Had breakfast at home and packed for our two day journey to Foshan City. i found this info in my Lonely Planet book on China. I will go to an ancient kiln that has apparently been consistently used since 1530 and is 50 metres long.. I also hope to see some contemporary potters. We are taking transit the whole way. Martine's Chinese friends have printed off many words and directions for us in Chinese as they have never ventured this way before. The whole trip took about 3 hours...many different subways...use your metro card to get on and then to get off and then is when it deducts the cost of your journey. Finding the bus was fun... a few attendants later we're on bus 251 to Foshan City. Even though we always have directions, there's always one small tidbit of information that is missing and therefore messes us up. We had the right bus number but it came into docket 120 (the missing piece!) We saw motorcyclists with father, mother and newborn baby, mother only hanging on to the baby and no helmets...cyclists with an entire store's worth of merchandise strapped precariously to a trailing cart...defying the laws of balance and gravity. it sounds like New York City...everybody honks! Women ride sidesaddle wearing high heels and dresses. Women who drive themselves wear a shirt backwards and gloves that look like oven gloves. people give me a seat where ever i am because I'm old, not because I'm a foreigner...everyone dyes their hair. We ate a fantastic lunch at a local diner...rice dish mixed with veggies and ham, fired vegetable dumplings and bottled water. I LIVe on bottled water...to brush my teeth and put in my contacts...so far so good. we found the Nanfeng Ancient Kilns quickly but realized most of it was closed because the Chinese shut down from noon until 2 p.m. for lunch. Everyone was in their shops or display areas with the doors closed. Walked around to get our bearings (it was almost 2 pm when we arrived) and then saw a master potter throw vessels and lids on a wheel. Went out to some small shops, saw antique doors, jewellery, coins, and ceramics. Bought a few trinkets and then headed to the hotel to check in. It was very hot and sunny so we were drained. Showered and rested and then went to have a different kind of Chinese food 'dongbay' which had taco wraps, pancakes (REALLY...like Aunt Jemima) and whole fish in a wok, an eggplant dish (yum) and bokchoy...always rice! Went back to the hotel and slept for 8 hours!
Tomorrow we will go back to the ancient kiln and get a better tour.
Goodnight!
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