So we had our final day of training in Jianshui and left after a brief lunch for Kunming, where I find myself now, just waiting to go through to the departure gate. The final shots of Jianshui include the town's delightful centrepiece - a kind of temple in a roundabout that's been made into little coffee shops, where locals can sit and look at the traffic circling round. In front, there are plenty of vendors selling all kinds of things, from shoe polishing services to sexual aids. Note that that is aids in lower case. Although I do hear there's a problem with the upper case version as well.
From the top you can also see the local pipe seller - see Blog 23 for a picture of how they might be used.
So the lovely EB provided a van and a driver to take us up to the airport, which is just a four hour drive, or three and a half if you have our maniac driver. Speed was something to be embraced this afternoon, as was lots of beeping. What wasn't to be tolerated was anything else on the road, be it larger, smaller or even a police vehicle. Simon tells me that he has experienced worse driving - that of India's. Drop us a line if you've any thoughts on 
this. Despite the speeds, swerves, cutting ups and our van having absolutely nothing in the way of licence plates, the journey was generally uneventful, which is actually what you want, isn't it? Our speedy carriage can be seen here. Nice.
this. Despite the speeds, swerves, cutting ups and our van having absolutely nothing in the way of licence plates, the journey was generally uneventful, which is actually what you want, isn't it? Our speedy carriage can be seen here. Nice.While I might raise an eyebrow at the way in which the van was driven, we can at least be thankful that the long drive wasn't in Jianshui's main form of transport, a kind of Chinese moped tuk-tuk. This little fellow is the saviour of late folk everywhere down here and can be found nipping in and out of even the tiniest spaces. Some of the posh ones have little frilly curtains and some are decked out like a strange variety of 
temple - probably just as well, as you'd probably want to start praying as soon as you got in one.
temple - probably just as well, as you'd probably want to start praying as soon as you got in one.Time to go and check in for the flight back to Shanghai. One blog remains of the journey, so stay tuned for the final epic installment...
