From Guilin to Hong Kong: Shannon's Blog!

From Guilin to Hong Kong


 It’s hard to believe that two weeks have nearly passed and our study tour trip is coming to a close. In a matter of days, we’ve braved the steps up Huangshan, sat in the seats of students in Shanghai, and cruised along the Li River in awe of breathtaking sights. Today, we spent our final moments in China in the city of Hong Kong.

 In the first Opium War of 1842, China’s defeat came with the cost of giving Hong Kong to Great Britain. It appeared to be an empty island at first with little use. However, as time passed and the economy developed, Hong Kong earned its name of “Good-smelling Harbor.” Merchants came from far and wide to trade with Hong Kong for Chinese goods and were amazed by the pleasant aroma of incense and spices that greeted them, thus giving the island the name, “Hong Kong.” In the original treaty of the war, Britain had promised to return Hong Kong to China in 99 years. At last, in 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China. However, the government of China understood that the people of Hong Kong had long been converted to British rule and agreed to give them a grace period of 50 years before joining the rest of mainland China in unification. Therefore, presently, there is still evidence of Britain’s culture and laws in Hong Kong.

For example, like the British, the people of Hong Kong have their driver’s seats on the right of the car and drive on the left side of the street. Even the majority of the buffet spread at our hotel this morning was composed of British cuisine! Hong Kong is also extremely populated considering the small size of its island, making living space not only dense, but eye-bogglingly expensive. Presently, the average apartment costs 4 million Hong Kong dollars, and several families or generations in a family will live together in order to save money even with the restrictive space. As a result, products in Hong Kong are also really costly, and only billionaires can afford truly fancy homes or penthouses.

 With this in mind, we arrived at a temple connected by the sea. As it is an island, Hong Kong is surrounded by beautiful beaches and tall mountains. After worshipping at the temple, we walked along the beach and enjoyed the sight of the sun shining above the clear blue water. Not long after, we found ourselves on a water taxi, in which we were brought around the river to observe the bustling harbor. Every day, the fishermen of Hong Kong have an hour at dawn to sail out to fish in the South China Sea in order to return to the market with their catches and sell fresh seafood. We then whizzed past the sight of Hong Kong from high above on the Victoria Peak tram, getting the opportunity to view the city from every angle. Our last stop with our tour guide was the Ladies’ Market, a street brimming with shopping centers and shops. Between this stop and our late-night rush to some convenience stores by our hotel, we ended up going allout with our shopping spree, letting the adrenaline wash over the guilt.

Now, as I sit here typing this blog, we are having our final study session before our journey back to America tomorrow morning, before our journey back to reality. It truly has been a memorable two weeks. There were plenty of times when things didn’t go as smoothly as they could have, when there were come tricky holes in our compromises. Sure, we lost part of the group in the airport and had to run like the wind to catch our plane. Sure, some of us lost our train tickets or room keys when we needed them the most. Through it all, though, I think our group has never ceased to stick together and encourage one another to take advantage of everything this trip has offered us. I’m honestly so grateful to be where I am now when I am, and I’d like to thank these nine friends of mine and our hardworking teacher, 乐⽼师, who had the most stressful job of looking after all of us, for making this trip what it has been. We’ve all gotten to know not only one another better, but the people of China better and their culture. And of course, thank you to CGS for making this trip possible and for sending us around the world to expand our knowledge and international-mindedness. I know that we will all remember the memories we’ve made here, and I do hope with all my heart that someday, we will all have the chance to visit China again, and when we do, we’ll be capable independently as individuals who have started from adjusting our lips to saying the simple “你好,” to being able to hold a conversation with other fluent speakers.

The Caves of Guilin, Elephant Hill, and Love Island: Ashley's Blog!

Today, our morning alarm rang at 7:30 AM, and we had to pack our bags since we would be going to Hong Kong in the afternoon. Since it was our last day in Guilin, the tour guide made sure that we knew what this place was all about. Guilin is known for four major aspects: its green hills, its clear waters, its fantastic caves, and its spectacular rocks.

Speaking of Guilin’s key attractions, we got to experience some of them today. We got to see the fantastic caves of Guilin, specifically Reed Flute Cave, the most popular cave out of the 2000 caves in Guilin, despite it not being the largest one. This one was only 500 meters, compared to the largest one in Guilin which is 5.3 kilometers and takes half a day to explore. Even if it lacks size, it definitely makes up for it in beauty. The whole cave was truly breath-taking, and it felt like a fantasy walking through it. Everything in there was illuminated in different colored lights, so it was like witnessing an indoor rainbow. A fun fact about this cave is that one of the scenes in the infamous movie The Journey to the West was actually filmed here! 

For the “spectacular rocks” part of it, we went to visit Elephant Hill, which is the city symbol and a “must see/must do” thing in Guilin. Like the name implies, there were a lot of (statue) elephants there. We all climbed onto the statues, even though it was really hard. 




Another place we visited was Love Island, which used to be called Three Star Island. The reason for its change in name is because there used to be no forms of entertainment back then such as KTV and movies, so people went there a lot. When it got dark, there were a lot of young couples going on dates there, hence its new name: Love Island. There were lots of cute statues there, and they all had to do with love. 


After we went to all those places, we had lunch at a restaurant and then headed to the train station to catch our train to Shenzhen. It was a three hour ride, and I slept throughout the whole thing. We had dinner in the mall in Shenzhen and immediately had to ride the bus for about 40 minutes afterward to the place where we would cross the border to Hong Kong. Once we crossed, we had to ride for another 40 minutes to get to our hotel. We arrived at such a late hour! Nonetheless, today was a really fun day packed with so many activities! I really love it here in China, and if I’m to be honest, I really would like to stay here forever! But I do love America too :) 

Thank you to those who have been reading our daily blogs! I hope you all miss us as much as we miss you guys! We’ll be seeing you all next week! Don’t miss us too much~ 
— Ashley Hong

Photos and Closing Thoughts from Le Laoshi

Today was truly a day of sightseeing. We woke up around 6:30 and after a hearty breakfast consisting of fried dough sticks, we set on our way to a boat tour of the Lee River. It was absolutely breathtaking! We were surrounded by local people in boats, water buffalo and horses. We even went to the place where the picture on the 20 yuan bill was taken. While on the boat we were very adventurous by trying different foods such as snails. They weren't that bad!

After our 5 hour boat cruise, we did some damage shopping on the West Street. There we found tons of stores selling jewelry, clothes, bags, and our new favorite obsession, passion fruit! To end our relaxing day, we had dinner filled with different foods such as chicken, noodles and vegetables. 

The trip is coming to and end and we are all trying to suck up every last minute of China. We will see you on Sunday!

Photos from Guilin

Traveling to Guilin: Natalia's Blog!

I woke up at 4:00 this morning. I had said goodbye to my host sister the night before. My host mother and father woke up at the same time to say goodbye. My host father drove me to the school where I was reunited with the rest of the group. We arrived at the airport at 6 and rushed our gate for a 6:25 flight. Thankfully we make the plane in time! The plane ride was short and sweet. When we got off at 10:30, we had an early lunch at KFC. After lunch we took a 2 and a half hour van ride to a small mountainous village in Guilin. There, we boarded another bus and drove up a mountain to see the rice terraces. Unfortunately the rice had been harvested already but, the carved mountain side was still beautiful and picture worthy. After seeing the rice terraces, we took a 3 hour van ride to the city of Guilin. We arrived at 6 pm and went to eat dinner first. Dinner was great. We were also really hungry due to eating such an early "lunch". We went to our hotel after dinner. The room is clean and spacious and there is a great bathroom with regular toilets. Now we are in a study hall catching up on all the homework we missed while will our home stays.   We will see you 3 more days!

Celebrating 130 Years with the Cha Cha Slide: Lilah's Blog!

Today I woke up well rested after going to sleep at 7:00, and ready for a new day.  By 8:30 my host sister and I had taken the underground and arrived at 上海市光明中学, or Shanghai Guangming Highschool. Guangming Highschool has a long history as it was built in 1886. Today was actually the 130th year anniversary of the school, so a celebration was held. The celebration consisted of a number of performances, from Beijing Opera to us....doing the chacha slide. It was hilarious to perform such a silly song! At the celebration there were also two french schools who performed with us. Since the school is so old, alumnis visited Guangming to reminisce and celebrate it's history. My host sister even told me that some of them were as old as 100! Something that I think we all found interesting and quite funny was how many people were taking pictures of us, we felt famous! Everytime we turned there was someone else with their camera out. It actually made me feel very welcome because that was a sign that they were all very happy to have us there. After the celebration, my host sister took me again by underground to her home to have lunch. I then had some relaxing time which was well needed. My host sister and I watched twilight, opened gifts, and played with her cat named lucky, who she believes brings her and her family good luck. After resting we went out to have soup at the mall. The restaurant was nothing like I have ever seen before. There was a stand full of fresh ingredients such as Chinese cabbage and tofu, and we were given bowls to pick out which ones we wanted in our soup. I think tonight's meal was the best I have had so far, it was 很好吃 (delicious)! After dinner we went shopping for a little while and then headed back to her apartment. I was pleasantly surprised by the incredibly low prices of everything, the noodle soup was 13 ¥, which is equivalent to a little under 2 USD! I'm going to end this blog here as I am going to go to sleep, but I am more than grateful for what I have been able to experience and I am so excited to continue on this journey!

Beautiful Sunday in Shanghai: Liv's Blog!

Beautiful Sunday in Shanghai
          
     Today I started the day off with a fresh cup of tea and milk, along with a Delicious piece of homemade bread and butter! After breakfast Judy, (my host sister) and I watched a hilarious Chinese game show similar to, "American ninja warriors." The game show consisted of two competitors sitting on a rope with a pool underneath them. The aim of the game was to push the other player off the rope, leading you to victory! If you need a good laugh I defiantly recommend this show!

After, watching t.v. we headed down to a well know mall in Shanghai named 日月光中心. The mall had many stores along with cute cafes and restaurants! Judy and I had a great time walking around the stores and getting to know one anchor better!

For lunch, we went to a cute cafe that was famous for there cakes and smoothies! I got a strawberry smoothie along with a slice of almond cake. Judy ordered a mango smoothie with some puffs. The treats were amazing and if I could go again, I would!

During the car ride home I noticed many food markets and stores hanging Halloween decorations, which I thought was very interesting because many people don't celebrate this holiday in china.

By the end of the night my host family brought me to the famous "Yu garden."  The garden was made in 1556 during the Ming dynasty and it still holds a beautiful meaning as well as an impressive value! The heart of the garden held a tea house with a pond full of hungry fish. Judy and I were handed fish food to feed the fish with, and little did I know there were hundreds of them! At first, we could only see a few fish, but as soon as the fish pellets hit the water hundreds of fish came out of nowhere! It was an unbelievable experience I will never forget!

We headed back to the main area of Shanghai to get dinner. My host family asked me what my favorite American food was and of course my answer was hamburgers! Going out of there way, my host family drove one hour away, to bring me to one of the best American restaurants in all of China! I had one of the best hamburgers of all time, along with chicken wings, and a salad! The dinner was amazing and I was very grateful for everything my host family did for me. The hamburgers were a great way to end such an amazing and fun filled night! I had such a great day filled with many learning experiences, new interesting foods, and great shopping! 

A Sneak Peek at the Fun: A Few Photos from Le Laoshi

Although it has been quite easy to send photos via WeChat, sending them via email has been less reliable--but finally, this morning, Le Laoshi and I were able to get some through!  Here is a sneak peek at the fun they're having:

Meeting the Homestay: Kenniece's Blog!

    


Today is the most nerve racking, yet the best day so far. Today I got the opportunity to check out the beautiful school called Guangming. Not only was the school beautiful, it also has so many welcoming students . We are one of the four schools that are visiting their school, and I can honestly say that we are the best prepared, respectful, and good looking students there :) awkwardly, as we were practice our dances our host sister came 😳. 

When I seen my homestay my heart drop; so many thoughts ran through my mind. Will she like me ? Does my hair look okay ? What if her family doesn't like me ? All the common negative thoughts ran through but as soon as she said hello, all those thoughts diminished. Her presence made me feel at home, our conversation made me feel like we have been friends for years, and her parents, especially her grandmother, treated me like family & not a guest. 

    Overall, my biggest fear for this trip was meeting my host family. But I came to realized that not every foreign is like Americans (mean and ignorant). Although I kept asking random question in Chinese and smiled when I totally didn't understand anything that came out their mouths, they realized how much I appreciated them. Im just going to give you some quick highlights of my day; I reconnected with my old homestay who I miss dearly, we watched a performance from the students, we surprised Natalia at McDonald's with a birthday cake, I took my first subway & uber in China, & lastly I carried my luggage six flight of stairs. Well, I had to write this blog post really fast because the grandma is trying to shove grapefruit down my throat, so I have to go. 晚安好 🌙

The Mountain of the Emperor: Emily's Blog!

The Mountain of the Emperor

Legend has it that long ago, the first emperor of China sought to create an antidote for mortality. He wished to live forever - and he found what he was looking for on a mountain. The first time he visited this mountain, he discovered herbs that he believed would make a potent elixir of longevity. After drinking the potion, he proceeded to bathe in the hot springs of the mountain for seven days and nights, and at the end of the seventh day, his white hair transformed to black. His wrinkles disappeared and were replaced by smooth skin. His elixir had indeed worked. With his youth restored, the emperor summoned a dragon and rode to the heavens, forever remaining an immortal. Centuries later, in the Tang Dynasty, the new emperor heard of this legend and wished to commemorate China’s first emperor who had become immortal. He chose to do so by naming this mountain 黄⼭ (Huangshan). The character “黄” has two different meanings. It can translate to the color yellow, or it can be a person’s family name. In this case, it means a family name. Namely, the first emperor’s family name. Today, it is said that the first emperor of China forever lives and watches over this mountain.

 Today, I had the honor to trek up and down this mountain. As I learned from my tour guide, 黄⼭ has risen to become one of the top ten national attractions in China. A total of 3.1 million tourists visit the mountain annually, making tourism play a significant role in the local economy. The majority of the local civilians are farmers, and their major crops consist of chrysanthemums, sesame, and tea. Chrysanthemums are used to brew tea that is said to cool the body down, so it is drunken in summer. I also discovered that green tea and black tea both originate from the same plant. Black tea is actually fermented green tea that transforms into a red color in two weeks, which is why it is known as 红茶, or red tea, in China.

 Typically, the average tourist will go to major cities in China, ones structured similarly to New York including Beijing and Shanghai. However, 黄⼭ has risen in popularity because those that have visited have returned to their homelands to spread the word of Huangshan’s uniqueness. 黄⼭ is a national park, but unlike other national parks that we know of, there is an abundance of trees. The trees at the bottom of the mountain grow closely together with their branches bound tightly. At the peak, however, the pine trees have their branches completely spread out in a fan-like formation. All the trees have unbelievably strong roots, enabling them to grow into crevices of stone and rocks.

 Today, we had the opportunity to explore this mountain. We began by taking a shuttle bus from the bottom of the mountain to the middle of the mountain. We then boarded a cable car for another ten minutes up the mountain. After these transportation systems, it was time for us to depend on our willpower. We hiked the rest of the way up the mountain, all the while taking photos of the breathtaking scenery. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t most suitable for sightseeing, so fog covered the majority of the mountain and obstructed much of its natural beauty from our view. Coming down the mountain, we had the choice of hiking all the way down or taking a cable car. While I was tired, I felt that in order to truly experience 黄⼭, I should walk the remainder of the way. I didn’t want to have any regrets, and I felt that it would be a very worthwhile journey. Walking down the mountain was honestly the most strenuous process I think I have ever been through in my life. The steps were not only steep, but they seemed to continue endlessly after each turn. However, I understood that this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I may likely never have again. I wanted to make the most of it, and although I certainly didn’t win an award for “World’s Fastest Hiker,” I felt that every moment I spent on the mountain was memorable because I was able to hike with my classmates and teacher and see sights I had never seen before. We were all exhausted, but when one person felt deterred, there was no pause or hesitation for another person to cheer them on and motivate them to keep going. At the end of the five hours, I glimpsed the end of our trail, and when I at last passed under the exit gate, all I could think about was how lucky I am to be where I am when I am and that this was a moment in time I’d remember forever. We really did it. We climbed the mountain of the emperor.

Hongcun, Food, and Shopping: Day 2! Ashley's Blog

October 25, 2016

This morning, everyone had to wake up at 5:30 AM, which was extremely early for some of

us. The funny thing is, though, that some people didn’t get even a wink of sleep the night before,

and the others slept like babies.


We all got a breakfast from the hotel which was comprised of three little loafs of bread, a

yogurt, and a bin of tomatoes and grapes. I liked everything except for the yogurt because it was

a flavor that I wasn’t a big fan of. After breakfast, we made our way to where the bullet trains

were. We had to wait for an hour for ours to come. Getting on the bullet train was hectic since

there were so many people, and we were a large group ourself. We had to spend around five

hours on it, and I just slept through the most of it (but I did do a little bit of my homework, too!).

Maggie managed to make friends with a random photographer during that time, which I thought

was funny.


When we got off the train, we immediately went to go eat

lunch. The lunch was my favorite meal of the day, probably

because I was starving by the time it was served. After lunch, we

went to Ancient Hongcun, where the film of “Crouching Tigers

and Hidden Dragons” was shot. The scenery was really cool, and

we learned a lot about China’s

culture. Did you know that the

structure of Hongcun was designed to resemble the anatomy

of a water buffalo?


We bought lots of souvenirs from this place, using our

tactical bargaining skills. This is also a part of Chinese

culture! And then we went to Xidi Old Town where we

bought even more things! I thought that it was more challenging to buy stuff here because of the

currency rate difference, and I had to keep on asking Emily questions about how much money I

was spending on an item in terms of American dollars. But it definitely made the experience

more fun, and I can’t wait to buy even more stuff in the future!


After our tours, we went to eat dinner. Le Laoshi kept on telling us to eat more since there

was so much left on the plates. Even our tour guide, William, said that we were wasting a lot of

food! The culture difference is really different here though, and I remember Isabel saying that she

wasn’t going to eat Chinese food for a full three weeks when she gets back because of this trip.

When we got to our hotel, we had the usual study session and a bit of practice for our

performance coming up this Saturday. Good luck, us!


Like William said, we’re so lucky to be able to visit China. I’m really grateful for this

wonderful trip, and it’s only the second day!


I miss my parents, my friends, and everyone in CGS. I’m going to be so torn when coming

back since I know I’ll love China so much, but I also love everyone back in America. I’ll just enjoy

the time that I’m spending here~

— Ashley Hong

The Arrival: News from Annalise!

After a grueling 15 hour plane ride from Newerk Airport, we finally arrived in Shanghai China. We were tired, hit but incredibly excited. We had finally made it! After battling our way through the long lines in the airport, we got to step out and breathe the Chinese she. China looked so different from the United States. Chinese character filled the signs, amazing architecture lined the highway and clothes flew on clothing lines outside of every apartment.

Besides the scenery changes, the differences between China and the United States kept coming.  Dinner is a major difference! We all sat around a big, round table with a lazy susan in the middle. We ate everything from tofu and bok choy to French fries. After dinner, we got to explore a little bit of Shanghai. We even got to see five brides! 

Overall, China is amazing! Everyone feels like they are in a hazy, dream like state. It almost doesn't feel like we are in China! 

And they're off....!

After an early departure on Sunday morning, Lelaoshi writes to say:

Just a quick check in to let you know that after being on the road for more than 18 hours, we have finally arrived at our hotel in Shanghai.  The students are a bit tired, but nothing a good night sleep can't fix.  Everyone is in good spirits and excited to begin sightseeing and experiencing local culture. 

This morning, I received two photos on WeChat:  one of the group standing in front of the Pearl Tower, and second of them all studying diligently in the hotel.  As soon as I figure out how to transfer photos from WeChat, I will post them here!