By Blair Baker
I was not looking forward to the
13-hour flight ahead of me.I was
in Hong Kong, and it was 6:00 in the morning.Soon, the plane would depart to take me and my family back
to our home in Sun Valley.I had
just finished an fun and adventurous trip to China and Thailand, and it was
time to go home.In a way, I was
looking forward to it, and in a way, I wanted to stay.
TWO WEEKS EARLIER
It started in San Francisco with
dinner with my family. Everyone was there: My 2 aunts, my 2 uncles, both of their
kids, my grandma, my grandpa, my god mother, her boyfriend and my whole family.
The next morning we left for China. The flight was a never ending 13 hours.
When we landed in Beijing it was snowing. I was furious and tired. We drove to
the hotel and had dinner then went to sleep.
The next morning we woke up, had
breakfast and went to the Forbidden City.The time change was 13 hours in Beijing, so, basically, I was exhausted
at 5:00 in the morning. We had lunch at our first Chinese restaurant and it was
really good. After lunch we went to a silk factory and learned how they make
silk. Then we bought a ton of stuff made out of silk. The next day we went to
the temple of heaven and it was really cool. It is a temple where only the
Emperor could go. The temple had three stories.The first story represented normal people.The second story represented the
Emperor, and the third story represented God.
After that, we went on rickshaw rides to see a house where a retired Chinese worker lived.I don’t remember his name but he told us about his life; it was very interesting.He lived in a small courtyard along with seven people: his three sons, his daughter, his wife, and his two granddaughters.
After that, we took a taxi to a teahouse. We sat and had a tea ceremony; the tea was very good. It was amazing!I had never tasted real Chinese tea before.
They next morning we drove to a different hotel.When we got there, it was amazing! The hotel was part of the summer palace. The summer palace is where the Emperor goes in the summer. It was bought by a guy named Aman and turned into a hotel. The hotel had an underground section that had a swimming pool, a huge movie theater and a juice bar. We spent our day touring the hotel.
The next day we went to the great wall. The view was breathtaking. We walked for about an hour and a half. To go down we went on these little sleds down a track.The view from the great wall was incredible—there was snow on both sides of us, and before us a great, gray trail of wall-ness went on as far as we could see.
The next day we went to the airport for yet another flight, this time to Shanghai. When we checked in to get my plane ticket, it was not available so we had to wait 30 min. Then we finally found it. Thank god! When we went on the plane it was super nice. When we got there it was around 8 at night and my Dad’s friend Beau was still there to take us to the hotel. We got there and my parents went to a party at a new opening of a hotel with Beau and his wife Cooksey.
The next day we went to a Chinese dumpling place.It didn’t look good but it was delicious.There was a line, hours long, to get dumplings!
The next day, we went over to Beau’s house I met (kind of the last time I saw them was 8 years ago) there were Chase (15) Collin (14) Isa (12) and Anna (10). It was Anna’s birthday party. It was first a game of cricket then to the spa. I got my nails done and my toes; I got my hair sprayed with blue and green hairspray and I got a hot rock massage. It was so much fun!
The next day we went to brunch at the Hyatt. It was really big. But
that was not the best part. It had COTTON CANDY! It was the best buffet I had ever
been to. After that I went to a “black market.” It is a market were they sell
fake everything from Chanel to Abercrombie. The sold purses, glasses, even furniture! It was so fun. The stuff I got was cheap
and it looked real. After I went shopping I went to this massage place with
Beau's family. We all got foot massages.
Then, we said goodbye to the family and went to our hotel. The next morning we left for the airport. We took a train that went 187 mph. Then went on a plane up to South Korea then down to Phuket, Thailand. We landed at 1 in the morning. The next morning we walked down the beach to a different hotel that had a water slide; we did that for 2 hours. Then we went to a different hotel that had elephants that would come and you could go and pet them. There names were Lucky and Lilly. After that we swam in the water but later came out to find the water had a million mini jellyfish. Then we went back to the hotel and ate dinner.
The next day we rode elephants.My mom was so scared that her hands turned blue because she was holding the rail so tight. I just laughed. Then we walked around the little town and bought little elephant sculptures. The next day we went zip lining. It was a long car ride followed by a long hike up this mountain to go zip lining. But in the end it payed off--the ride down was incredible.
The next day we took the long flight back home. It was an amazing trip and I am so glad that I had that experience!
Thomas ( the kiwi ) Gillespie (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 3:21 PM
blair
i have alway wanted to go to china and see the great wall and the food sounds kinda weird but good
Thomas
Ryan (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 3:23 PM
Blair-
Great story! BY reading this, I could tell that you really had a great time. I liked the part about how you rode on the elephants. It was very interesting and must have been so much fun. Great story Blair, and keep it up!
-Ryan
Olivia (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 3:28 PM
Hi Blair,
Great story! I really liked your writing. You really displayed your feelings clearly. Your trip to China looks like you had a lot of fun. I thought it was funny that you were like " we did this and then we did this and this". Keep up the good work, Blair!
-Olivia
Lexi (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 5:04 PM
that is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo crazy! I love the way you sarted with the end and did the whole TWO WEEKS EARLIER thing. ZIp lining, hot rock massages, the beautiful great wall, black market, silk factories,whats not to love? My personal favorites were the AWESOME ELEPHANTS!!!!
-Lex
Lexi again (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 5:07 PM
um sorry i was going to say more but i was thinking about elephants...
The only thing I would say is you use "After that" a lot. OTHER THAN THAT GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keegan Whitelaw (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 5:24 PM
Blair,
Good story Blair, it felt that I was there! I liked how you explained the whole trip. That trip sounded really
relaxing. I bet shopping at the black market was really fun! Great desribion about the elephants too! I bet that
was a very fun trip! Keep up the good work,
-Keegan
Parker J (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 6:20 PM
Great story Blair my favorite part of the story is when you talked about the dumplings, those looked so good!!! And I really like when you used the word wall-ness! That was a fun word!
Great story!!!!!!!
Hope Perkins (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 6:33 PM
Blair,
Great story! It sounded like a really fun trip! I can't beleive that you went to so many different hotels. I wish I could go to China!
-Hope
evan (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 7:33 PM
You make me want to be there when you went! The story was great and i could tell you liked the trip!
Evan
Waverly (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 7:50 PM
Blair,
Great details that sounds like a really fun trip. You explained everything really well. I could picture everything in my head while i was reading it. Good job
Hannah (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 8:54 PM
Blair,
I love your post. I really liked your descriptions of everything and how you explained a lot of things. I liked how you got to ride on the elephants. I would love to do that so much! I have never had a hot rock massage but it sounds extremely pleasant. I now really want to go to China! I hope you go to tons of cool places so you can write about them and make me want to go! Your pictures added a lot to the story. They were really fun and helped describe what you wrote about. Anyway, I loved your story. Great job!
Hannah
jackie (unauthenticated)
Apr 19, 2010 8:58 PM
of course you got your nails and toes done and that sounds so cool to go elephant riding and zip lining.
p.s. i was going to go to china too.
Alex (unauthenticated)
Apr 20, 2010 10:13 AM
Blair,
great story!!! i wanna go to china!! oh well nice story once again!! :D
Eliza (unauthenticated)
Apr 20, 2010 4:03 PM
Blair, That was a really good story. I like how you wrote about all the activities you did and then added what you thought of it. I thought it was very funny. Now I really really want to go to China, it sounds amazing. Great job Blair!
Eliza
Max Tanous (unauthenticated)
Apr 20, 2010 5:08 PM
Awsome story. You had great detail. I liked how you started it. you did a very good job of painting pictures in my head. The ziplining sounded so fun. Once again awesome story.
MAX
Colby (unauthenticated)
Apr 20, 2010 6:37 PM
you made that trip sound really fun (not that i would expect otherwise aBout china) and used great description
Curtis Griffin
Apr 21, 2010 8:14 AM
blair that was a great story i like how you told the story it sounded just like your were talking
Curtis Griffin
Apr 21, 2010 8:15 AM
iI was also on a sipline but in mexico
nico (unauthenticated)
Apr 21, 2010 8:16 AM
Blair that was a really good story and that im a little envious, because you got to ride elephants that was pretty cool.
great story, nico
lukas (unauthenticated)
Apr 21, 2010 8:17 AM
Blair that was a really good story. I have always wanted to go to china and it sounded like alot of fun. You had alot of good sentences and descriptions and you explained every thing really well. I have never been on a zip line but, it souds like alot of fun. The food sounded really good. Great job
Lukas
carson:) (unauthenticated)
Apr 21, 2010 1:17 PM
blair
I loved your story it was so desriptive.
carson
dane (unauthenticated)
Apr 21, 2010 2:33 PM
I loved your story a lot. It must of been awesome riding elephants an zip lining. You had really great discriptoin. The plane ride must of been long but worth it.
henry (unauthenticated)
Apr 21, 2010 2:45 PM
cool got to ride on elpants and zipling
i got to go to china and i also ziplined
henry
kristian (AKA the strawberry) (unauthenticated)
Apr 21, 2010 3:22 PM
OMG blair that was a great storry i loved all the details and every thing else I cant believe that there is still snow there. The food there looks really good it is making me hungry. gop job
~kristian
Darby (unauthenticated)
Apr 21, 2010 3:40 PM
Blair,
I really liked your story! It was very interesting. The zip lining must have been so much fun. I hope I can go to China one day, because it seems like so much fun. Good job!
-Darby
jay (unauthenticated)
Apr 21, 2010 4:51 PM
blair,
i am still amazed at all the fun and interesting sites that you visited that i will brobally never go to. you had such great details. and yuor story sounds just like the way you talk. i would have yo agree with your mom it would be a little scary up on an elephant. i cant even amajion how it felt to be almost fly through the jungle. why was the wait so long at the dumpling place. arent there many places to get dumplings anyway it souded like you had a ton of fun
nico (again) (unauthenticated)
Apr 21, 2010 5:03 PM
Blair, that was a really good story. I liked how you didn't leave any discription out of your story. I also wish that i could go to china it sounds really fun
nico
Lilly (unauthenticated)
Apr 21, 2010 5:24 PM
That is awesome! The elephant has the same name as me! Other than that it was a great story. I was long but there was always something new and exciting coming up. Thanks for sharing that with us. All of those things that you did sounded so amazing! I would love to visit China sometime.
Lilly
Garrett Rawlings (unauthenticated)
Apr 22, 2010 4:15 PM
blair,
that was an amazing story. i liked the start of it because you started it and them went back. you put so much detail into it. china sounded so fun and the great wall was so cool. it was also cool that you got to ride elephants. i wish i could go to china.
-garrett
Emily (unauthenticated)
Apr 22, 2010 5:43 PM
That is asome you got to go to china. The elephants would have been so cool to ride them. Nice job on the story it was so cool. It sounds so fun.
pierson (unauthenticated)
Apr 22, 2010 6:19 PM
wow nice story blair. elliot was right that was a long story but it was worth it.
I loved the part about the hotel at the summer palace that must have been amazing
Sarah (unauthenticated)
Apr 22, 2010 6:33 PM
Blair, I am a jelous mess...not only because you went on theat amazing trip but you also have amazing writing skills
It had very good discription was there a reason that your mom was so scared on the elaphants fer of hirghts or something?
Ziplines are very fun and it seems as though it was worth the hike.
Great story --Sarah
samie (unauthenticated)
Apr 22, 2010 6:47 PM
Blair,
That was so so so good!!!
Your trip sounded really fun!!!
You has sooooo much detail about pretty much everything that happened.
Riding elephants sounded really fun.
Now I want to go to china
-Samie
Tripp (unauthenticated)
Apr 22, 2010 8:38 PM
Blair, Great story it had every thing from getting your nails done to walking the great wall of china. you had great description and explained the activities you did with great detail. i really loved the part when you talked about your experience with lucky and lily the elephants. once again great story Blair
sean (unauthenticated)
Apr 26, 2010 8:41 AM
that was great Blair i wish i could do that that must have been an experance of a life time great gob blair
Braden (unauthenticated)
Apr 28, 2010 6:26 PM
GREAT STORY!
That was great! That elephante looks like so much fun to ride. Were you high up on the elephant? Zip lining would be fun to do. Anyway great story and thanx for those china things that you gave us. Keep up the good WORK!
-Braden
jack Goodwin (unauthenticated)
May 24, 2010 3:17 PM
nice story blair
that must have been a really fun trip. that looked fun riding on the elephants.\
Nice job Jack