Today my school had its first major field trip. All the students, teachers, and administrators piled into a big bus and headed to 沕沕水 (hū hū shuǐ) and 西柏坡 (xī bǎi pō). There were around 30 of us total that all managed to get up and meet the bus at 联邦名都 (liánbāng míng dū). We got going around 6:30 AM and then it was about another 2 hours until we got to 沕沕水 (hū hū shuǐ). Hu hu shui is basically an area with a number of hiking trails and waterfalls. The scenery was quite beautiful and it was a great opportunity to take some pictures. Having spent sooo much time in the city, I had really forgotten how much I liked being outdoors and hiking. We hiked for about 3 hours. It was nice to chat more with some of the other students that I don’t normally get to see. Unfortunately, however, I did manage to get a nasty sunburn.

After the hike was over, we had lunch at one of the restaurants there. 申琦 (shēn qí) and I both managed to find seats in the one indoor area. It was much cooler inside and just the break we needed.

After lunch, we went to get on the bus and found out that the air conditioner was broken. DOH! Not cool considering that it was ROASTING outside. The bus company, however, was smart enough to fill one of the cargo bays with extra parts and after thirty minutes, the two drivers managed to have the problem fixed.

We then proceeded to 西柏坡 (xī bǎi pō) which was supposedly the birth place of the modern Chinese communist party. There were three different areas of 西柏坡 (xī bǎi pō) that we visited. The first was a hall with a bunch of old calligraphy. I could actually read some of the characters which was cool. The second stop was the most interesting part, a museum with original documents and videos about the founding of the current government. We spent nearly an hour looking through here and taking pictures. The last stop was one of the original meeting halls and Chairman Mao’s old house. This was probably the least interesting of the 3.

We then headed back to 石家庄 (shíjiāzhuāng), all totally exhausted from the hiking and sun-exposure. Shenqi rubbed some aloe on my burns and we called it an early night.

The school seems like it wants to do a few more of these field trips. I really hope they are serious about it as I had a great time. Shenqi even went so far as to call it a mini-vacation