After lunch, Tom and Sami were eager to take up our host's offer to teach them how to make his simplest product: one of the small side-pouring pitchers that we had just used to make tea.

Simple, right? We would find out otherwise...

While the master kept refining the pots he had begun that morning, Tom and Sami grabbed hunks of clay and dug in.

Is this big enough?
Let me take a look... Sure. Go ahead.
Sami took to the pounding with gusto. Don't let it get away!

Our duo mucked around - what's this for? is that thick enough?
The master quietly (and so quickly) whipped up a sample pot.
Tom's and Sami's did not quite look the same...
...so they gave them to the master for a little touching up.
Amazing what can happen in the hands of an expert! Tom's is actually functional now!

In the end, their amateur pots didn't make the cut, but instead of disappointment, delight reigned as Sami and Tom did a noisy smack-down of their pots and returned the balls of clay to the master, whose hands would reshape them into more simple and elegant examples of his art.

You've come to the end of our stories about Yunnan (at least for now!). It was an amazing adventure, thanks in largest measure to our wonderful guide Huang of Wild China, to whom this write-up is dedicated with sincere thanks.