Dear Families and Friends of China 2016,
Firstly, thank you for letting us share a small but valuable part of your children’s lives. It has been a pleasure to be part of the Big Experience that was China 2016. We have all travelled safely and are looking forward to going home. We hope you have enjoyed our blog and photos. We are sure that your children have many precious memories to share and we hope you enjoy them.
Robyn Marshall, Deane Toohey and Rocco Toce
Greetings Families and Friends of China 2016,
We have landed safely in Bangkok and are waiting to board our flight to Melbourne. We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow afternoon.
Regards
The China Team
Beijing was a warm 4°C this morning as we headed out to the Llama temple. The Llama Temple is a Tibetan Buddhist temple where locals and tourists can explore and learn about the ideology. The temple is home to a 26 meter tall Buddha as well as other spiritual figures including the ancient entombed body of an abbot. We were assigned three challenges, firstly to discover where the abbot was entombed, secondly to find out what was behind the curtains and how the giant wooden Buddha was transported to the temple. It was interesting to investigate the temple and it’s fascinating history. As for the answers you will have to ask us when we get home!
We then travelled to the Hong Chao- an indoor market and for many, the most highly anticipated part of our trip. We spent 4 hours shopping, buying everything from Louis Vuitton to Rolex as well as some extremely real beats headphones and some definitely cotton Polo Ralph Lauren.
After dinner we said some emotional thank yous’ to the teachers, and the much loved tour guide Xiao Feng (AKA- Stony). We reflected on the amazing time we have had in China, learning about their language and culture as well as learning to work as a group. We only have half a day left- time has gone by so fast. We are looking forward to the 34 hours of travelling we have to get back home!
Izzy and Ryan
We began today with a well deserved and much wanted sleep in, and then headed down to a buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurant. The group then rugged up, as we ventured out yet again into negative temperatures.
Our first stop was the National Museum of China, which is located next to Tiananmen Square. After a thorough search and patting down, typical of Chinese security, we were relieved to escape the cold. Our goal at the museum, other than to understand more about the history and culture of China, was to find the oldest object in the museum. After an hour and a half of searching, some people had found objects up to 2 million years old. In our small group of five students we looked at 19th century artworks, Chinese pottery and ancient relics. We also spent a decent amount of time at the gift shop, deciding whether or not to buy the 5600 yuan plate. While exploring the museum, it was impossible to ignore its massive size. This museum, being the biggest in China, was comparable to a labyrinth. Similarly, it was impossible to ignore the vending machine tempting us with its various unrecognisable Chinese beverages. Our group decided to give some of the iced tea a try, each selecting a different flavour. Whilst some members enjoyed the drink, and others stomached the drink, Some refused to finish it and instead bought a Fanta to wash away the taste. Overall, the students were given free reign to explore the museum and we enjoyed the experience while learning more about Chinese history.
Next stop was the Forbidden City, which was situated on a different side of Tiananmen Square. This “city” was home to many of the emperors over various dynasties throughout Chinese history. While it was technically a palace, the Forbidden City is likened to a city due to its sheer scale. The multitude of buildings located inside were mainly constructed with timber, and the architecture was dominated by bright reds and yellows. Through the stories told by the tour guides, we were able to envision what the city would have been like back in the day. After exiting the Forbidden City, we travelled up to Coal Hill, renamed “cold hill” by Mrs Marshall, to see a stunning view of both the palace and Beijing from above.
As a finale to the day, and in some ways to the whole trip, we were whisked away to an outstanding acrobatic performance. While we couldn’t understand the introduction at the start, our jaws dropped as the amazing and terrifying stunts began to unfold. Despite the incredible contortionist, flips and balancing acts, the highlight has to be the “globe of death”. This stunt involves a hollow ball, in which motorcyclists do loops every way possible. At one stage, I remember telling Luke that “they always go up to 3 riders”, knowing that he would expect no more than the current two. It was to my surprise, along with everyone else’s, that by the end there was five riders in the globe at one time.
Despite the freezing temperature and icy winds, today was jam packed full of interesting activities and was certainly one of the most memorable days of the trip.
By Luke R and Ted.
This morning we were greeted by a pleasant -2°C, with a layer of freshly fallen snow. This was quite amazing since some of us had never experienced snow before. Despite the astonishment of finding snow and it being freezing cold, we were still excited for the day ahead. It was a great start to the day.
Two hours later, after the long bus trip, we arrived at the tourist centre at the bottom of the Great Wall. We then took a very small shuttle bus to the base of the Great Wall. At this point we could only see the wall from a distance, however, what we could see in close distance was an excruciatingly long flight of stairs. After our somewhat challenging trek up the stairs we reached the wall itself. From here we could see the great divide the wall had created between the beautiful landscape that surrounded it. Many of us were fascinated by the extent of which you could see. The air from on top of the Great Wall was beautiful and fresh and better quality than what we had been breathing in the past few days. From here we toured across the top of the wall. This was difficult as the thin layer of snow had built up to create a very slippery surface. Many of us fell, but it was all in good spirit. With the surrounding snow we made snowballs and threw them at each other, whilst attempting not to get hit ourselves. By now, most of us had began to feel the full effect of Beijing’s cold weather, so it was time to descend down the wall. For lunch we split up in to many small groups, to buy some lunch from the various surrounding food stores.
After yet another 2 hour bus ride back to the hotel, we prepared ourselves for dinner for a nearby restaurant. Here we got to experience the true culture of China through its’ food. We ate many different dishes such as the famous Beijing (or Peking) duck, casual dumplings and other meats and veggies. For some the Beijing duck was a very new taste, as duck is not a common food in Australia, but most seemed to like it. We then headed back to the hotel to prepare for our next adventure.
By Jeremy and Max.
We got to Shanghai yesterday morning and today we’ve somehow ended up in Beijing, around 1500 km apart! We started the morning with a slow start, being allowed to sleep in 3 hours later than our usual wake-up time and relished every minute of it. We began the activities of the day with a brunch, in which dishes included dumplings, deep-fried pork, and sliced potatoes were served. We then travelled to the Shanghai Railway station, a vast complex with a waiting room the size of a shopping centre and every imaginable fast food restaurant known to China and the West.
The journey from Shanghai to Beijing was achieved via a bullet train, the travel time mostly used to finish the journey doc. Whilst extremely comfortable, there seems to be a small problem with the food. The snacks consisted of yoghurt covered raisins, which were later described as “Raisins dipped in white yuck stuff “, definitely a challenge to the taste buds! The actual meal served on the train is hard to describe. The rice became progressively more viscous as you ate it, and the meal itself had some mysterious black cubes. We never did decide what they were. The train food definitely was the most challenging part point of the journey, however, it was easily balanced out by the feeling of watching the scenery fly past at 305kph. When we arrived at Beijing, the temperature was freezing and we spent around ten minutes waiting for our bus to arrive in the chilly air, before reaching our hotel within the second ring road (the downtown area).
Bill and Jamie
