Spring Blossom 2002

4:45 am! The time, we met up this morning. It’s not very often you get to see the world at that hour of the day. So the 18 KGV students, with their weary eyes but also glowing anticipation, set off to Beijing. The plane took off at 8:00 and lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. The breakfast served was ‘eww’ as usual, so most of us were glad we had a little breakfast back in Hong Kong…after all, we were still unsure of the kind of food we would be getting in China.

Its clear that some of us are more enthusiastic than others...

After landing, we met up with our local tour guides, who were waiting for us with a sign that said ‘KGV School’ in Chinese-Ooh! Someone waiting for us at the airport! The tour guide could only speak Mandarin,

so there were a few ‘what?’ from the crowd. – However, thanks to a few of our prized translators, we managed to communicate quite well.

The next stop was lunch. Familiar to many; we had McDonalds. The food was practically the same – only most of us felt the fries tasted slightly different. After lunch, we walked to the Summer Palace, where on the way, we were surrounded by hawkers trying to sell handcrafts of all sorts. ‘Beu-ti-fal’, ‘Fifty Yuan’. Then it changed to ‘Ben-tifal’, ‘forty Yuan’ and when we still offered no response – ‘twenty Yuan’ but still she had no business.

The pack in the all time busy Beijing Airport.

In the Summer Palace there were more hawkers. ‘Rolex?’ It was a ‘Rolex’ with Mao’s picture on the face of it. ‘Five dolla’ Five? You can’t even get a battery in Hong Kong! But the prospect of wearing these Mao bearing watches was too scary for us.

The tour guide led us through the Summer Palace, a scenic buffet! After crazily taking pictures, fatigue slowly took over and our concentration wandered from the guide’s rapid Mandarin descriptions of various monuments.

A nice group photo at the entrance (exit?) of the Summer Palace.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7…18 All set to go to the next stop. A web company (www.Beijingnews.com.cn) and not your average tourist attraction.

While most of the group had found a Starbucks nearby and were immediately revived with mocha frappuccinos; Mr. Boyce, Mr. Ensor, Janet, Wang and Sumire were taken to the 2^nd floor to be interviewed for the Beijing News website. They were given a complete tour of the update and modern facilities. Computers lined the desks and clicking was one of the only sounds that filled the room as eyes turned to see the “foreigners”.

They were led into a broadcasting room with hot bright lights, blue screen and camera. Turning to each other they said shocked (and definitely unprepared) ‘This is going to be on TV?!’ The sweat still trickling down their necks faces red and clothes worn from traveling. Luckily the cameras were never turned on and the interview was done in English with a translator “phewf!” (Note: As our limited Mandarin would definitely not be able to convey our expectations and views of Spring Blossom.) Impressed by their interview, they showed the company our own amateur web page and they then requested a link for their technologically sophisticated website (It has some 5,000,000 viewers a day)

After the interview, we headed for the 21^st Century Hotel, only minutes away, while the interviewees were rushed off to the local radio station for their fifteen minutes of fame. The hour drew on to two as Mrs. Jennifer Chow, founder of Spring Blossom; our own beloved teachers, Mr. Ensor and Mr. Boyce; Charmian – a past pupil and original link between KGV and Spring Blossom and Wang, Sumire and Janet answered the questions with finesse. They then rushed (again) back to the hotel for a quick dinner and yet another rehearsal with the rest of the group.

Caroline: I think we are stuck...

Everyone then settled to bed with the lingering thought of another early and arduous day.

By Nicola Chan and Kay Lai

For more pictures of DAY 1 click here.