Once Again Feeling Glazed In China's China
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, China
Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,
Wires, breaker boxes, ancient homes and tiny alley ways.
Along with MY OWN dreaming OF MY OWN burial, I chose Asia to be my home.
What better place to end the 2012 'Summer Beers N Noodles’ Adventure than where most of China’s coveted porcelain is fired up. As my new town is mid way between Shangrao (my old city) and Jingdezhen I chose the city that has been long hailed as the 'Capital of Porcelain’ here in China. I was here during the 2009 ‘Summer Beers N Noodles’ Adventures and loved this vibrant little city so much that I chose it to be here that I unpacked for the last time this summer.
Things here really haven’t changed much over the past four years.
It is still a city overlooked by tall brick chimneys and disfigured by swathes of squalor and incessant demolition but from the demolition several new areas have risen giving the occupants a better and more healthy life than before. I chose to grab a hotel room near the train station as that way I could see much more of the city between waking and snacking my way around the main mall.
This time I also found the cinema…by mistake of course.
Yes the mistake had to do with noodles.
I spotted a Japanese Eatery sign and headed into the shopping mall hell bent on a steaming bowl of udon noodles and that there could be nothing, absolutely nothing in this world that would get between me and my udon noodles. I never actually found it as I figured why not press the top (5th or 6th) floor of the elevator and meander in a downwards meandering fashion as you do when you are meandering until I found it and yes I did 'refuel' on coffee at KFC. Don't you just love travel writing, you get to use terms such as meandering and refueling but try using those terms back home. ie; Honey, today I meandered around the office in search if interesting things to do with my life but when I didn't find anything interesting I continued living my day by refueling on coffee.
Elevator doors opened and I was greeted by life sized displays of Spiderman & Batman.
Oh how quickly things can change.
Udon noodles or a movie?
Spiderman won and that led to a random street side beer & BBQ joint afterwards for dinner as did Batman and another random street side beer & BBQ joint the following night on my walk back to my hotel. As for my days, last time I was here I checked out the Jingdezhen Pottery Culture Area, the Imperial Kilns along with the Museum of Porcelain so this time my days were spent searching for new snacks in different ‘ancient’ parts of the city during which I found another change from four years ago. Many of the old areas had been rewired and homes now have new fuse breaker/boxes out front;
All of which looked totally out of time and place!
So I chose the latter to be the theme of my current visit.
Also I was so glazed that I revisited the Museum of Porcelain.
Now For a Bit on Jingdezhen
Porcelain was first made there during the Han dynasty (306 BC to 330 AD).
Since the Tang Dynasty, the white glazed china produced in Jingdezhen had earned the name ‘artificial jade ware.’ In the Northern Song Dynasty, officials were assigned by the emperor to the town to supervise the manufacturing of porcelain for the royal families within the Forbidden City and ‘Jingde China’ began to make its fame abroad. In the following centuries ‘Jingde China’ was sold and exported to many countries around the world. Now I will leave you now with a quote from the Lonely Planet;
With more China here than the rest of China put together, travellers can rapidly feel glazed! But I totally disagree with the LP writers belief that Jingdezhen, even though it is no oil painting, is strictly for Chinese porcelain buffs only for...Is not porcelain a part of the real China we all want and come to see!
So ends the 2012 Summer 'Beers N Noodles' Adventure.
Now begins a new chapter in the life of eddakath.
Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
PS: the photos in this entry are actually from Jingdezhen I just noticed that in my haste to finally finish my Summer Adventures and join 'now time' reality I mistakenly somehow copied the photo names from my last entry to Liuzhou. They were supposed to be named 'Once Again Feeling Glazed in China's China'.
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The soundtrack to this entry was by The Troggs
The album was ‘Love Is All Around’
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