On the second day of being China, we visited one of the coolest places I have ever been, The Great Wall. I was amazed by the Chinese architecture and technology to build this 13,170-mile-long wall. The climb was filled with stunning views of surrounding China and the hike up the wall was quite long and steep. It is amazing the Chinese built this structure without any of modern days technology. After the Great Wall, we saw the Forbidden City which had even more amazing architecture. The Forbidden City had 9,999 rooms and was built with no nails. I could not capture a single picture that justified the beauty and impressiveness of the City. You have to visit to see its true wonders.
Visiting Number 7 Middle School was another life changing experience. We received a warm welcome from all the kids standing outside holding Chinese and American flags and singing to us. We then got paired up with a buddy (mine is pictured below) and got to talk to them and make a new friend. Some students gave us a talent show in the auditorium and we were given a very nice welcome speech. We then made a card for our moms (it was Mother’s Day) and learned how to say “I love you mom” in Chinese. After the tour and other small activities, we got to eat lunch with everyone. I had really enjoyed my visit and I got my buddies WeChat and he told me he would never forget this experience. I will never forget as well.
When we first got to Chongqing, we got to go to a zoo. This was one of my favorite stops because I love animals and seeing different zoos. Whenever I go on vacation, my family makes it a point to try and stop at a local zoo. Seeing the zoo in Chongqing was such a cool experience. They had around 20 pandas and I have only seen a few at other zoos before. They were so much fun to watch and so cute. After the zoo, we went and visited a Chinese cigarette factory. I was amazed by the number of cigarettes that were being made and how efficiently and smoothly everything ran.
My favorite meal of the trip was in Chongqing, the hot pot. I am usually not a big fan of spicy foods, but this style of eating was so much fun and very tasty. I was fortunate enough to sit with Xinli and he was able to order all the best foods and really show us how to properly eat a hot pot. We ended up making ours spicier and I was definitely feeling the spice and could not go much hotter, but Xinli was explaining to us that the overall spice level was already brought down around 50% of what the locals eat. That blew me away of how hot their food could get and be consumed. My favorite plate was Dove Eggs and the black chicken. I have loved all the food in China but I really enjoyed my hot pot experience and hope I can have another one day.
The final destination of our trip was Shanghai, which was such an amazing city. I loved everything we did here. My highlight though would have to be going to Disney. I loved going to Disney as a kid in Orlando, so seeing my childhood favorite vacation in China was something special. I really enjoyed riding Tron and the Jack Sparrow ride. They had this really cool adventure course that we got to play around on for over an hour and a half. They had a night light show and it was amazing as always. They also did my childhood favorite pin trading game with the workers. Overall, I loved my trip to China and will never forget that experience. I have a 10-year visa and I plan on coming back at least once in the next 10 years.
