China!

China was definitely the busiest port for me so far. We began the trip in Hong Kong, then I traveled to Beijing for four very busy days, and then met the ship in Shanghai. We were constantly on the go, seeing all the sights that China has to offer. Although the trip was exhausting, the language barrier was prominent, and the crowds were overwhelming, it was also the port where I was able to see and experience the most…not to mention great shopping deals!

We docked early in Hong Kong and the view from the ship was incredible. The skyline was just unbelievable. Even though I have seen photos and videos, nothing could have displayed what this view really looks like in real life. There were so many skyscrapers and they were all so tall and architecturally interesting. I was in complete awe and could not stop myself from staring at the city and taking pictures. All of my pictures, however, don’t even begin to do justice to what it really looks like or express how long and wide the skyline stretches. After the ship was cleared through immigration, I took a taxi with some friends to an area called Stanley Market. The drive was really cool, we began driving through Hong Kong, took the underwater tunnel from Hong Kong to the mainland, then drove through beautiful hills and forests, which was a complete change from the downtown area. There was beautiful water and oceanfront, as well and extensive and lush flora. We spent most of the day at the market, shopping and taking photos of the nice beachy area. We ate lunch at a small Chinese place with all locals and no English-speakers, and ordered by pointing at things and hoping for the best. Luckily, my chopstick skills have increased since the first attempt in Vietnam. After spending some time at Stanley Market, we went back to Hong Kong and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening exploring the downtown area of Hong Kong. Once it started to get dark, we took the ferry back to Kow Loon Island where the ship was docked. We hung out on the deck of the ship to watch the light show that occurs every night in Hong Kong. At this time, all of the buildings display lights in different colors and designs, and there are lasers from the tops of all of the tall buildings. The Hong Kong skyline at night was just amazing. All of the lights, especially since the Chinese were already all decked-out for Christmas, were really beautiful. Chloe and I left the ship for dinner and drinks with friends, and then came back to wake up for early trips that we both had the next day.

I woke up and met my travel group at breakfast on the ship. After taking a few final pictures of the Hong Kong skyline, we left for the airport. The airport had tons of restaurants and shops, which was nice since we had a few hours before our flight left. After a very bumpy three-hour flight to Beijing, we finally arrived and were picked up by a student at the airport. This student led us to a bus which would take us to our home for the next 4 days, Tsinghua University. This University is one of the top schools in all of China, and has very high academic standards. We stayed in the International Students Dorm, and were all assigned to our own rooms! After everyone was able to drop off their stuff in their room, we went to dinner at a nearby restaurant. We ate the meal at big tables with big lazy susans in the middle. The waiters would bring out 10-15 dishes with enough food for everyone, and place them in the middle. Everyone would help themselves and then rotate the piece so that the other people would have a chance to try everything. This was the manner in which we ate every meal in Beijing. For dinner we had the very traditional Peking duck, which was really really good. We walked to campus and sat in a very nice classroom for a short presentation introducing the history and relevance of all of the sights that we would see that week. After this, everyone visited a store back on campus to buy warm clothes. Beijing was FREEZING and we all left the store with gloves, hats, ear-warmers, coats, socks, leggings, and scarves. We all went back to the dorm and settled into our own rooms for the night.

Early the next morning, we woke up to get a very interesting breakfast on campus. Honestly, I still don’t know what I ate, but my meal consisted of all sorts of dumplings and warm milky juice stuff. After breakfast, we had a Tai Chi lesson with a local women…it was interesting, but very cold and most of us had no idea what we were doing. The language barrier was frustrating so we just tried to follow the leader and keep warm! After our lesson, we drove to the Beijing Zoo to see the famous pandas. The entrance to the zoo consists of hundreds of panda statues, and once we entered we were ushered into a separate part of the zoo where the Giant Pandas live. We saw about 5 pandas and had a great time watching them and taking lots of pictures. There was a ton of merchandise and we all left with panda stuffed animals, slippers, scarves, etc. We ate lunch in the same manner that we had dinner the evening before, and then went to the summer palace. This palace consists of many buildings, structures, gardens, and most notably Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake. This palace has served as a resort for emperors and empresses since it was built in the mid 1700’s. We walked on the long corridor that curves throughout the palace and gardens, and saw the four pavilions that represent the four directions (north, south, east, west). We were also able to see the famous seventeen-arch bridge and Marble Boat. There were a lot of people trying to sell various souvenirs, and everyone in our group gave in and bought panda hats. These were very necessary because of the extreme cold throughout Beijing, and also because we needed to remember our time at the Beijing zoo with the pandas! We took a bunch of pictures of our group of 15 or so, all sporting panda hats, and then left the palace to go back to Tsinghua campus. Once we returned to campus, we met with a group of students from the school. We split into groups of three and each group had a student lead us around campus. The Tsinghua campus is HUGE so we were unable to see the entire thing, but we walked around the saw some of the oldest buildings, two libraries, and a couple dining facilities. After walking with our guide, David, for about an hour, he took us to dinner at one of the cafeterias. It was similar to the dining facilities on my campus- lots of options, and cards that you scan to purchase food. David bought a bunch of different bowls of food and we all shared the various dishes. We gave David a gift of thanks, took some pictures, and he walked us back to our dorm. A few girls all gathered in my friend Liz’s room and we watched the English-Speaking Competition. This competition consists of Chinese students giving speeches and answering questions about controversial issues and current events in their best English. I was very impressed by the English-speaking skills of these students and we watched it for hours because nothing else on the television was in English.

We had another cold, early morning. I slept through breakfast and woke up to meet the bus and head to Tienamen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the largest city square in the world and has hosted many events. It is most famously known for the protests that occurred in 1989, at which time many protestors were killed. Tiananmen Square began its construction in 1417, but portions have been damaged and rebuilt or changed and enlarged. The square consists of a large gate as well as a few buildings and halls. The square itself is a large open space without trees or structures. We went straight into the Forbidden City from Tiananmen Square, which is a huge maze or almost 1,000 buildings and multiple courts. It served as the home of the emperor for years and is now recognized as a World Heritage Site. Although there are maps and displays to help show the layout of the palace, it is still very complex and extensive. We walked through the various buildings and structures with our tour guide and tried to take in everything she was telling us about the square. Aside from all of the buildings and halls and rooms, there is a lot of symbolism and representation, including the colors of the roofs of each building, the use of specific numbers within the construction of the palace, and the layout of everything. The group wanted to move fast with the desire to get out of the cold, so we walked through everything relatively quickly, and eventually boarded the bus to go to lunch. After lunch, we went back out to see the Temple of Heaven. This temple was used by emperors for ceremonies in which they prayed to heaven for a good harvest. Basically this temple is a beautiful building atop a raised platform with very classic Chinese/oriental architecture. We didn’t spend much time there because aside from the temple, there is not much to see. After leaving the Temple of Heaven, we stopped by a gigantic market where they sold all sorts of goods and items for CHEAP! I bought boots, jeans, a jacket, and some clothes, many of which were designer items for anywhere from $5-$20! This was a crazy adventure, trying to bargain with locals and get good deals. After shopping, we went to a crazy acrobatic show, where the performers did crazy tricks with tightropes, jumping through rings, and bicycles- including fitting 14 people on one bike! The show went late so we went straight back to campus when it was over to wake up for an exciting morning!

We finally made our way to the Great Wall of China on our last day in Beijing. It was FREEZING but after hiking the wall for about 5 minutes, we were working up a sweat. Most people know the history of the Great Wall, so I will spare any lengthy historical details. The wall is absolutely surreal, it’s one of those things that has been seen in so many books, movies, and photos, that it doesn’t even seem like it is actually right there in front of you! So we hiked the Great Wall for a few hours; it was SO much more difficult than I expected, but it was an amazing experience and I took approximately a million photos during the process. Once we all got back down off of the wall, we stopped to get lunch and do some shopping at a local restaurant/shop, and then went to visit The Bird’s Nest and Olympic Park from the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing. We spent about an hour wandering around (I got EXTREMELY lost trying to find my way back to the bus), and then got on the bus and went to the airport and flew to meet the ship in Shanghai!

I was exhausted by the time we returned to Shanghai, so I tried to lay low on our final day in China. I had a class trip to visit a U.S. company operating in China and that was very interesting. Everyone was happy to have us and very accommodating and hospitable. We were able to see a mall where the company had a store and the architecture and set up of this mall was mind blowing- certainly unlike anywhere I have ever shopped at in the United States! After the trip, Chloe and I went shopping and wandered around with our friend Rachel, and came back on time to get dinner on the ship and await our departure for a quick 2-day trip to Japan!