39 hours on a hard seat...

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Well, my time in Jingdezhen seems to be coming to an end. I'll be back sometime over the next few months to pick up the stuff I'm leaving behind & maybe stay a little while to make/finish up some studio work..but we'll have to see how things pan out I guess...


So, let the preparations begin!

I thought I'd start up this blog as I have a feeling the access to my email and internet accounts might be restricted at times and I guess it's an easy way for you all to keep track of my whereabouts. Plus, it's another excuse to distract me from packing up my things! I seem to have accumulated a lot of, er crap. Clothing, ceramics, gifts, paperwork etc etc where on earth has all this come from!aaargh, not to mention my studio which I really need to start packing up from this weekend.


But first things first. Here's my "planned" itinerary...("planned" because knowing how things roll in Asia, anything could happen that could send me in a completely opposite direction)

June 11th (in the early hours of the morning): Jump on a train to Kunming,Yunnan with Brad & Kim
12th: Arrive in Kunming- "The City of Eternal Spring" in Yunnan Province, in South West China
13th: Go to Dali & Lijiang
15th: MY 25th BIRTHDAY!...Attempt to climb the Tiger Leaping Gorge!
17th: Go back to Kunming and say my goodbyes to Kim & Brad 😞 *
18th and on: Get visas sorted etc, travel around Yunnan, see the Yuanyang rice terraces, Xishuangbanna, etc

....Cross border into Laos
....Cross border into Cambodia
....Cross border into Vietnam
....then?? (....Cross back into China? Fly to Myanmar? Thailand? Malaysia?)
....Return to Jingdezhen, Jiangxi
....Fly home!!!


Oh and before I forget! After struggling to get hold of any sleeper tickets for our train journey next week, yesterday I succeeded in getting 3 HARD SEAT train tickets to Kunming for Kim, Brad & I. Now, hard seats are definitely managable on an average journey, but the problem is that we are practically going across China for, wait for it... 1 day, 14 hours and 45 minutes. Yes, 39 HOURS on a hard seat across China-great!...So fingers crossed there are some sleepers free so that we can upgrade when we're on the train, otherwise we might need some serious haemorrhoid cream!haha...


Zaijian for now! K.x

*Brad & Kim are a couple from the USA that I have been living with in Jingdezhen. Kim was the one of the other Oral English teachers and her husband, Brad was running the WVU studio on campus where we work and they are moving back home after living in Jingdezhen for 10 months. They are both beautiful & wonderful people that I will miss dearly.. 😞

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