Last Day in China

The trip has come to an end. This adventurous tour of China has been a wonderful experience for all. Traveling in and out of airports and buses sure was tiring but extremely fun. We got to experience and for a few moments step into the shoes of the residents of China. Our day was full of beautiful places, kind people, and delicious food. We started our day at around 5:30 as we headed for Jin Yuan High School. The school is filled with rich culture, a honorable history, and hospitable students and teachers. The students and teachers were very welcoming as we watched their flag raising ceremony and later joined them in their English class. We ate a wonderful lunch after the visiting the school. After being filled up by a delicious meal we toured the silk factory and awed at the work, effort, and softness of the silk. The silk factory sold many different items which caught the attention of many of the girls. After the silk factory we went shopping on Nanjing Street, which is the best place to shop in Shanghai. Many department stores and other small stores offered discounted rates for many of the girls, giving them a very good deal. This trip had so much to offer! Visiting three different cities with a beautiful culture and a rich background gave a new prospective in viewing China and its people. As we leave for home tomorrow, all of us will remember all that china had to offer to us and cherish the memories that were made in China.

- Rejil

Well, what can I say this trip has been quite awesome! Today in Shanghai we first woke up at 5:30 a.m. We then headed for breakfast, but it seemed more like ‘breakfast on the run’. We went to the school called Jin Yuan High School; we got a whole tour of their school history, it was quite interesting. But it was even more cool when we watched the school’s flag raising ceremony, I felt so honored to take part in their daily routines. Finally! We got to attend an English class and fortunately my friend Meddie knew some of them from their school’s previous visit to Hawaii, it made meeting people easier. I got to meet a lot of interesting people like this one guy, he told us that he was born in Hawaii but grew up in California and Australia then he finally moved to China where he is now, by the way, his name is Frank. I liked him and Steve the most because they were better at speaking English and they were very friendly. The class had us dancing hula and singing Hawaii Pono’I. They were very hospitable and funny. We then had to leave which was very sad. We went to Nanjing Street which was supposedly the best place to shop. My group went around looked, ate ice cream, and laughed a lot! One of our tour guides Simon gave us a “Welcome to Shanghai” sign just to hold. So we thought it would be fun to hold it and wave at other tourists, so we did. It was very funny the locals were looking at us like we’re crazy and some of the tourists actually smiled or waved back. We then went to see an awesome Acrobatic Show. It was the best show that I have ever seen in my life and my favorite part was when all the motorcyclists drove right into the metal cage ball and started riding around, it was crazy!! This trip was the best experience China has to offer!!!

- Hailey

Shanghai

Today, we arrived in the extravagant city of Shanghai. Once we got there, we met our new tour guide, Simon. He moved to Shanghai ten years ago. He is really young and extremely funny. Instead of hearing the history of China, he explained to us the common life of a person living in Shanghai. He said that women have higher status here and that Shanghai is the fashion capital of China. Then we visited the Bund. The word means “dirty” in Indian Anglo Saxon. There were lots of beautiful and unique buildings in Shanghai. After we visited the Bund, we went to our hotel. In our opinion, it is the nicest hotel we have been in. It has an amazing view and a huge bathroom. Most of us stayed in the hotel and watched the television until it was time for dinner. We went to eat Chinese food and there were French fries again. We went into a silk gallery after we finished eating. The art works on the wall took large amounts of time to make. It was really expensive, prices ranging from $2000 to $10,000 each. When we got back to the hotel, some of us went to the gym, while others went to the pool. We were trying to lose the weight that we gained throughout this week in China. Now, it is time to shower and go to bed. Goodnight everyone!
- Donna and Stacy

Xi'an

Today was our first full day in the ancient capital of Xi’an! We started off our day with a buffet breakfast at our hotel. The food was okay. At eight o’clock AM we went on the tour bus and headed for the Terracotta Warriors Exhibit. The ride was long because we had to travel outside of the city. On our way to the eighth wonder of the world, we stopped at a reproduction factory. There we were able to buy Terracotta Warrior replicas and other memorabilia. After that, we took a short ride to the place where the famous soldiers were found. We learned that the Terracotta Warriors were built by Emperor Qin because he believed that in his afterlife his army would be with him. About two thousand years ago, shortly after the emperor died, angry peasants unearthed the soldiers and destroyed them. In 1974, a farmer found the ruins of the soldiers. As of right now, archaeologists are putting the pieces together and refurbishing them. The Terracotta Warriors are amazing because no two are alike and each is unique. At the end of the short film, we were able to purchase books and get them autographed by the discoverer himself. The Terracotta Warriors were discovered by a farmer who doesn’t like his picture taken because he believes pictures take away the soul and therefore he would have a shorter life. After this exciting and memorable time, we headed for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. The sweet potatoes were winnaz! Everyone enjoyed it, especially Ms. Haney! It was like candied potatoes. Also, a few of us bought hand painted scrolls. After lunch, we had a long ride to the best preserved city wall in China. Almost everybody took a cat nap in the bus! The city wall wraps around the city and is about nine miles long. Then, after the city wall we departed to the Shaanxi History Museum. There we learned about the dynasties and their special tools. We went to the Wild Goose Pagoda after the museum. This was interesting because we learned about the Buddha and temples. There we also saw people worshipping and praying. At the end of our visit, we got a free card with our zodiac signs on them as a souvenir. We had dinner at another hotel and the food was soooo good! There were salads, rice, FRENCH FRIES, beef stew, fried fish, steak/onions, and assorted desserts. Everyone was excited to see familiar American foods! After dinner we boarded the bus and headed back to our hotel. The ride was short to our hotel which was right around the corner. Tomorrow, we will get to sleep in later than the usual because our flight to Shanghai departs at around half past eleven.
- Shaina & Rhea

Last day in Beijing and first day in Xi'an

We started our day first by visiting the summer palace. The Summer Palace was where the empress would spend her summer days. It had to be rebuilt numerous times, because of the effects of war and our group walked around and learned about the various buildings. After completing our tour, we rode a boat in the lake at the summer palace.
Many people were flying kites, performing tai chi, and twirling streamers. We tried to participate with them, and it turned out to be very fun; then we went to the pearl shop, where we watched the demonstration of an oyster opening, and were educated about the pearls. Next, we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant. After we ate, we went to the airport and boarded a flight to Xian. When we arrived, we headed to the theatre to eat dumplings and watch a show. We were served a wide variety of delicious dumplings and there were even dumplings in the shape of ducks. The show was about the Tang Dynasty, and it was very beautiful and colorful. We look forward to our following days in Xian!
- Ericka, Alexa, Kawehi

Busy Day in Beijing

We started our day at Ba yi Middle Highschool where we learned about the achievements, past founders and successful graduates from the school. The school was very magnificent and grand looking with fancy buildings. We were shown the different rooms for choir, band and the other arts before we were sent into the English language classrooms. We sat through a 45 minute lesson with thirteen year olds who spoke English quite well. Then we went outside to watch them do morning exercises. It was so neat because they were in perfect formation in matching uniforms with different colored stripes to determine the different grade levels. After watching for a few minutes, we were guided into a traditional Chinese watercolor painting class where the students who were our age, taught us how to paint lotus flowers. From talking to the students, we found many similarities between us. We met a lot of new friends at this school and we felt so welcomed from their great hospitality. After our visit to the school, we ate lunch then went to Tiananmen Square. I was so amazed by its grandeur. After walking around the square and learning about the significance of the various buildings, we walked to the Forbidden City which looked almost exactly like other traditional Chinese temples. At the city, our wonderful tour guide, Charlie, explained to us the Chinese significance of the different buildings. The Forbidden City was built to such a monumental scale that visitors feel so small compared to it. The buildings were all so grand with beautiful decorations. After walking through the city, we went to a large tea house called, Dr. Tea. We learned about the differences between traditional Chinese teas and we learned about the uses of the teas. The most interesting part of the tea house visit was when we saw this “pee pee boy” that is a clay figure that when hot water is poured onto him, he literally pees. Overall, today was a lot of fun. I can’t wait for the adventures that await us tomorrow.

- Jasmine

Today was better than yesterday; going to Ba Yi High school was impressive. Although it was a public school it is better than the ones in Hawaii. The school was large, clean, and orderly. We visited some classrooms which included choir, band, ceramics, and tie dye rooms. We even went into a room that was filled with electric drums which we were allowed to play with; going inside the room was interesting because you don’t see that type of sight often. After seeing the rooms we got to actually experience the academic atmosphere that the classes in China create for the Chinese students. During our time in the classrooms we saw how the teacher and students interacted. Students were expected respond to the teachers questions about the lessons, it seemed like they were having a fun time. We learned how to do Chinese morning exercises, and paint lotus’ using the Chinese water coloring technique. After our visit at the middle high school we went to eat lunch at a restaurant that was close by to the school. The bathrooms were beautiful and don’t have graffiti on them, many of us have already experienced the technique squatting to use the bathroom, while some of us refrain from trying new things. We visited the Tianamen square and Forbidden City, these sites were huge! Charlie, our guide told us about the movie, The Last Emperor, and how it was filmed in the Forbidden City. Charlie and our bus driver are awesome! We visited a tea shop called Dr. Tea, where we watched a presentation and tasted the different types of tea as well. We then went to the Chinatown and ate at the restaurant, the food was good but it seems that everyone is getting tired of the continuous type of foods. We always have fun during meals though.
Tomorrow we will visit the summer palace in the morning and then in the afternoon we will go to the airport to go to Xian.
So don’t worry about us, we are fine, we are in good hands. Wait for the next blog, and until we see you again bye bye!

- Meddie

Great Wall- Ming Tombs - Olympic Park

Hi friends and family,
Today was our second day in Bejing. We went to the jade carving workshop, Great Wall of China, Changling Ming tomb, and the Olympic stadiums.
At the jade carvings we had a detour of the place, and we looked around, and many of us bought jade bracelets and necklaces.
After that we went to the Great Wall of China, it was so hard to climb! The steps were steep and uneven. And at first getting bus it was freezing, but after all that climbing it got really hot.
We then made our way to the Olympic park. We saw a variety of different statues and buildings. We saw the “birds nest” which was the Olympic field for the opening and closing of the Beijing Olympics 2008. We also saw the building which they competed with swimming, gymnastics, track and field, and many more. We didn’t get to go in the buildings though, but we all had taken great pictures of the buildings and with the buildings. All of us had loads of fun taking pictures with strangers too, as crazy as it sounds!

- Ashley and Lily

IN BEIJING

After the plane arrived in Beijing from Shanghai, we had an extravagant lunch at a restaurant. The lobby of the restaurant had a giant Buddha statue which was amazing. The lunch that we had was a variety of simple Chinese dishes which was great to eat. After lunch, the group headed on to the bus for the Temple of Heaven. The Temple was huge and we had to walk a lot. Seeing the authentic and original giant huts that stored scrolls and ancient Chinese artifacts was cool. We learned a lot of Chinese history. The best part was the echoing wall. The wall was built to send messages to each other from the other side of the wall, since there weren’t any telephones or intercoms in the old days. When leaving the temple, vendors were outside trying to sell their products to the tourists. Even though I said I didn’t have any money, one vendor hit me with one of her products and left. I was highly upset when that happened but I let it slide and headed on to the bus. The bus ride to the hotel was long. After checking in to the hotel, we found out that the rooms are amazing. The beds are huge, the bathroom has a bathtub and a shower, and the room itself is huge. Once we got settled in and unpacked, the group headed out for an extravagant Beijing Peking Duck dinner. The food was all about duck; there was sweet and sour duck, soup with duck, and of course, the famous Beijing Peking Duck dinner which was quite tasty. For tomorrow, we’re visiting one of the Seven Wonders of the World-the Great Wall of China.
-Nicole

Yesterday was the start of our adventure to China. Our first flight was headed to Narita originally, but to our disappointment we landed in Kansai. We were then redirected to Shanghai where we stayed at a motel in the airport. The motel wasn’t a normal motel. The motel had modern furniture and colors. We woke up to a wonderful breakfast in the motel which consisted of fried rice, dim sum, and ranging to the western foods such as fries and onion rings. Luckily there were familiar foods which made the trip more comfortable. We then took a plane from Shanghai to Beijing. We were happy to finally land in our first destination. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Charlie who is our tour guide and Nicole who was waiting for us in Beijing. We went to a fantastic restaurant in Beijing for lunch. In our menu we had sweet sour pork, delicious rice, eggplant, lotus with pork, egg drop soup, and lemon pork. These foods were all comfort foods for us as we started our journey. After a great lunch, we headed to the Temple of Heaven. There we entered the three different sections of the park discovering the culture of the Emperors of China. At the end of the day, we went to another awesome restaurant which served the best duck I have ever eaten!
- Bianca

Right Country - Wrong City

We have arrived in China! Our flight out of Honolulu to Narita was delayed an hour… apparently a cargo plane had trouble landing on their long runway in Narita (long runways are needed to land large planes) and so they had to close to the runway all day. We found out about this about midway through our flight and we were rerouted to Kansai airport. We made a quick connection to Shanghai, since the only flight from Kansai to Beijing had already left, and as the girls were boarding the plane they held for us in Kansai I managed to snag a pay phone and make a quick call to Charlie (our tour guide in China) – so he will still be meeting us at the airport in Beijing. We leave for Shanghai in the morning and will arrive in Beijing around lunch time. Despite the long, sedentary day, the girls had a great time! They have been enjoying the little luxuries of international travel (flying on the upper deck, a personal TV set, free newspapers in a multitude of languages, and steaming hot lemon scented wash cloths before meals) and they have learned what it is like to run through an airport. It is very early in the morning in Hawaii so I didn’t have the heart to ask one of them to blog tonight – they will pick up the baton from me tomorrow once we are at our hotel in Beijing.
- Ms. Haney