Today was our first day of school. It was so nerveracking. We walked into the school with Sammy at 7:30am, the start of their school day. I usually get up at that time! We walked into class, and were surprised and delighted to see that we were in the same class as last year, with the same students as last year. I think they were expecting us...

Today was school again, but we are not yet used to the early starts. We went to school via taxi and arrived on time. Today we brought lots of little koalas holding Australian flags, boomerangs, and wearing vests that said "I love Australia!" We gave them out to the delighted kids in our class. Our first class was maths, which was working with...

We woke up late today, so breakfast and getting ready was a rush. We were late to school, although the classes hadn't started just yet. Before class had begun, some students stood at the front of the room and conducted everybody as they read from their text. From there, the Chinese national anthem was played over the speaker, and everybo...

Today we woke up up really early, at 5am. We didn't want to be late again. School starts at 8am but the children arrive at 7.30 make sure they are ready. We like to be there at 7.30 too. We went to breakfast as soon as it opened, at 6am. There were hardly anyone there. We got ready and hailed some taxis to school. The driving here is crazy...

Today was our last day of school :( It was do sad to say good-bye to everyone. We arrived at school freezing. It was raining and the classrooms were so cold. Dad, James and Craig went to a dental surgery where Dad worked on Ian Knowles's teeth. [PHOTO_ID_L=p3210635.jpg We had Chinese class first, where we gave the teacher a pen and a key...

Today we had what we now consider a sleep in- a 7:30am start. We got ready and for once, had a quite leisurely breakfast. There were no set tours or anything today, but there was a reason behind this; Collingwood plays today. Don't think that just because we are in another country does not mean that we won't watch the football. As China is...

Today we had another early start. We gathered at 8am in the lobby to meet out tour guide for the day. Today was our first day of "sight-seeing". Our guide was named Shirley, and she was going to take us to the Summer Palace, on a Hutong tour and to see an acrobatics show. We had our own mini bus. Our first stop was the Summer Palace. Th...

Today was a late start after the pretty exhausting day before. We had no tours planned, but we wanted to go to the Forbidden City and the Underground City. We took the train to the right station and didn't miss a few good snap opportunities before we entered. The Forbidden City is really a city, and to think that it was just for one man. He ...

Today was the day of the Great Wall hike. It was going to be a long day, I could tell as soon as I woke up at 6am. We were not just going to be walking on the Great Wall; we were going on a 15km hike. We met Shirley, our guide from Sunday and Sammy at the hotel at 7:30am. We got on our little mini-bus and set off. The bus trip to the Grea...

Today we figured that we deserved a sleep-in, so we ate breakfast at 9:30. Surprisingly, none of us were aching too badly on our legs. We had a leisurely breakfast before going back to the hotel. Dad was still on the hunt for that Underground City, so he, Laura and Craig went on mission impossible. They saw a rickshaw and he took the f...

To all who read my China 2007 blog, here is some news to amuse you; Dad just found his ticket for the Z20. For those who aren't up to scratch, this time last year, we were going on an overnight train (the Z20) to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors. We took the taxi to the train station, but our taxi driver missed the turn-off, so Dad gave hi...

Today was another early one. We had a tour booked to the Great Wall for 7:40am, but not a private one. We were expecting a huge coach to pull up, outside the hotel, and all 60 of us would have to wear matching caps so we wouldn't get lost, like we have seen everywhere in the popular tourist destinations, so we were pleasantly surprised when a ...

Tonight was a very different night. Coming home after the long day was tiring after a three hour traffic jam. The bus driver ended up kicking us out and making us walk a couple of kilometres. It ended quit unlike Shirley's tour where even though she lived 2 hours away, she wanted to finish her job and make sure we were back, safe at the hotel...

Rebecca invited us over to her house today, which was so lovely. I was looking forward to seeing her parents and Sammy again, and to see her apartment. Rebecca's father's driver picked us up after breakfast, and drove us to her apartment. Luckily, there was a minivan, so we could all fit in, otherwise it would have been a tight journey! We re...

We got a sleep in today. First though, last night we had to learn what that word meant. A sleep in is rare to us, but we welcomed the change. We dragged ourselves out of bed by 11:00am Australian time and 8:00am China time. Getting 5 girls ready is a hard event. It should be an Olympic sport, and if it was we (Team Fisher) would lose. I take...

Entry 35 of a trip titled: Travel Mission: trip around the world!!!!

Welcome to my travelpod!!!