Jodi in China

November 24, 2008

When Jamon left in Shangri-la in the beginning of October, I was on my own. That turned out to be a good thing, because I had to learn how to get things done by myself. Thankfully, I've managed to do that, and I have been busy, productive, and happy. In addition, I’ve been fortunate to make a lot of great friends, mostly expats from all over the world who have found themselves living in Shangri-la. Swiss, Australians, Americans, and British; researchers, artists, and people just trying to get by how they can, by setting up a business or teaching english in the local schools. They are mostly all older than me, and quite experienced in China. They have great stories, tons of insight on the way things work here. And they all seem to have a healthy cynicism about China and the world in general, with a good sense of humor to go along with it, which is a perspective I greatly enjoy and appreciate.

So, throughout October and November, I have been based in Shangri-la, but making overnight and day trips all over NW Yunnan.  Sometime around the beginning of November, I started to get kind of tired, and things started to get a bit blurry. But I was able to do a few more productive but relatively easy fieldtrips in November to help me through it, and I ended up having lot of fun. Now I have just gotten back to Kunming, to do some meetings and take care of some business before returning to the U.S. at the end of this week. I've been going through my pictures to post in my final blog entry and I am amazed at how many stunningly beautiful places I’ve visited these last couple of months. And what good company I’ve had. All of the Chinese and the westerners I’ve spent time with all along the way have been wonderfully kind and most always easy-going. But I’m not going to get mushy about it -- I’ll just show some of my favorite photos from the last couple of months and be done with it. See you all soon!!