neither of them really represents a big enough story, in my mind, to turn into its own, single entry, but both are still near and dear to me because they stand for my last day in China and my way back home, and should therefor both be given some attention.
Yesterday was the one day on our trip we were meant to recognize the "Wine" portion of this Food, Wine, and (Agri)culture trip, but due to the many detours our bus driver made in light of several traffic accidents and construction issues, we never actually got there. The hours long journey began with a trip to the outer reaches of Beijing where the bus encountered an accident, so we took a detour. Then, we encountered some heavy traffic, so we took a detour. Next, we hit some construction, so we took a detour. Finally, we got lost, so we found lunch, and went back to the hotel.
It should be noted that, honestly, we did try to get to the winery. However, after literally three hours on the bus on our last day in China, we were less than enthusiastic about finding said winery when we learned that it would be several more hours to reach it, should we choose to go. We chose not to. As a group leader, I felt that it was probably a good idea to speak in the interests of the group, with as little offense perceived by the terrific people who put this whole trip together for us as a possible. What that means is essentially that I heard everyone talking about not wanting to bother with the winery because tea and liquor were obviously more important in China, and we had already experienced much of both, so why were we bothering to visit this winery? I waited until the bus had gotten a little quieter, and in the most diplomatic way I could manage, told Chef Cheng that, yes, we were all incredibly grateful for the trip she, Lisa, and Bobby had put together for us, and we are, but that it was our last day in China and none of us wanted to spend it on a bus. She took our pleas to heart, spared us more long hours on the bus, and took us out to lunch.
Thanks go out to the wonderfully adept Lisa for finding a fantastic Mongolian restaurant on the fly, seating twenty-six travel-addled people in five minutes, and making sure every single one of us had a thoroughly enjoyable final group meal in China. We had a fantastic time, watched and participated in a little traditional Mongolian dancing, and raised our glassed to our wonderful chef and tour guides, Bobby and Lisa. Things worked out better than we could ever have asked for, and we all counted the day as a true success.
Today, as well, was a success. We got up at our respective hours of the morning, everyone made sure their passports were in order, had breakfast, and we hauled our luggage into the bus for the trek to the last Chinese airport we would be in on this trip. We made our way through security, etc, and wandered off for lunch before the long, long, long flight home, and found our way back to the states on time and ready for bed. Fittingly, I suppose, my last meal in China was at a Pizza Hut.

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