SENIOR SCHOOL
China tour
The 2017 China Tour commenced on
Sunday 9 April, with a delightful seven-and-
a-half-hour flight that left at midnight.
Day 1 in Beijing entailed driving to the
hotel, running upstairs to our rooms for
the fastest showers ever, and then sprinting
back down to the bus. From this point we
headed out to one of the larger commercial
shopping streets of Beijing. Mr Creuzot took
the local culture to heart and ate a deep
fried scorpion. That evening we consumed
a scrumptious Chinese dinner, which was
followed by the famous Chinese acrobatics
show at the Chaoyang Theatre. That
evening finished with a late night Maccas
run, where Mr Creuzot really got into the
Chinese culture, by eating a Taro pie.
On the morning of day 2, almost all the boys
were up by 6.30am ready for our lengthy
bus ride to the Great Wall of China. To say
it’s large is a bit of an understatement. You
can look in one direction and never see the
end. In the early afternoon, after yet another
delicious lunch, we visited the Sun Village
Orphanage, an orphanage that provides
support for children whose parents have
been legally imprisoned. We all spent another
hour or so helping with physical work around
the orphanage. In the evening we had the
famous Peking-Duck dinner. Possibly the
most eventful part of Beijing was the Silk
Market, a multi-storey indoor market, where
you could attempt to bargain for products.
Day 3 had us visiting Tiananmen Square,
and learning of its history. We then walked
over to the Forbidden City, which was the
old emperors’ palace. It had 9,999 and a half
rooms. That afternoon we visited Jingshan
Park to take part in an acrobatic activity,
juggling and unicycle riding. From the hill
in the centre of the park, we were able to
observe Beijing from the centre, and really
get an understanding of the size of this
megacity. That afternoon we explored the
backstreets of Beijing via people-powered
rickshaws. At the end of this short journey,
Mr Creuzot ate a goji berry icy pole coated
in sugar.
That night we relocated to Xi’an via
overnight train. We were confined to cabins
of four, and most people got a good rest for
the first time in a few days.
Rishi D’Souza
18