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Temples Siem Reap សៀមរាប Arrival!!!

November 9, 2015

The day has finally arrived! Everything that we have been waiting for since first hearing about the amazing Big Experience. We were off to an early start this morning with everyone arriving at 7:15AM. The atmosphere at school was a mix of nervous and excited energy. We all bid a sad farewell to our parents and loved ones with many hugs and kisses, but we knew that the adventure was only just beginning. We got on the bus and waved our last goodbyes before the journey was now underway. After getting very restless on an 8 hour plane trip seeing the dramatic change in landscape and architecture made us realise we have burst out of the bayside bubble. Stepping out of the plane we were immediately hit by the strong humidity and 31 degree heat. After arriving in Siam Reap at midnight Melbourne time exhausted after a very long delay we were still very eager to immerse ourselves into Cambodian culture. We settled in our hotel rooms, excited to spend the night with our roomies and to get a good night’s sleep. We are looking forward to the jam packed day tomorrow exploring the beautiful ancient wonders and uniqueness of the Angkor Wat temple and continue to embrace Cambodian culture and further bond with our fellow Temple group.

P.S little birthday shout out to Jack Toce who we all hope had a fabulous day.

Miss and love you all

Jack Toce & Alina Neesham and the rest of the Temples.

Vietnam Yellow: We have arrived in Hanoi

November 9, 2015

By Prue Schwarz

After a very long day’s travelling, everyone has retired to bed in our very nice hotel in Hanoi. The students are in good spirits and looking forward to exploring this city after a good night’s sleep.

These pictures are from our transit in Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 1 – Arrived Safe and Sound

November 9, 2015

By chyde

After a smooth flight, we bused to our hotel in downtown Ho Chi Minh. We ate a delicious meal at a local restaurant before heading off to bed to be well rested for tomorrow’s adventures.

China day 2

November 9, 2015

By nhutchinson

This morning we visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and experienced a rickshaw ride around hutong. Tiananmen Square had rich history and is surrounded by many historical and important Chinese buildings. On one side is the gates to the Forbidden City which feature a large painting of Chairman Mao.

The Forbidden City was filed with traditional Chinese designs, such as dragons and the colours red and gold.

The rickshaw ride had a large impact on our perceptions on what Beijing is really about. We saw many people that are less fortunate than us. This made us think about what we believe is hard compared to what they believe is hard. It also made us think about how lucky we are to have the opportunity to be travelling around China with our school. I, Adriana was slightly distressed seeing the way people live and what their future holds, because from what we saw it looked very difficult for them to make ends meet and provide enough for a large family. Synnoeve (Sunny) also found this quite sad, as she has already experienced so much of the world whereas these people were struggling just to make a living. For lunch we ate at a generous family’s home who had kindly prepared traditional Chinese food for us.

In the afternoon we had the opportunity to attend a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. It was great to learn about how to smell and taste a variety of teas. We particularly liked the fruity tea.

In the afternoon we went to downtown Beijing and saw many of the leading brand shops. After that, we went to Food Street also located in downtown Beijing. There we saw many strange delicacies such as spiders, seahorse, starfish and sea urchin. This was an interesting encounter because many locals ate some of these specialties. The people in our group found this quite different and most became slightly squeamish.

We had dinner at a restaurant where we ate from a round table banquet. This is traditionally Chinese and the food was good. After dinner we went to the Peking Opera to see a traditional Chinese opera. One of the actors did his own makeup and put on his costume on on stage, showing us how much time and effort it takes to put on a Chinese Opera. The Chinese Opera was very interesting and different, showing us a piece of their culture.