By Brodie and Reilly
Awakening to the hotel phones ringing about the floor at 6:30AM, we gradually begin our descent to the breakfast buffet. Our minds fixated on the food we’ve known and loved for the previous four days, our understanding of what food we enjoy is clear.
As we depart from Cheng Du City for the final time, our 8-hour travelling journey begins and so does the next chapter of our China trip. The first part of this journey involves making our way through customs, which saw the demise of Mrs Marshall’s beloved fruit-peeling knife. We arrive at our destination roughly at 8:15 am, allowing us plenty of time to swiftly move through security and search for shops that would grant us our wishes of Western cuisine. The result of this expedition saw the purchase of an overpriced grapefruit juice and lots of skittles. We return to our seats, eagerly awaiting the arrival of our bullet train which can travel up to 300km/h. As we slowly board on to the train, which resembles the interior of an aeroplane, we begin our four hour trip to the village of Xi Jiang through the rural Chinese countryside to the sound of high-pitched teenage squeals as to who sits where. To pass the time, we partake in a heated game of ‘Cards Against Humanity’. This provided plenty of laughter and PG-13 entertainment for the whole family to enjoy.
After the train came the bus ride. The bus ride through the Rural areas of China was quite amazing. It was extremely mountainous and very green. This bus trip also enabled us to take a look at some of China’s remote farmland and deepened our understandings of how privileged our lives in Australia are. After four more hours on the bus, we finally arrived at Xiao Ju guest house. After learning who would be rooming with us, we unpacked our bags and jumped on our beds, that were tougher than expected. We swiftly learnt that some rooms were hailed with an additional story, and some were not. Outrage began.
Hungry and full of energy, we leave toward our much-anticipated dinner at the Banquet of Long Tables. The weather was absolutely freezing. On the way to dinner, we learnt about the heritage of the Miao people with our new tour guide, Billy. The dinner was at the Banquet of the Long Tables. We all sat along a long table and shared many dishes including sweet and sour pork, stir-fried rice and lemon glazed sweet mashed potatoes, which was an experience. At the end of the night, we all celebrated Jack’s 16th birthday. For his birthday, we all got to eat boiled eggs. We were told to smash the egg on our foreheads for good luck, this was the highlight of my day. The yolk was green – but that’s okay.
Though this day may have been filled with plenty of travel, the celebration of Jack’s birthday and the cracking of open an egg on your forehead certainly proved to turn today into a great one that we won’t forget any time soon, and we look forward to tomorrow.
Reilly: S’doin Parentals. Hope everyone’s alive. Tell Darcy I got him a lit panda toy at the panda enclosure. I haven’t run out of money yet, still holding strong. It’s been amazing so far especially the day with the Panda’s but there’s LOTS of travelling. It’s my birthday tomorrow so eat cake for me. Use the Nutribullet you got for me as well. See you in 13 days.
Brodie:
Hello family that is too long to individually mention… I’m hoping that everyone is fine and doing well as your favourite son is no longer in Melbourne. So far, saying that China is great would be an understatement. Yet, I’m still looking forward to seeing you all in 13 days.
