CHINA EXPEDITION - Summer 2005

It was an intrepid group of thirty students that gathered together on a Sunday afternoon in July, some more promptly than others (the best excuse being 'the electric gates on the drive to the house would not open to let us out' - only a King's School pupil!). The purpose being a kit check and some final team building before departing for four weeks to China . The students were accompanied by four members of King's School staff and three leaders from Wilderness Expertise, the company providing all the training, back up and logistics for the expedition.

Over the previous eighteen months, the students had had to work hard to raise the £3,000 required to take part - anything from discos to quiz evenings to a fantastic Chinese New Year evening and getting Saturday jobs. In addition students had to complete three training weekends to get them used to working as a team, managing a budget and living with just the basics.

After a noisy night in the sports hall, rucksacks were finally repacked and we set off for Manchester airport and the two flights that would take us to Beijing . Arrival in Beijing was not ideal when it was found that the first challenge to overcome was that of six missing rucksacks! The group split into two teams shortly afterwards, each with their own itinerary to follow. The teams were aptly named after their leaders - Mountain Tiger (aka Ken) and The Terminator (aka Andy), though Mountain Tiger's team were more commonly referred to as Team Airhead, no idea why!

Team Airhead ran into immediate problems after leaving the airport when it transpired that the hostel in which beds had been booked for the night, had sold them earlier that day. Trying to find another hostel with 19 beds in the centre of Beijing at the height of the tourist season did not prove easy.

The next day dawned hot and humid and a chance for the teams to see the sights of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden Palace and the first of many local Chinese meals. The city itself is undergoing a huge building exercise to ready itself for the Olympics in 2008 and the dust, humidity and heavy traffic were quite daunting.

Both teams managed to spend a day trekking on The Great Wall with Team Airhead camping out in one of the guard towers overnight during a major electrical storm, an amazing experience, including the fine the next day! Team Terminator narrowly avoided missing their train that day as they headed down to the sights of the Terracotta Army and Emei Shan. Team Terminator followed a similar itinerary to that of Team Airhead after returning from Emei Shan but some 4 days later.

Team Airhead headed down to Chengdu by plane, where they were met by representatives of the Unicorn Foundation and then on by overnight sleeper to Xichang. The Unicorn Foundation had arranged the project work for the teams, working in and around a 'boarding school'. A shaky bus ride later and the students woke up to the most amazing sight of hundreds of Yi Minority school children lining the track singing to welcome them (in Chinese of course). It transpired that we were the first westerners to visit the district and in our honour they had delayed their annual torch festival for a day so we could join in. It even made the front page of the Xichang Times!

After watching the bullfighting, bareback riding, judging the beauty contest and joining in with the wrestling we were taken to the local government office for a traditional meal. This comprised of fresh fruit and sweets followed by huge bowls of rice and every bit of flesh and bone you can imagine, allegedly from a goat and a pig, quote of the day being 'what do they do with the nice bits?'.

It was meant to be a short bus ride from there to the school but a truck carrying building materials for the school had got stuck and the locals were having to rebuild the road. As we heaved our rucksacks on and set off up the hill, our final sight back was of our bus hanging halfway off the edge of a drop as it tried to turn round!

The school itself was built as a small rectangular compound and was home to a number of teachers and during term time 200+ children, many of who walked 7 hours plus to attend and board there. The one child policy did not appear to be applicable in this remote area with most families having numerous children to help out on their small holdings. Schooling has to be paid for and many families could not afford the cost (the equivalent of £15 per child per year) and/or are unwilling for their children especially the girls to attend school as they cannot then help at home.

The team was given a room with bunks in to use and collapsed gratefully on to the hardboard provided as bunk bases. The next morning we awoke to the school bell at 6.30 am and found the playground full of pupils who had come in especially to see us. The pupils provided a morning of entertainment of local singing and dancing, highly amused when we joined in. The students responded with such classics as 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' and 'if you're happy when you know it clap your hands' etc. Tired out with all the activity, it was time for some more slaughtered goat, whose innards incidentally were kept in the men's toilets (or squatters as they were affectionately known) for the next few days - keeping the maggots company! The afternoon was spent with the students teaching some English and games to the school children, with leapfrog being a great success.

We had hoped to help out with some of the building work at the school but with the truck carrying materials being stuck, all construction had halted. Instead we went off to gather wild weeds (a literal translation from Chinese) - turned out to be hoeing a potato field and then planting some trees. There was also the opportunity to talk to the locals and compare lifestyles. Team Terminator was very inventive and managed to set up a showering facility at the school, Team Airhead having gone for the 'staying dirty' option whilst they were there!

The project days completed we headed back to Xichang and to the delight of some of the students a brief visit to a western toilet. From there we moved to Lugu Lake with its stunning scenery at 2500m and then onto Lijiang. The bus journey was a bit of an epic with landslides occurring all around, and having to be cleared by hand, plus various bits falling off the bus including the entire spring rack at one point - it was safe really.

Old town Lijiang was beautiful with narrow cobbled streets and network of canals. It was a chance for the students to chill out, eat plenty of western food (for those who had found the food at the project un-edible and had existed on throat pastilles and a pack of Oreos!).

Off then to Tiger Leaping Gorge for three days of trekking. The gorge itself was beautiful with the clouds lifting every so often so we could see the tops of the mountains lining the sides. The trekking was hard going in places - the 24 bends definitely being at least 50 very steep bends and it was much relief that there was room in the tea house for us that night. Team Terminator was not so lucky with the weather and torrential rain caused the river to rise alarmingly. An early leave was arranged, dodging the landslides on the way out.

Team Airhead meanwhile had headed down to Dali, another backpackers paradise, and the chance to see the Three Pagodas. From there they then headed via two very long train journeys to Guilin . Well done to those 3 volunteers who 'opted' for the hard seats on the train for the night as there were not enough sleepers available.

A short bus ride from Guilin , having escaped from the totally mad woman in charge of bus transport at the depot, and the students arrived in Yangshou. The landscape surrounding this area was limestone karsts and a great place for an early morning river trip. The accommodation was also impressive being nearly hotel status rather than tea house with luxury western toilets and showers.

After a few days relaxation, Team Airhead headed on an overnight sleeper bus (very much Harry Potter style) to Hong Kong to meet up with Team Terminator, who had flown there from Kunming. Hong Kong was busy and noisy and exceptionally wet - with a hurricane just off the coast. Staying in Chunking Mansions was an experience in itself and the final day in Hong Kong gave the students their much awaited chance to shop for duty free goods before heading back to the UK and their parents.

All the students have gained so much from the experience, whether it is from the knowledge that they can lead a group, work well in a team, cope under pressure or simply use chopsticks and use some basic Chinese phrases. For many it has given them the confidence to travel off the beaten track in the future and contemplate a gap year. Others have come back inspired to raise money for the Unicorn Foundation and support the schooling costs of Chinese children. It is a humbling experience to realise that less than half a year's tuition fees at King's can support a whole year of schooling 200 underprivileged children in the rural areas of China.

It truly was a chance of a lifetime and the most amazing expedition. It follows in the footsteps of previous successful school expeditions to Ecuador in 2001 and Peru in 2003. Further information is available on the website for the expedition to Morocco in 2006 for younger students and information will be available shortly of where the school will be going in 2007.

Mrs P C Hopkinson

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