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!!