China

Day 7

A lovely sunny day at last but well over 30 degrees. I walked nearly 5 km to the old village of San Bao discovering interesting features along the route. They dry pots outside in huge quantities on footpaths so you have to walk on the road. Saw the huge eagle sculpted from wood fragments and the massive wooden archway (reminded me of the willow sculptures at school). Check out the crazy transformer figure under the archway!The old village was beautiful with traditional Chinese houses and I met a young ceramic artist there called Mei who is going to be starting an MA at the RCA in September!I went to say goodbye to my lovely friend Juyuxuan the artist who lives just up the road from my hotel. We had tea and he seems to think it’s fate that I'm here.... He then gave me the most beautiful teacup which is so translucent, you can see through it. It is one he has decorated and it is wonderful, the photos don’t do it justice. These are such lovely people. I've asked he and his friends to come over to my studio at the University next week.