China. Travel futures and logs!

[kstolz3419]

Lived in Hong Kong for the last 4 years and did lots of work travel throughout mainland China. Finally moved back to the U.S. last October.

Some things make me nostalgic about China... I miss the tea, food, unique culture, hospitable friends, and the dramatic variety of scenery and sights in places like HK, Beijing, Xian, and Yunnan province.

The things I don't miss... Crazy pollution, public bathrooms, questions about how consumables are produced, traffic, and some of the cultural "abrasiveness" in crowded public areas.

Still, I'll always have many fond memories of China

[JBaymore]

Finally off to Beijing, Jingdezhen, and Yixing in three days.

Lots of time for clay.... not a lot for tea. Tea will get wedged in whenever/where-ever.

Exhibiting in Jingdezhen and Yixing..... but not teawares this time.

Hoping that the Yixing Pottery Museum and the World Pottery Museum, will just happen to have my works that they have in the permanent collections out on display when we are there. (It is always good to impress the students .)

Planning on bringing back another nice Yixing teapot or two. (NO! Not one of the $19,000 US ones I mentioned when I was last there.)

Still too much to do to get ready. Arrrggghhhhh!

best,

.....................john

[JBaymore]

Back home from China. Still jetlagged.

It was hot in China when I was there..... 85-95 F all days. Back home and below freezing this morning! Burrrrrrrrrr.

Amongst other things, had the opportunity to learn a bit about the making of Yixing teapots. Got to watch some seriously skilled people make them in detail. Saw a few forming "tricks" that I did not know about. Had some good Chinese Tea Ceremony experiences also.

Oh... and seven more Yixing teapots are in my collection now.

best,

..............john

[Frisbeehead]

Hey JBaymore just curious, can you speak Mandarin/read Hanzi?

Also, aside from what you mentioned, what did you do while you were there?

[JBaymore]

Hey JBaymore just curious, can you speak Mandarin/read Hanzi?

Also, aside from what you mentioned, what did you do while you were there?

Nope... my Mandarin is limited to a couple of very simple phrases. Japanese I can speak ... I somehow can't get my head wrapped around Chinese. Just doesn't work...... though I've tried a bit. We had interpreters assigned to us......which was a godsend. (Japanese lets me get the gist of some signs...because of the shared characters meanings.)

Busy as heck while over there. At the core of the trip this time, I was there taking some of my college ceramics major students to an international ceramics symposium.

I had my work in an exhibition of about 30 selected international artists at the Jingdezhen Pottery Festival, had my work in another much larger exhibition at Wuxi Institute of Arts and Technology in Yixing, was demonstrating some of my making techniques in Jingdezhen at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, gave a lecture on wood kilns at the Wuxi Institute of Technology in Yixing. Attended lectures and demo presentation by many others......... including porcelain artists from Jingdezhen and teapot makers form Yixing. Attended a seminar on the dragon kilns. Plus we "ate our way thru China"! In Beijing, I also visited the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Olympic Park, the "old town" part of Beijing, and ArtZone 798 (amazing place).

Did some teapot and tools and materials shopping in Yixing and Jingdezhen.

My third time in China.....all ceramics related, and all involving doing presentations or receiving awards there.

best,

................john

[jayinhk]

Considering a trip to Chaozhou at some point; only a two-and-a-half-hour train ride once I cross the border into Shenzhen. Alternatively, it's seven hours by bus from downtown. Perhaps six from the airport (which is closer than downtown)! I can probably get by in Cantonese in Chaozhou, too, even though they speak Teochew, which is almost entirely unintelligible for a Cantonese speaker. I really need to learn Mandarin...

[Frisbeehead]

Hey guys!

So I will be studying in Chengdu from the end of August to early December, and I plan on making some travels to different places around China during my time off (weekends probably, but I don't know my class schedule yet). If there is anyone that would be willing to meet up somewhere, I would love to meet up with you for some tea and a chat!

I am pretty sure I will be going to Hong Kong, so if there's anyone that lives there that has some free time to meet up and hang out that would be really cool. I also plan on traveling to Yunnan and perhaps some other places.

[thirst]

China has gorgeous landscapes and gardens. Huangshan is absolutely stunning; haven’t been to Zhangjiajie but I want to go there at one point, too – I’m a sucker for these kinds of mountains and rock formations.

[jayinhk]

I'm headed to Kunming in a month and Fujian six weeks after. Pretty pumped about both!

[daidokorocha]

Anything in particular you are planning to do?

[jayinhk]

Anything in particular you are planning to do?

Lots! As far as tea, meet a few vendors that serve us Western drinkers and get some deals, do a little tea market exploration, visit tea houses, visit traditional villages (not the touristy kind), bike in the countryside, check out old tea trees, eat lots of exotic minority food and local dishes, find and buy good tea if the price is right, talk to other travelers, explore randomly, visit museums, talk to random locals, try the local wines, take lots of pictures, and hopefully meet some ladies, too!

[Frisbeehead]

Anybody have any experience with any tea shops in Chengdu? Know of any that sell good quality pu'erh or oolongs, or teaware?

edit: After reading through some of Marshalln's blog posts about buying tea in China as a foreigner, I have decided to forego any serious tea searching while I am in China. I have been formally learning Chinese for about 9 months (I have been slacking over the summer, I really should be practicing daily) and I will be taking intensive Chinese language courses while I'm in Chengdu. However my 普通话 is not good enough to be able to have any meaningful conversation with a shop owner about tea.

I will be traveling a bit while I am there, however. I will most likely be visiting Kunming and Hong Kong, so perhaps I can at least find some basic factory teas. I am still quite new to pu'erh, and I'm still learning, so getting some factory teas would be a good idea. Though it is yet to be seen whether it is better for me just to order from Yunnan Sourcing after I return.

Anyway, if anyone has any experience or personal advice they'd like to share, I'm open to suggestions. I'll continue reading the blogs of Marshalln, hster, and other more experienced drinkers for more info on the subject.

[Frisbeehead]

Well I heard back from Travisa the other day, my request for a multiple entry visa got declined. So it looks like I will not be traveling to Taiwan or Hong Kong while I'm studying in China this Fall. I'll just have to visit those places when I'm teaching in China after I graduate, which will be a few years from now.

I'll take the money I would've spent going to Taiwan and HK, and travel more around China.

[jayinhk]

Well I heard back from Travisa the other day, my request for a multiple entry visa got declined. So it looks like I will not be traveling to Taiwan or Hong Kong while I'm studying in China this Fall. I'll just have to visit those places when I'm teaching in China after I graduate, which will be a few years from now.

I'll take the money I would've spent going to Taiwan and HK, and travel more around China.

China will keep you plenty busy...lots to see around Sichuan alone! Kunming won't be all that far either!

[Bok]

First of all, excuse the typing, using Asian keyboard

So I went for a business trip to Shanghai. 2nd time there, but this time I could carve out half an afternoon to look for some tea. Although I was prepared not to buy anything, as that can be notoriously difficult/disappointing in China. So I did not expect much, just to satisfy my curiosity I headed to Tian Shan Tea city, which I thankfully find via an old thread here.

As opposed to how I am used to buy tea in Taiwan, China seems to have more of a real market feel about it, with samples laying in front of the shop, how much flavour they can keep that way is another matter. Spring is upon us so most shops there had a lot of Long Jing and other varieties.

But I am not interested in Green teas - my search was to find and finally try some Wuyi teas, without having to resort to international online shops...