In China we had the opportunity to visited many cities…
Our first (and last) destination was in Beijing, China! In Beijing it’s still filled with busy streets and booming businesses. It honestly reminded me of New York City, New York! Both cities, Beijing and NYC are always on the go! While I was there in Beijing I realized that you couldn’t clearly see the skies. As you may know China is VERY populated. Beijing is (a growing city and the capital of China) experiencing some pollution issues. Above the pollution are blue skies and clouds but due to it’s current issue it’s very difficult to see. Other than the grey skies Beijing was a great place to visit. When we were driving through the city you would notice familiar businesses such as McDonald’s, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, KFC, and my favorite Wu Mart; Their version of our Wall Mart! Although we weren’t able to visit these businesses it was still cool to see.
Secondly, we took a 2 hour flight to our next province, Henan, China (South of Beijing) ! Henan is the complete opposite of Beijing. In Henan we stayed in Zhengzhou, Dengfeng. Everytime you walk outside you are greeted by blue skies and an endless amount of mountains. We were there for about 10 days learning mandarin and martial arts at the Shaolin Temple. During class sessions we would either be seated outside or inside a building. Every time I looked up I was constantly captivated by the beauty. It was a great experience.
Our next destination was Luoyang. A 1 1\2 bus drive from our current location. We were in Luoyang for 3 days and stayed at the Luoyang No. 1 Senior High School. We stayed in one of their dorms and we also spent an entire day with our host family! Here we connected more with the locals since we had the chance to spend the day with a Chinese family. Many of us went to the markets, the movies, and out to eat at restaurants. I, on the other hand, went to a market and spent the rest of my day at their “village” and played games with the local neighbors. Although there was a language barrier we still had a great time playing and learning new games. I haven’t had that much fun since I was a kid! Luoyang compared to the other two cities was in between. It was still busy, but not as busy as Beijing. There weren’t mountains like in Zhengzhou, Dengfeng, but there were blue skies.
All the places we visited had something in common. History.
Where ever we went we learned a good amount of their ancient history. It’s amazing to see the before and after’s of each city/province.
