Results tagged “Chopsticks”

Hi people! I'm now in Japan.

After we got off the plane in Fukuoka, we went to a nice hotel that looked like a giant boat, close to a beach. Once we were settled in, we went to the beach where I flew a cool kite that I bought in Shanghai. Imagine that, me on a beach in Japan!

The next day, I stayed at the hotel with my Mom because I was not feeling well. I felt a little better later on in the day, so I finally went out. First, me, Tyler, my Mom, my Dad, and our tour guide all had sushi together. We even made out own! It was really good and I ate everything with chopsticks. They had a tank of fish with a squid. I got to see the squid squirt black ink.

Hello everybody! After Xi'an we went to go see pandas at the zoo in a big city called Chongqing. We started off seeing red pandas and after that, the zookeeper brought out a little one-year old panda. When they brought him out, they put it on the ground and had it follow some bamboo, so it could get some exercise. Then, the zookeeper left and the baby panda started to try to get the bamboo off of the trees. After we watched the baby panda play for a while, we went to go see some of the adult pandas.   

Later, we got on cruise, traveling down the Yangtze River and through The Three Gorges. In The Three Gorges, we saw these things called hanging coffins, which were in caves along the cliffs of the Yangtze River. The hanging coffins were put there 2000 years ago. Native tribes would lower the coffins down from the top of the cliffs and put them inside of the caves. They used to bury people high up on the cliff so the dead could be closer to heaven.

When we got off of the boat, we went to the city of Shanghai, which is one of the most modern cities in China. From Shanghai, we drove two hours to go to the old town of Xitang that was built around miniature canals. The town is famous because Tom Cruise shot the third Mission Impossible movie there, which is funny. Also in the town, we went to a button factory where we learned how people make buttons out of oyster shells. Stefan and I even got to make our own.

When we were in Shanghai, we went to a place called the Bund, which is a famous street that goes along the river.  We also went to an acrobatic show in Shanghai. There were people riding motorcycles around a giant, circular cage. There was also a man who juggled huge, heavy, ceramic pots and balanced them on his head.  They also did things like hoop jumping, gymnastics, and swung through the air from wires.     

Since it's our last day in China, we thought it would be fun to make a list of things that are different in China, compared to America. Here's the list Stefan and I came up with:

1. No blond hair. We got our pictures taken A LOT!
2. Squat toilets.
3. Chinese characters, not letters. Our guide told us that most people know around 2,000 to 3,000 characters.
4. Chinese people only eat with chopsticks.
5. We didn't see many kids our age because in China, they have really long school days. They even go on Saturdays!
6. Some of the food was really strange to us, especially the scorpions, starfish, and seahorses served on sticks. We saw a lot weird food in a Beijing market.
7. There were lots of vendors selling stuff on the streets and in many stores, you bargained for it. If they wanted 10 RMB, you would offer five. They'd say "no," but when you would walk away, they would come after you and offer it for seven.
8. Most people are only allowed to have one child.
9. People eat lots of noodles.
10. Most Chinese people are Buddhist.

We had a great time in China meeting new friends and especially going on a National Geographic Expedition. Now we're off to Japan and are going to have a great time there too. BTW, if you're wondering what I'm holding up, it's a painting I did on rice paper. Read Stefan's post to find out more.