Li River Guilin, China

It took more than 24 hours by train to travel from Chengdu to Guilin. The train ride was fun it got better because i met other kids on the train.  We got to watch movies (Xi Yang Yang 喜洋洋one of my favorites). It turned out the other kids liked the movie as well. Guilin is located in one of the most beautiful parts of China.  We visited Yangshuo which is an ancient town in China - more than 2,000 years old, we also took a boat down Li River.  It was nice to visit the villages in Yangshuo to see how people live in rural China and visiting Hui and Yao ethnic minorities.

  

Yangshuo

Li River

Giant Pandas in Chengdu

This is an amazing place to visit and learn about the Pandas.  The park is very big, green, and nicely kept. We ended up spending an entire day in the park.  We saw the Giant Pandas as well as Red Pandas. I'm glad that we went in the morning because we got to see them come out during feeding time - they love eating bamboo.  I don't agree with animals placed in the zoo but I was impressed to see how nicely kept the Pandas were.

Awww cute:)

Baby Red Panda - i got to see him upclose

Chengdu, China

This is by far one of my favorite cities in China. We got to spend time with my mom's friend Lhoga from Tibet. This part of China has a lot of Chinese ethnic minorities and the people are very interesting. We ate at Tibetan restaurants and spent time in teahouses in the afternoon.  Lhoga wants to take us to Tibet next year - I can't wait! I got tired of spending time at the hotels so my mom suggested we stay at a hostel which turned out to be an excellent idea.  Lhoga suggested we stay at Molly's Hostel in an area called Little Tibet. We met a lot of people traveling around China and some traveling to Tibet and some to Central Asia. It was fun talking to them and sharing ideas. Another great part was going to the Chinese Opera which i really enjoyed.

Chinese Opera

Xi'an, China

After a long train ride we arrived in Xi'an.  Xi'an is one of the oldest cities in China with more than 3,000 years of history. We got to travel along the Silk Road, visited the Shaanxi History Museum which is one of the biggest museums in China and has collections from the Qin, Zhou, Hang and Tang dynasties.  Muslim Quarters my mom's favorite place to buy Chinese Art, Bell Tower and the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin were my favorite places to visit in Xi'an.

Muslim Quarters

Beijing, China

After Shanghai we took a bullet train to Beijing.  Beijing feels different to Shanghai. Almost the size of Shanghai it felt a little slower and more relaxed.  We visited the Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and climbed the Great Wall of China (Mutianyu). Both Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City were packed with people and the fact that it was hot did not help.  Climbing the Great Wall was tiring but in the end we made it.  Summer Palace was more relaxing and beautiful.  I loved the boats on Kunmin Lake and the garden full of flowers.

Tiananmen Square

Summer Palace

End of Summer Camp

Summer Camp is over we are saying goodbye to friends and getting ready to travel to different parts of China - I will miss the people of Shanghai, the energy of the city,  especially my favorite Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Dumplings). I didn't think i would say this but I LOVE SHANGHAI ! I will miss Tokyo Pear and Radikal they are the biggest and the most popular hip-hop group in China. I was sad to miss their concert performing in front of 15,000  people - i was only able to visit them in the music studio.

Monkey King and Hulusi 葫芦丝

Journey to the West is one of my favorite books - when our class decided do a performance based on a Monkey King i got to play an evil witch. I was super excited. During camp i learnt how to play a Chinese flute called Hulusi.  At first i got frustrated playing the instrument but after a few tries it became easier. The end of camp was sad since we had spent 6 weeks together and became good friends - i hope we see each other again next year.

Playing Hulusi - rehearsal

The Monkey King Play - rehearsal

Camp Friends and Activities

I made friends with every kid in class as well as my teachers and a few kids from other classes. Camp started at 8am and finished at 5pm. It was hard speaking Mandarin throughout the day and the first week was even harder.  We spent the first part of the day in class and the second part we played sports, practiced instruments, wrote poetry and plays.  Other than school my favorite part was going on school trips to Shanghai Ocean Aquarium in Pudong, The National Museum, Puppet Shows and the best was going to watch the Shanghai Acrobatics!

Zoe and Kristin

Allison

Our class teacher Miss Grace

My Mandarin Tutor Tina