Shop-er-tunity?

It took a good night of rest for us to recover from the exhausting Great Wall and Camping experience. We visited the Summer Mountain Resort in the town of Chengde. There we walked the outer wall to the temple. It was high above the town and was very scenic. The route was up and down in steep sections; but was really great to get out and enjoy the 90 degree weather. We cooled off in the shade and had a picnic there in the central park area. We explored China’s Imperial Garden’s of China’s royal families and it was magnificent! Lastly the day ended with a visit to the paper-cutting store. The artist created and showcased a few examples and then it was our turn to give it a try. What a trained art paper cutting is. Afterwards we had a little shop-er-tunity! We then went home for a little rest and dinner!

The Great Wall

The Great Wall; need I say more! This morning had an early rise and tent pack up. We then ate breakfast with toast and eggs. Two guides and a doctor met us at the base of the Wall and we started our Adventure. I believe myself to be in pretty good shape; but WOW! Our trek was through an exclusive part of the Wall. Not a part that was remade to be nice and even and pleasing to walk along. We trekked and hiked straight up peaks to reach the crest of a fort. There we had reached our starting point. We scaled walls, climbed mountains, explored 40 forts in our path, weaved through corn fields and thick underbrush, and hiked for 5-6 hours. The weather was cool and perfect; but the air was a bit thin. Throughout the trek, we had guides leading the way and water stations to make sure we were ready to press on. It was the greatest hiking Adventure that I have ever witnessed. Not only were we actually hiking and sweating and exhausted; we were looking at some of the greatest views known to the Ancient World. We scanned over the beautiful terrain as we trekked! It was one of the greatest moments of my life! Yes; I scaled and climbed the Great Wall of China!

Dragon boats

This morning we awoke with much excitement. We were moving our adventures to another part of the country of China. There we would explore the culture more and reach the Great Wall. We boarded our motor coaches for the Dragon Boats! We split the group up into two perfectly even groups and raced to the finish. These boats resembled combination of designs of crew boats and canoes. They were completely man-powered and were difficult to maneuver. Yes, we did get a little wet too! Lunch was at a beautiful country club. Before we ate we played bad-mitten, basketball, Frisbee, and of course, ping pong. Lunch was on the deck with another plethora of Chinese cuisine choices. We boarded our motor coach once again and headed for a adorable little Mongolian village. We trekked through the village; even stopping at an active temple. And dinner was the best. We were seated within a Mongolian Yurt and we were sung to and had quite a party! But the night did not end there! We then grabbed all our overnight backpacks and set out for camping under the Great Wall. We hiked about 15 minutes or so to the camp site. There we each set up our tents and got situated for the evening. We looked up to see the Wall above the sky line. Tomorrow we conquer it!

"Tour" is NOT a Four Letter Word in China

Just a quick post about something that's been on my mind this entire trip...

I live at the Jersey Shore where we have a special name for our Summer tourists: Bennys. And let me tell you, it's by no means a term of endearment. The origin of this slang term is debatable, but regardless of its roots, no one debates its derogatory meaning. Ask anyone who lives at "The Shore": "What do think about Bennys?" And you'll most likely hear the following: "Bennys Go Home!" We even have t-shirts, bumber stickers, etc. stating it proudly.

New York City is less than forty-five minutes north of The Shore and you can spot a tourist there in a New York minute. Once spotted, you can see them being scowled at by taxi drivers (actually, by all drivers) and nudged out of the way on sidewalks by busy business people scurrying to work.

Now for China. General consensus of everyone on our trip is that our Asian hosts actually seem GLAD to see us! There literally has not been one single place we've visited that someone didn't ask to take a picture of us or with us. The students think this is the coolest thing- they feel like rock stars (us grown ups don't mind so much either!)

What do you think is the reason for the different attitudes towards tourists in America and China? Is my characterization of the NY/NJ attitude just limited to the North East or to big cities?

PLEASE share your thoughts!

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Rock, Scissors, Paper

After hiking on the mini Great Wall today at the Emeror's Summer Palace and seeing panoramic views of the town of Chengde, there was still more to come. Can you believe a city of 200,000 people is still considered a town? We had the unique opportunity of visiting and learning from a master paper-cutter. This form of art has a long history in China and it is one of the most interesting and beautiful talents I have ever seen. The intricate detail is amazing, and some of these spectacular creations can take weeks to cut out!After our demonstration of this craft, we were able to participate and do our own scissor cuttings. Most of us made small animals like butterflies or turtles.

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Discovery Student Adventurers by Day, Bloggers by Night

Throughout this amazing journey in China, we have been excited to share our experiences with the world. It is really exciting to see how interested and enthusiastic the students are about blogging, sending out tweets and uploading photos to Picasa for the world to see. We are learning as we go, and it really has been a lot of fun giving you an inside glimpse as to the incredible things we are seeing and doing. I feel like we are Discovery Student Adventurers by day and bloggers by night! I hope you keep coming back to our blog for additional information because we still have a whole week left on our phenomenal journey!

Photos

After a lot of work trying to get a solid internet connection from our hotels we have finally been able to upload photos. It's been a mad dash with the students to get their photos and ours up. Check them out by clicking on the Photos tab in the menu above or go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/photos.DSA

The students have been working hard to document every activity using Twitter and their blogs (see list to the right). They're super-excited to share everything we're learning and experiencing. Check them out and leave a comment - the kids love to hear from you!