Chengdu Celebrity Spotting.... Landslide in to Travel Plans

I went to see the stars of the South West - Chengdu's famous pandas! Very cute, a little sleepy and as always - very hungry. I especially liked the panda who sat in a pile of bamboo munching away. They were actually a lot less lazy than I expected! There was a nice Attenborough DVD in the museum and so his dulcit tones really set the tone for the trip.

Did you know, pandas are only on heat for 72 hours a year?
Or that they are very picky eaters and throw away 75% of the bamboo they're given?

We went outside of the city to an ancient town called Pingle (say  Ping-leh, not Pingle as in Pringles!) with some beautiful  architecture, riverside teahouses and a bamboo boat trip down the  river. Chrysantaneum, rose and berry tea by the waterwheel is a  cooling remedy to the heat (30C+!) and humidity (100%!!!) here in the Sichuan basin!

Near Pingle is the longest chain suspension bridge in China - not  longest suspension bridge, nor longest chain bridge, the  longest-chain-suspension bridge. Out in the countryside people speak  harder Sichuan dialect which isn't like the Beijing standard Chinese -  I couldn't understand anything old ladies said!

Anyway... just yesterday a real spanner was thrown into my travel  plans. The Grand Plan was a ring trip from Sichuan Province into Yunnan Province via the Tibet border through high altitude border  towns in the  mountains full of Tibetan monasteries and really rural,  unspoilt beauty. I knew the road was iffy and very dangerous... but  just yesterday the whole west Sichuan (i.e EVERY ROAD I was meant to  travel on) has been closed off to foreigners due to dangerous road  conditions (landslides, flooding etc. from the rains). So dissapointed! But at least it wasn't the reason I came to China and  I'm now able to chill out in the best hostel ever with a lot of  friends :)

So, now the plan is to wing it! Getting back to Yunnan and heading to  the Nujiang Valley, home to one of only two undammed rivers in China,  scunched next to the Burma border and home to half of China's endangered plant species. Can't wait!

Tears and Trekking

I finished teaching at the school last week and it was one of the hardest goodbyes I've ever had to do. I spent the weekend with my  (now my ex-students) best friends in China and giving letters to the people who'v been so kind to me whilst I've been here. I received so many gifts in the last week - one class even wrote a Chinese song/poem book for me! I also received some beautiful letters from students which were so moving and really set me on the edge of tears. I cried the whole of Monday when I left the school and as I sat on my 20 hour train to Chengdu, I realised I miss The National Minorities High School more than England! A crowd of my favourite students and my Link Teacher came to see me off and I was literally crying for hours...

My first long distance solo journey on China's trains was a good one as I had a great (i,e NOT SMELLY!) carriage. I went hard sleeper which was actually very comfortable. The journey was 20 hours and in the morning I woke to an amazing change of scenery, travelling along the Yangtze river looking into stunning gorges. Everyone in the neighbouring berths shared snacks until we arrived at 1pm. Chengdu in Sichuan feels so different to Yunnan province. In Yunnnan I could see mountains on every horizon everywhere I went and the weather is permanently Spring like. Here, I got out of the train and a wave of humidity smacked me in the face. Chengdu is a major city and the crowds felt like they'd never end, the taxi driver chatted to me about the weather (just like England aye?) and said it's always much hotter here.

I've met up with some friends and after exploring Chengdu's tea houses for one day whilst catching up, went to Emei Mountain. Emei is one of China Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains and we made a pilgrimage to the summit to see the sunrise, sleeping in a monastery and a peasant house on the way. I've been able to practice my Chinese a lot since finishing my work as an English teacher and managed to make Chinese friends on the way!

Emei was full of amazing views and also.... wild monkeys! They have no fear and one jumped on my friend's back, grabbed her ice tea before downing it.

I'm still in Chengdu for a couple of days travelling around but soon I'll be journeying to the west of Sichuan into the Tibetan plateaus. Monasteries, monks, prayer flags, yaks, mountains, crystal blue skies..... I can't wait to get out of this city!!

Last Week of Lessons

Who knew 4 months of teaching could fly by so, so fast?

I still remember all my lesson plans and it's surreal thinking I've now taught my last lesson of the gap year. Going back to England is going to feel very strange. I think I'm going to have to pick up a TEFL certificate on the way....

For this last week, I've asked my students to teach me something Chinese. I've had a BRILLIANT time and learnt so much!! Every class has shown me something different. About half of my students are from ethnic minorities (most are Hui, Hani, Dai, Yi) who've taught me songs, dances and language which has been so interesting and completely new. It's been great to jump into culture and learn everything from fire dances from Yi students, raps in local dialect, children's songs and famous Chinese karaoke hits! I've also had a crash course in Tai Chi, had calligraphy written for me and had classes recite & translate classical poetry about friendship to me:

"Wherever you go and whatever you do, we will always be friends and we will always miss you"

Hearing a class of 60 say this together is really very moving.

It's not all Chinese though, I also had an AMAZING popping & locking display to Michael Jackson from a group of boys!!

.... But I have to say, I really, really am sad. I love this school so much and am finding it really hard to say goodbye to the best job I think I'll ever have. My colleagues all tell me this is my second home and  never to worry about accommodation when I come to SW China. I've been fighting back tears all today and when students ask if they'll ever see me again, I can't bring myself to say no. So, I think it's a new job, saving money and an airfare back to China when I get back to England :)