[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 17 January 2016]

8 August 2015, Friday

After a long two weeks spent in high altitude Tibet, it was time to get down to earth again, literally. We checked out of our Gorkha Tibet Hotel and hopped on Zai Xi Shu’s van for one last time. Along the way, we made Zai Xi Shu play the Tibetan folk music CD that we had grown to love over the past two weeks. We then thanked Tenzin and Zai Xi Shu for taking care of us for the entire trip and we said our final goodbyes.

For our Air China flight home, we transited at Chengdu airport again, with a 4-hour plus stopover. Our original plan was to check in our luggage for the next flight (like how we did on the way to Tibet), head out of the airport and go to the city to visit Decathlon, a huge sports shop selling all kinds of apparel and sporting gear. However, we were informed that we could not check in for the next flight yet. There were also no lockers in the airport so we could not deposit our luggage, so we decided to stay put at the airport instead, because it would be too much of a hassle to carry our luggage along to Decathlon.

I was quite looking forward to visiting Decathlon because it sounded like a cool shop selling cheap sports gear, so it was a little disappointing we couldn’t go. Nevertheless, we spent time bonding and playing card games at the airport so it was not too bad either. (Update: I have since visited the Decathlon shop in Amsterdam, and in fact, Decathlon has just opened its flagship Singapore on 16 January 2016!)

By the time we touched down at Changi Airport, it was past midnight on 9 August 2015. Happy National Day, Singapore! We were all happy to be home at last because there is no place like home.

It had been a great trip with these five other peeps. We suffered the hardships together but also had lots of fun and laughter together as well. Every one brought something to the table and it made for an unforgettable experience. I look back fondly on KL strumming her ukulele and leading the karaoke sessions in the van, ZJ chasing the sheep in the highlands, RL’s impersonations of Tenzin giving his “brief information”, XY riding the horse up Dolma-La Pass, ST’s crazy laughter, the Expressway Toilet breaks that we took, the Bridge sessions in the van and many more.

I am also very impressed by our resilience and the fact that we made it through the trip despite all of us being ill at some point of time. I sound like we went through war or a boot camp rather than a holiday, but it’s true. The high altitude and the Mt. Kailash trek were especially gruelling and it really pushed us to our limits. I am so glad and proud that we did it and I thank all five of them for being with me all the way.

All together now, “Send ah”… “Bo jio!” (inside joke, hee hee)