Get ready for a long one, guys!

Day 1: Hong Kong. We arrived in Hong Kong around 9am on Saturday, March 26th. The ship cleared at about 11 o clock and we were all set free to explore as we wished.  It was a big difference from Vietnam that’s for sure.  There were high buildings and lots of people.  First, a couple of friends and I hopped on the Star Ferry, which takes you from an outlying island which our ship was docked to the mainland of Hong Kong.  On the mainland we ate some lunch (consisting of Chinese famous dumplings), shopped a little, ate some ice cream, and walked the city.  It wasn’t really a culture shock here, at least not yet. Most young people knew English, and Caucasian people weren’t difficult to come by.

As nightfall hit, my friend, Meg, and I took a bus up to “The Peak” of Hong Kong.  It was simply beautiful.  An unbelievable scenic view of Hong Kong by night, with a nice laser show addition around 8 o clock.  After we took in the view, we headed down to a street called “LFK” for short, something like La Fong Kwa for real.  Little did I know, we had just crashed the biggest party happening in the world that night.  The Sevens is a huge rugby league which holds tournaments in large cities all over the world.  Following the tournaments, are the biggest fans/partiers imaginable.  I’m talking blocks beyond blocks of people wearing Halloween costumes and rioting shoulder to shoulder.  Meg and I happened to wander into a local bar to find a bathroom, and visited with a group of men from all over the world who come together during these tournaments.  We visited with them for the remainder of the night and went back to the ship to sleep.  

Day 2 and 3: I woke up bright and early, got breakfast and coffee, and headed to the airport.  I had a flight to Beijing at 1:00pm.  Before my Semester at Sea trip began back in January, I had signed up for a tour called “The China Guide.”  I know now that I am definitely not a large group traveler.  I don’t like to be toted around.  I like to decide when and what I eat, how fast I walk, and where exactly I’m going next.  More important that deciding, I like to go with the flow, with no real plan… So I knew right away that this trip would be a little overwhelming, but it did give me the opportunity to see everything I wanted to see while in China.  I visited 4 huge cities in 7 days.  It was basically the equivalent to flying from LA to Chicago to New York to Miami.  So we got to Beijing, found some dinner, and hung out in the hotel for the night.  The next day we woke early and headed to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.  They were both very cool to see.  I found it interesting when I asked my guide, Judy about the massacre that happen at Tiananmen Square.  She was 100% sure that the massacre I spoke of was a “Western Myth” and never happened.  Students were never run over by tanks and nothing like that ever happened.  If the government is succeeding in hiding a secret that large, I find it a little discussing, but I wasn’t going to argue with her.  We ate a traditional style Chinese lunch and hit up “The Silk Market.”  The Silk Market was like every other market I’ve been to on this trip: Crowded, loud, overwhelming, and filled with knock off brand names.  I walked the jewelry floor for a while then got out of there.  The next part is what I had been waiting for…. The Great Wall of China.  We drove about 2 hours out of Beijing.  We hiked the Wall and watched the sunset.  Yes, the sunset over The Great Wall of China.  It was incredible.  To describe it…. Honestly, it is exactly like the pictures, but it’s real life.  Being the little rebellious climber I am, I began my hike along side the wall, and when I couldn’t find an easy way around to get into the middle, I just climbed over☺ As the sun went down we hiked down to our bus, where we had a Chinese dinner at a restaurant at the bottom.  Now it’s bundle time.  I say this because the Great Wall is cold at night.  After being on the equator for three months, I’m talkin’ COLD.  A sleeping bag was just not efficient.  About 10ºF by night…. It was really fun though.  We hiked to our sleeping area with flashlights and laid out our stuff.  They had beer waiting for us and the night was relaxing and a great time.  Yes, I slept on the Great Wall of China.

Day 4: The Hike.  We all woke up, returned our sleeping bags, and hiked a good 2 hours along the wall.  We topped sixteen watch towers, and drank a victory beer at the seventeenth.  We hopped back on our bus and headed to the Birds Nest and Olympic Square.  We didn’t spend very much time here, but it was really cool to see.  I can only imagine how crowded the area was during the 2008 Olympics.  Another Chinese lunch and another market.  This time I went straight to the coffee shop next store.  No one was convincing me to go into one more market.  My coffee was delicious, though!  That night, a traditional Chinese Acrobat Show: Coolest thing I’ve ever seen, and made me miss gymnastics a whole lot!  All who are interested, ask me to show you videos of it!  Very very cool stuff.  I actually read on the Viterbo Website that there is a Chinese Acrobat show coming to campus really soon.  I think everyone that has the opportunity should go!

Day 5: We took a rickshaw ride around a local town, I forget the name… We got to watch a drum ceremony, participate in a tea ceremony, and learn how to make our own Chinese dumplings with a local family for lunch.  Then we walked through Summer Palace, a lakeside park, and arrived at the Beijing Railway Station to catch our 7:00 train to Xi’an.  Somehow it ended up that every SAS student was conveniently roomed with three other SAS kids… except me.  I walked into my assigned sleeper room to find three people-all Chinese.  All I could get for conversation was, “Hi” or “Nee-hau” and I fell asleep.

Day 6: Xi’an was a quick, busy, and great day.  When we got off the sleeper train at 8am, met our guide, and hopped on our new bus our first stop was the Terracotta Warrior Museum.  It was way cool! So much more astonishing than I imagined!  I would go into detail of what I learned about all these things in China, but my blog would then be too long and I think I would lose all of my followers☺  We had a buffet style lunch in Xi’an which was my favorite meal thus far in China. Why? Because they had French fries.  By this point, I had the mind set of “If I don’t eat Chinese for five years I will be okay.”  I had had enough, and a plate full of French fries was exactly what I needed.  After lunch we biked the “Old City Wall” It was beautiful.  The wall is about 12 kilometers around with a moat surrounding the entire thing.  I want to get my aunts Kathy, Tammy, Julie, Mary, and now in training-my sister, Kim’s attention! Every spring they hold a marathon on the City Wall.  Runners circle the wall three times, raising money for preservation of the wall itself.  It would be a beautiful run, and although I only spend one day in Xi’an, it seemed like an amazing city and I would be very interested in going back. After our bike rides and walks, we had another sleeper train to catch at 5:00pm.

Day 7: Another 12 hour sleeper train brought us to Shanghai, where we transported by bus to where the MV Explorer was docked.  Immigration in China required us to get another copy and another stamp before we could get off the ship for the day.  Although I did manage to be in People’s Square of Shanghai by about 11:30am.  I had an incredibly relaxing day in Shanghai.  I needed the cool down day after spending six with a huge group of people.  What I also needed: American Food.  Where did I go?  Hooters; Shanghai, a local brewery, and Costa Coffee.  As the ship pulled out of Shanghai, I sat on the front of the ship and got to talk to my mom, dad, and sister.  It was perfect.

China: CHECK