China Recap!

China Day 1: Shanghai

• ·         Spent the day on a city orientation tour through Semester at Sea. Explored the old towns, Shanghai Museum, a traditional market and went to an acrobatic show.

 

China Day 2-5: Beijing

I was on a huge trip with 40 people in my group to Beijing and 120 people total participating. But we were able to cover a lot of ground i

  --Day 2 --

• ·         Tea tasting

• ·         Trishaw pedicab ride through the back streets where people live. This was the first time I saw the dust layer, trash, and poor living conditions of some of the Chinese people.

• ·         We had dinner with a family who taught us how to make dumplings.

 

--Day 3 –

• ·         Tian'men Square – The largest public square in the world. Due to China's internet censorship many of the Chinese people have no knowledge of the massacre.

• ·         Forbidden City – Also known as the imperial palace, it was the home to 24 emperors.

• ·         Lama Temple – This is home to a huge Buddha! 26 meters tall.

• ·         Acrobatic Show

• ·         Dinner with traditional roasted duck.

 

--Day 4–

• ·         Kong Fu Show

• ·         Jade Factory – Real jade is made into beautiful jewelry and figurines here.

• ·         Great Wall of China – This is as beautiful as we could have imagined. The wall is bigger than I had imagined, and you can see it span off into the distance as far as the eye can see. It is amazing to think that it was built before the time of machinery and all of the materials had to be carried up to their current locations by hand. We took a cable car up and tobogganed down from the overlook area.

o   Successfully bargained for a quilt at the shops here!

 

 

China Day 6: Hong Kong

• ·         Spent the day with my modern world fiction class. We hiked for 4 hours up a mountain. The views from the top were spectacular overlooking the harbor. It was nice to be out of the city and to enjoy the nature that people tend to overlook when the think of Hong Kong.

·         Hong Kong's history is fascinating. Given back to China in 1997, after being a British Colony. Being here has made me much more interested to learn more about many parts of China's background.