Roseville B - China

So, back to Day 3......... (then the days blur together until Day 9)

We caught a private coach from our hotel in Bejing to Huangyagoun where we were to complete our community service project. Our local guide, James, taught us the ways of Beijing, explaining that when you get a car registered, it is only registered for 6 days a week, meaning that each car has a week day where it is not permitted on the roads. This is to try to keep traffic to a managable level, but the response from the Chinese people is to just buy another car, and ensure it has a different "day off" on its registration. Interesting.

The road leading us there went up and down and all around the mountains, and we even passed a ski resort at one point. It looked very inviting, but we had to press on. Also, we're not quite sure travel insurance would cover us for any incidents. We got off the bus on the outskirts of the village at a beautiful summer guesthouse. Apparently in summer it's a thriving place, with many Chinese people seeking refuge from the chaos of the cities. Eager to relieve ourselves, we asked about toilets, only to discover that they weren't in action because the pipes were frozen. Of course, this made us a little apprehensive about the week ahead of us if we were going to be minus toilets!! However, we walked to the smaller winter guesthouse to find that it had heated pipes so we had a flushing toilet!! Yes, that's right, one flushing toilet for 21 people! We must admit, we were excellent about sharing the bathroom, even if there were a few close calls.

In Beijing we were a little disgruntled about the hard mattresses, but they seemed like heaven once we jumped onto our beds, only to discover that we were sleeping on a plank of hard wood. It seems to be the Chinese way. There were a few initial bruises that night, but we got used to them after that and they were almost comfortable.

I guess we should mention the view. Standing in the little courtyard at the front of the house, all that could be seen was cement. The Chinese have a real fascination with that stuff. It signifies wealth or something like that. the more cement, the better you are. They perhaps don't realise the strain it puts on your eyes in the sunlight!! Or maybe it's just that the sun doesn't seem to penetrate the clouds there, so they don't really need to worry about it. Anyway, if you lift your eyes from the cement, the surrounding view shows the most magnificent hills. When the fog lifts (around 11am, get in quick before it settles again for the night at 12noon) the Great Wall of China, in all its glory, can be seen traversing the ridge. It was truly spectacular.

We went for a walk around the village that afternoon, and came to a section of the Great Wall that was reconstructed. It came right down into the valley, so we were able to touch it for the first time. It was simply breathtaking. There were trays and trays of a strange red fruit, just sitting out in the daylight to dry out. We found out they were called Haws, and are often made into a type of tea. We can now honestly saw that we tried a haw in China. I guess it's not a line we should use when telling our grandparents what we got up to over here.

Our community service had two elements - visit the local school and revovate the house of a 92 year old lady. We started at the lady's house, and were given an insight into what it looked like before the professionals emptied it, by glancing at the house next door. The poor man who lives there lives in absolute squalor. His walls are black from the smoke of the fire, the same fire that is used for heating and cooking. His windows are completely covered with empty water bottles, some of which stay there permanently for added insulation, others which he trades for a few cents to supplement his income from the government. Everything was dirty, the house was tiny, and yet he greeted us with an enormous, toothless smile. He also had the most adorable puppy dog, which of course we stayed away from just in case it had rabies.

We were given our jobs for the day, which for some included sanding back a grubby chest with all the old lady's treasures in it, and for others they had to take apart a bookshelf so it could be rebuilt properly. The chest turned out to be one of those gorgeous antique style Chinese chests, and we could have easily taken it home with us. It looked beautiful with the wood restored, but being in China, we had to paint it their lucky colour for her - red. The first coat looked fabulous, with the dark wood still showing through in glimpses, but we had to make it thick and shiny, so it ended up looking like something from Ikea. She simply loved it.

The bookself was beautifully restored, with some girls being more proficient with the use of a nail gun than others, and then it was painted white. it was hard work, but well worth it.

We also put up new curtains, assisted the professionals in rendering the walls (we weren't very good at that at all), stripped all the plastic off the new windows, and layed a new covering over her cement bed (yes, cement!). The little old lady was so proud and extremely happy with all we'd done for her. Just wait 'til you see photos of her and you'll fall in love too!!

We visited the local school on two occasions, and were able to see the classrooms. They were cramped and smelly, completely lacking in oxygen because the fires were sucking it all out, but the children were exceptionally well behaved and wanted to learn. their English words of the day when we were there were hamburger, french fries and Coke, so they obviously knew Roseville College was coming to visit!

We played outside with them, skipping and hoola hooping, as well as teaching them ball games. They were very fit and all seemed to have excellent technique with skipping. We weren't so bad, but it was hard for the chinese to take us seriously, especially when Hayley's pants fell down while she was having a jump through a rope.

The food at community service was quite nice, although we're completely sick of rice and pork. Every meal was a buffet of gourmet Chinese dishes, and our favourites were a beef and potato dish, as well as these little pork things that nobody was really sure about at first. Please parents, don't surprise us with dinner at a lovely chinese restaurant when we return, we've had enough for a while!!!!

Immediately after our community service, we started our trek. the first day was a 20km hike (yes, really) and the first two hours were completely uphill. There were steps, steps, steps and more steps as we climbed the Great Wall, and finally we had to take 300 steps up a "ladder" on the side of a cliff to reach what we thought was the top. However, once up there, we faced "soft ups and downs" which was actually the steepest path upwards we've ever walked on. At times, we had to scramble on all fours. It was well worth it when we got to the top though, and looked out over what felt like all of China.

We followed an ancient narrow section of the Great Wall, stumbling over the crumbling ruins, and twisting and winding through beautiful scenery. We were delighted when we suddenly crossed into what looked like Narnia - untouched snow completely covering a beautiful forest. It was simply magical.

We ended up that night in a simple guesthouse in what felt like the coldest place on earth. There were more wooden beds, but this time we had tv!

We would like to point out that there is a significant lack of hot chocolate in this country, and we can't wait to get some when we get back.

Anyway, that's what we've been up to of late. In a couple of days time we'll update you on the last bit of the trek and also fill you in on our growing collection of "memorable moments".

Desperately have to get off here now or we'll miss the bus to join up with the group!!

Love to you all,

Team B. B is for the Best!