A Teacher Field Trip

     Two weekends ago, I was offered an opportunity for an all expenses paid trip to the countryside with the other Chinese teachers at my school.  We were told that the purpose of the trip was to learn how to take better pictures.  The classes were being taught by a famous photographer.  We were also told that meals were included and that we would be staying in a 5 star hotel.  Well, we are in China after all, so I was hoping for something on the level of a good Holiday Inn.  I will preface the photos by saying that, although my camera and phone do not take the best pics, most are fuzzy because it was foggy and drizzly the whole time.

 We stopped for lunch and it was the typical boiled chicken, roasted duck, mystery food 1, mystery food 2, some veggie things, and rice.  I forget what all was served, as it wasn't anything special...except the head!

     We went to Xinhui, China and I have to say the hotel was REALLY an almost 5 star hotel.  I have a friend, who when referring to food, says that things are good or "China good".  This was China awesome!

You KNOW I took a bath :-)

     We were then informed that the classes were all in Chinese and, because it looked like it might pour (and it did), we decided to just walk about the area and maybe grab a cocktail.  We made the right decision.  While we were out walking, we found an awesome pool and play area behind the hotel.  The guard informed us there was a private party going on, so we were not allowed in.  I LOVED the fact that there was a BAR right next to the play area, but I forgot to take a pic!

     Because we had not joined in the first photography field trip, we had to take a cab to the restaurant to meet the group for dinner.  It was lunch de ja vous!  The food was meh at best, but the view was amazing.

     We had purchased some wine and snacks while out, but everyone was too tired to think about it AND we forget to get a cork screw and did not want to deal with trying to get the Chinese to understand we needed to open some wine...LOL  The next day we headed out to a small village that was quite old and very photogenic.  We had a wonderful time, found a cafe that served a good cappuccino, we took pictures, and went shopping a bit.  It was amazing to see and it didn't rain.

Small child pulling sugar candy.  This town is known for its ginger and the candy was amazing!

Victoria outside church

Can't take a pic without Chinese photobomb1

photobomb1

photobomb3

photobomb4

The green slime shot

This was a spot of moss on the wall that every single Chinese person felt a need to stand in front of and have a picture taken with it.

Did I mention white rice makes me bloat?

     The ride home was wonderful and I even got to see a real Chinese person in a real Chinese rice paddy in real China :-)

I can now say, been there, done that, took the pics :-)