Day 7: Our final day in Tibet

We met for breakfast in the hotel to eek out some final moments in Lhasa before departing for Chengdu in the afternoon. Son wasn't feeling well so he rested for the morning while Eileen and Hoe went shopping; Terry and I did the internet. Son came down to see us on the internet and evidently didn't understand Terry when he said we'd leave in 10 minutes instead of at 12:15 because we couldn't find Son - - even at 12:15 we couldn't find him so we went to Barkhor Square without him. We hated to do it but also didn't want to make the others wait. We ate at the restaurant we had eaten at before and enjoyed the food. When we returned to the hotel Son was there and said he had been there at 12:15 - - we must have just missed him. After packing everything up we headed to the airport in two cars. But not before a situation with the hotel that ended our stay there with a sour taste. They said they had put towels in our rooms (the had not) and that they were gone - - accusing us of taking them. There were about 6 people dealing with this issue and it was really irritating. They kept arguing with us and we kept saying we didn't get towels. So we opened our suitcases so they could see inside. That bothered them and it was frustrating for us, too. We finally left with smiles but it was sad to end on that note.

We were all separated on the flight to Chengdu but Son and Hoe figured out a way that we could be together so called me from the back to join them and we had Terry move back a row or two so he could sit with Eileen. It's just more fun to stay together. After an uneventful flight we arrived in Chengdu and made our way the 1.5 hours to the hotel. We dropped our stuff off and went to dinner at a supposed famous dumpling restaurant - - it turns out it was the same one we had eaten at on our last visit but never knew it was known for their dumplings. We ordered what we thought were going to be dumplings but got bousa instead - - steamed bread with meat. Good but not what we were expecting. After drinking quite a bit of local beer, sampling a lot of dishes, and taking photos we headed to the hotel. It was a good night; a good last night together. We would all leave early the next morning.