International Studies Tour to China

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, if this is the case then not even a thousand pictures could begin to describe the experiences, emotions and ecstasies that we all had and felt on the International Studies Tour to China 2009. And yet, here I am, tasked with portraying to you all these things and more in less than a thousand words. Incredible, amazing, flabbergasting, astounding, impressive and magbloodynificent are some of the words that spring to mind. But so are scary, polluted, dangerous and horrifying. If I had to rate the tour on a scale of 1 to 10 I would say both 23 and -17, because it was just utterly awesome and terrifying at the same time. It would take me all week to explain in detail everything that happened, so instead I will give a brief report on some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the tour.

Beijing
On the first day in Beijing we learned quite a lot about the city and China, for example the colloquial word for toilet is 'happy house' (which poses a few questions), the Bird's Nest Stadium is having financial difficulties and although there is little visible litter on the streets, the air is so polluted that it brought tears to many an eye. We also went to see the Bird's Nest Stadium (which is very big) and the Watercube (ditto), and finally we had a lunch in a traditional Chinese restaurant. The thing about Chinese restaurants is that while you have to pay out of your nose for water, the pot of green tea is endlessly replenished. And while there is no menu that you can choose from, you don't need one as they bring you everything that would have been on it anyway. The Lazy Susan in the middle of the table was eventually crammed with meat (named and unnamed), veggies, rice, fruit, tofu, sauces, a selection of soups, noodles, eggs (?), something that looked suspiciously like bread, dumplings (which were like heaven on a plate), some sort of squishy things (which were pointedly not like heaven on a plate), empty water glasses and a teapot that was full of tea. We were then led back to our hotel which was a very fancy but friendly place that (to the absolute delight of many) was delivered to by McDonalds. On the second day we learnt many more new and wonderful things about the place, such as in China, if one is approached by a young woman in a rather inadequate amount of clothing (that is quite... revealing), who claims to be a preschool teacher in need of English lessons, one should definitely recede from the situation as rapidly as possible. We visited lots of places including Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City (where, in true College fashion we struck up a war cry - 16 bullets), after which we went to the Hutongs on traditional rickshaws and had dinner with the local people there. Throughout the rest of out stay we saw many more amazing things, including an extraordinary acrobatic performance, the Capital museum and a Chinese flight museum, as well as visiting two very highly regarded schools in Beijing and the Tshinghua University (which was unfortunately disappointing due to the fact that we couldn't actually see anything that went on there). But to many, one of the best experiences in Beijing was visiting the Great Wall of China itself. At the section that we went to we had one of two options; the easy was up or the hard way up. We opted for the easy way, until we saw that the entire population of southern Asia had done the same and thus (no jokes here) completely blocked the whole wall for as far as we could see. So we took the hard way up. It’s strange that it was called ‘the hard way up’, because I would have called it the ‘nigh on impossible way up’. Eventually, hot and sweaty, we arrived at a section quiet enough to get the lectures over and done with. After hiking up the Great Wall I now realise that the Mongols attacked the Wall so many times not to invade China, but just to laugh at the Chinese while they panted their way to their posts. After a quick look around a Jade workshop it was onto the bullet train and off to Shanghai.

Zhangziagang
Don't try to pronounce it - you will get it wrong. We went to a steel mill, and we were given a banquet by some very important people. We visited a school and played a bit of sport against them. These are the facts. There is not much else I can say about this part of the tour except that for many it was definitely the best. This was the part of the tour where we would spend three nights in a host family's house, and although many were at first sceptical about spending three nights in a complete stranger's house with parents who we had been assured would not be able to speak a word of English, everything turned out very well in the end and the strangers had all turned into our friends. I cannot begin to explain the bond of friendship that so many people made over the three days, suffice to say that I thought it impossible for people to get to know each other so well in such a short period of time. As we left the group of schoolchildren who had made such an impact on our lives behind, there was definitely an air of sadness and sorrow. Sechaba Lengane summed it all up pretty well on the silent bus with these words "Sho guys, that was the hardest goodbye I've ever said."

Shanghai
Our schedule for Shanghai was less packed than the Beijing one, but just as enjoyable. With trips to the Oriental Pearl, markets, museums and places of worship the stay in Shanghai looked to be like a joll. And it certainly was, as during their free time people visited places ranging from the Shanghai World Financial centre to the track where the Shanghai Grand Prix was held. After learning that a massage parlour in China is, no matter how upper class in appearance, still dodgy on the inside, and that staying up until two in the morning is both silly and punishable, we left Shanghai and departed to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong/Macao
We could all feel it. Although we were happy to get to a place that had some Western resemblance, we all knew that Hong Kong signified the closing stages of the tour. I had mixed feeling at this stage, with part of me willing to go home and get some rest, and another part of me wanting to stay on for a lot longer. Anyway, it was with both anticipation and dread that we faced the closing stages of the tour, and even though the end seemed so close, it was actually quite a long way off. The schedule for Hong Kong included visiting yet more markets, the Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery, a day in Macao and a full free day in Hong Kong. In Macao we were hosted by an old boy of the College who lives there, and we saw such places as a Portuguese fortress, the Lotus Flower casino, the Venetian (in which Stefan got terribly lost) and, wait for it, a market. At the end of the day we were given the opportunity to stay behind to see the Cirque Du Soleil (which was really excellent), but only five of us did. During the free day in Hong Kong, most went to Ocean Park, but they said that it was a bit disappointing as many of the rides were closed. Myself? I had no money left so I wandered around with Lefika until we found a public library to cheer us up. We were subsequently kicked out for not having our ID documents on us.

Epilogue
I think that it’s safe to say that on the last day in Hong Kong nobody was loathe to go back home, as we had all had quite enough of China, and it was definitely time to get back to biltong en braais. However...
During the 13 hour flight back to Johannesburg I was given time to reflect on what had just happened. Two weeks had flown by, even though it seemed like an eternity since I had gotten on to the flight from Jo'burg to Hong Kong. And in those two weeks I had (amongst other things) shouted warcries in the Forbidden City, learned about glow in the dark paint on the Great Wall, made many friends, stood on the top floor of the tallest building in the world, been into the 3rd tallest tower in the world, drunk about 2000 litres of green tea, purchased a crash helmet (long story), been vomited on (another long story - better if you don't ask), seen arguably the best circus in the world, run out of money and finally been kicked out of a library for being illegal. And do you know what? I began to miss it right there and then.

James Hosken