Peddie China Trip 2017

After a great night in Shenzhen, the China squad headed out to Hong Kong (which exceeded our expectations!) After a few hours in customs and on the bus, we arrived in Hong Kong. Our local guide, Herman, gave us a few tips on travel and sent us on our way to lunch. The outstanding lunch that was served to us was provided by Mr. and Mrs. Liu, parents of Jason Liu '20. We also got to catch up with some past and future Peddie students. After lunch we headed to a tram that took us up to the most gorgeous site I have ever seen. The view from the top of the mountains in Hong Kong is breathtaking - I highly recommend. On the mountain, we got some downtime to relax and shop. The shopping mall was very beautiful and cooling, especially with the very hot weather. But after a hot, sizzling hour the group was ready for a shower before we headed to our dinner cruise. After the showers and the naps taken in the rooms, we were ready for dinner. We got on the boat and set sail for a splendid dinne...

Our day began as we all loaded into the bus at 5:30 am so that we could get to the airport for our 8:15 flight from Xi'an to Shenzhen. We were given breakfast in a bag, which included a bag of milk, fruit, a sandwich, bread, and a full cucumber. All of us, half asleep, eventually made it to the airport and were ready for take off. We boarded the plane, and with the hum of a Chinese song playing on the loud speaker, we found our seats. Yet, as we were sitting in our seats ready to leave, we learned that our flight was being delayed and that we would have to sit on the plane for another hour before take off. So we sat. Some of us slept, some watched the movies on the airplane, and others listened to music. Eventually, the go ahead was given and we were off to Shenzhen. The plane ride, about 2.5 hours, consisted of me watching movies and sleeping. In between those two activities, the flight attendants passed out a meal of either rice or noodles, along with a drink. I have to admit, I ...

Today was our first full day in Xi'an. The previous evening I came down with a stomach virus, but luckily it did not affect me today, allowing me to write this blog.  After sleeping in this morning, we went to a Terra-cotta Warrior workshop, where we made our own clay warrior figurines.  Following a little shopping, we piled back into the bus and drove over to the Terra-cotta Warrior museum. At the museum, we were able to check out a predominately warrior site in pit 1 of 3.  These recently discovered warriors have a very rich history dating thousands of years back.  From here we went to lunch in the museum which featured "stretchy" noodles. The afternoon featured both the Terra-cotta Warrior museum as well as a show with dinner.  We saw pits 2 and 3, half size chariots, and even watched a 10 minute cultural film on the warriors. After spending a total of about 3 hours at the museum, we went back to the hotel to rest and freshen up before our evening show. Fi...

Day 5 was our final day in Beijing, and we were fortunate enough to have visited the Olympic village. As we arrived, we were welcomed by the official Olympic music that was played for the olympians in 2008. We saw two of the main stadiums where the athletes competed, The Beijing National Stadium and the National Aquatics Center. Although it was raining, we still made the most of our visit by cracking jokes, listening to music, and attempting to talk to the natives. It was a lot of fun. The Aquatics Center, in particular, was amazing to visit because they had persevered it so well throughout the years. There was an enormous waterpark as well as a concert hall, along with the pools. We saw the practice facilities of the athletes and it was truly a fascinating experience and one that we will not soon forget. - Georgy Faltaous '18 The day initially could be described with one word: rain. It was pouring for the first portion of our day; people were soaked, wanting to just go back...

We started off the day with a long ride through a village to get to the Great Wall. The village was situated in between huge mountains and had lots of small farms. After two hours on the bus, we arrived at the wall. To get to the wall, we had a steep hike but that was nothing compared to what was to come on the wall. When we first arrived at the wall it was very intimidating because the only way to go was up. The first section of stairs was a shock to all of us. It was super steep and had us all panting. The stairs led to a watch tower where we stopped to catch our breath and take pictures. There are no words to describe the feeling when we got to the peak of our trail. We could see the wall extending into the distance over the surrounding mountains -- it was surreal.  After the wall we went to lunch at a restaurant not to far from the wall. The restaurant was my favorite so far. Many of us ate what we thought was beef but later found out was donkey. After lunch we took an h...

After a long school year and much anticipation of this trip, we have finally arrived in Beijing! We had an early start to the morning today, many of us were up before the start of breakfast at 6:30 . We did not have to leave the hotel for the Summer Palace until 8:30 , giving us some downtime before the official start of our jam packed day. Just as we were walking out of breakfast, a group of Tibetan monks assembled for their breakfast in the courtyard of our hotel. I had just bought a new camera, and really wanted to take some pictures of them. Mr. Sham, Lizzy, and I went out and asked to take their photo. We ended up sitting with them for about a half an hour as they ate their breakfast. The monks did not speak English, so Lizzy and I put our Chinese together to talk about everything and anything our limited vocabulary would allow us to. It was so exciting to put my Chinese to use and actually understand most of what they said.  Thanks Mr. Gao and Jiang Lao shi! We then ...