21 July - Last Day

Today is our last day and we all felt some sadness in going.  We met at the lobby at 9AM, packed our bags, and spent the next five hours at xiushui markets again!!  This time, we bargained hard with our last yuan and had some great deals.

Ms Yang took care of us right up til the last head count to make sure no one was left behind, and Mr Wang took us to the airport.  He had stayed with us every day even though his son was sick in hospital for some of the time.  It was a great trip that will be remembered with fondness.  We will be keeping in touch with our new friends in France and Korea.

20 July - Kungfu, Dumplings & Friendships

Our second last day in Beijing was spent learning Kungfu at a community centre.  After learning for about an hour, we had to do personal demonstrations.  Then the Kungfu teachers showed us some of their moves, which was pretty fantastic. 

It was also the day when we exchanged gifts with the school.  We are very grateful to our sister school Dong Fang De Cai and the organisers of the trip who must have worked so hard to make it such a successful event! They took care of all our needs and were very flexible with the schedules to ensure we had a great time.  Mr Wang and Ms Yang were with us most of the time, and we also came to know some of the other Chinese teachers such as Alice, and Jing Jin.  What a lovely surprise to find that each one of our students received a gift from the school too!

As if that wasn't enough excitement in one day, we finally had the chance to make dumplings!  The boys in our group had been looking forward to it all trip.  But it wasn't all just about the food, some of us finally had the opportunity to meet our penpal of two years, and others made new friends with the Chinese students.  

19 July - Zoo, Temple of Heaven & Market

On the first day when we found out we were not going to see pandas on this visit, we were a little bit disappointed.  But the Chinese teachers who heard we wanted to see pandas kindly re-arranged the schedules so we could see them!  At first we thought we had arrived at sea world because there was a big aquarium at the front, but it turned out to be a zoo - yay!  One of the first animals we saw was this elephant:

Then we went through an indoor protected area, the panda's special exhibition space.  No pandas, they must be sleeping inside.

Then we went outside, and we saw something very exciting - a sleeping panda!

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It became even better when we saw a panda that was awake, walking around and eating bamboo:

After having seen the pandas, we were very happy.  We walked around the zoo some more and then were on our way to lunch at Yoshinoya before going to the Temple of Heaven.

The Temple of Heaven (constructed in 1406-1420) was where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties held ceremonies to pray for good harvests, and what not four times per year.  We did not see much of the temple, but by Wikipedia's accounts, much of the temple had been destroyed by neglect and historical events:

In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, the Eight Nation Alliance occupied the temple complex and turned it into the force's temporary command in Beijing, which lasted for one year. The occupation desecrated the temple and resulted in serious damage to the building complex and the garden. Robberies of temple artifacts by the Alliance were also reported. With the downfall of the Qing, the temple complex was left unmanaged. The neglect of the temple complex led to the collapse of several halls in the following years.

At the Temple of Heaven, we found it to be surrounded by a huge park, with beautiful trees.  But it was a hot day and the gift shop was very enticing:

Before going back however, Miss Zhang made us take a group photo:

18 July - Capital Museum, Modern Art Gallery & Market

The Capital Museum turned out to be a very modern building, with very high ceilings in the lobby and a cone-shaped space for the exhibits.  We found wide-ranging pieces from religious ceremonies to pieces protecting horses and chariots in warfare.

After the museum, we went to see a modern art exhibition, and then it's off to xiushui markets again!  Our Chinese is improving the fastest at the markets with great rewards.

17 July - Tech Museum & Traditional Markets

We arrived at the Technology Museum, along with perhaps 5,000 other students.  We saw exhibitions on space, farming, health, and particularly great ones on DNA and the Human Body.  There were lots of interactive exhibits including games using Augmented Reality.

We did not expect to have rides at the Museum:

Then we visited two traditional markets and a tea house where we learned the differences in Jasmine Tea (good for your throat), Oolong tea (drunk at midday, good for your digestion), and Pu'er tea (grown on trees, aged over years - the older the better).

What a great day, off to sleep ready for another wonderful day tomorrow.

16 July - Great wall & Birds Nest

Day 4, and we made it to the Great Wall!  This is Wikipedia's introduction to the Great Wall:

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; these, later joined together and made bigger, stronger, and unified are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty.

We had to choose whether we wanted the crowded but not so steep section of the wall, or the really really really really really really steep section of the wall that was not so crowded.  We chose the latter.

On the way up and down the wall, there were senior citizens who were overtaking us (ok, just Miss Ho...).  But it was with great relief that we found out senior citizens can get in for free, and that's why they've had so much practise in climbing the Wall.

At the Wall, Rachel became a celebrity - everyone wanted a photo!

We all had a good rest after the climb.

Then it was time to see the Bird's Nest before heading back to the hotel.

15 July - Forbidden City & Wangfujin

After a very hot day the day before, this morning started off with drenching rain.  The hotel lent us their umbrellas and we set off to see the Forbidden City.  Having watched some movies set in the Forbidden City, we were excited to see the actual place!  Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the Forbidden City:

Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the centre of Beijing, China.  For almost 500 years, it served as the home ofemperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.  Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings (but we were told there were 999.5 rooms) and covers 720,000 m^2.

Although we all had umbrellas from the hotel, sometimes it's just better to have your hands free...

Inside, there were sections where the concubines lived, then we saw the section where the Empress Cixi lived, and the Emperor's throne room.  We guessed that the room of "accumulated elegance" was where the Empress and her ladies chilled.

 

Then it was time for more shopping at Wangfujin, where they sold some unknown food and the famous bingtanghulu toffee.  We all picked up a few pieces of things, as it was similar to Pitt St Mall.