Now in China

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Well, I have managed to arrive in China! I sadly left Koh Chang and headed to Bangkok on Tuesday. Tuesday night had a good dinner and a 1 1/2 hour Thai massage at Madame Joe's just behind Khao San Road, it was wonderful! Got up early Wednesday morning to get the airport bus. Flew to Kunming, where I bought a ticket to fly to Chengdu immediately. I hadn't been able to figure out how to use the phones, so I wasn't able to get in touch with the two people I knew in Chengdu. Fortunately I sat next to a very nice man who not only called my friends for me, he shared a taxi with me and took me to the hospital where my friend Ying works - Ying worked in my lab for a few months. Ying set up a hotel for me and took me, her friend and her husband out to a delicious traditional Chinese restaurant. I had pigeon, ribbon fish, and all sorts of other delicious things - everything I ate was so good. Today I went to Du Fu Cottage - Du Fu is a famous Chinese poet who lived in Chengdu for about 4 years where he built this cottage around 700-800AD. They had discovered the original pillars from a structure that was there, and lots of cool old pottery. Walked around a beautiful park for a while and now I am at Ying's work and we are going to the panda reserve! More later. Love to all, Jenn.

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