Blogs from Beijing, China, Asia - page 10

My class and I went to an art school/college yesterday. Our bus was driving through the gates when we noticed a digital sign out the front of the school saying ‘Welcome Cairns Hinterland students’. Then as we were getting off the bus I pointed out a printed sign that had our faces and a written welcome on it. The school had a large cemented courtyard with several basketball hoops. One of the teachers at the art school took us into a classroom. A couple of students, maybe two years older than us, were sitting at looms. Every student had sketched out a pattern on a piece of material that they were embroidering. All of their works were absolutely amazing. I really hope we can have embroidering lessons at our school because I aspire to be able ... read more

So today we visited the Great Wall of China! We left the hostel at around 6:00 am went to meet the bus, but because some people were running late the driver thought we weren’t coming and left but eventually came back… It took us around three hours to get to the Wall from our hostel. Yashoda told us that we weren’t going to the section of the Great Wall where all the tourists go that has been reconstructed, but we were going to a section that is one hundred percent untouched which I thought was pretty cool. I was a little disappointed because I still would have liked to have seen the touristy part, but I'll probably come back and see that some other time in the future… The walk along the Wall was SO gorgeous! ... read more

I haven’t seen this many Western people on the entire trip over here in China. When I got off the train from Xi’an, I was shocked to see so many Western people, I turned this way, Western person, I turned that way, Western person. I was really surprised that there were so many. It was pretty funny for a while. I was walking in the markets yesterday, when a Chinese guy came up to me asking where I was from, and calling me ‘Army Girl’ because of my cap. I told him Australia and he was like’ Australia? Awesome, you are cool, Australian Army Girl’. I walked off with Tamara laughing, but the entire time I was talking to this guy, an American guy who looked to be in his sixties was just looking between me ... read more

R: By the time we crossed the border it was about 1am (Chinese time). I set an alarm on my phone as the train passed along the route of the great wall of China at around 7am just after stopping at Datong. Now, having got used to the slow pace of life on the train, and being fairly tired from the previous weeks activities - I didn't make the alarm. By the time I had woken up, got up and out, and escaped the compartment, the wall was in the distance and could only just be seen through the dirty train windows. (This was a Chinese train remember, and I don't think it gets cleaned in Moscow so it has been nearly 2 weeks since its last wash!). I did manage to see glimpses of it ... read more

On Sept 15 we leave for Asia which will be Susies 7th and final Continent. In Bejing hope to see Pandas at the zoo. Visit the great Wall attempting to climb to one of the highest pont on the wall. visit The Forbidden City and timeman square From Bejing taking the train 2800 miles from Bejing to Ho Chi Min city know as Saigon. Stopping in Hanoi and Hoi Han along the way, in Saigon want to see the tunnels the viet cong used to hide in and visit the Mekong Delta From Saigon fly to Tokyo for a few days and than hone Probably will be one of the hardest trips we have ever been need to change trains at 2am on the border between China and Vietnam whick will be tricky. This could quite ... read more