Summer holiday II (Beijing)

2011 is the centennial anniversary of Hong Kong Scout.  It planned to have a grand celebration in the capital city of China, Beijing for six days.  The Hong Kong Scout Orchestra which I joined this year was also a section of Hong Kong Scout.  I was pleased to have a great week with it.

    

27th July (Wed.)

At ten that morning, Mum and my brother waved goodbyes to Dad and I as we got on the car of the dad of my classmate, Timmy.  Timmy was also a member of the Hong Kong Scout Orchestra.  The car started off to the Hong Kong International Airport. 

After three hours flight on the Dragonair plane with other scout members, the Hong Kong Scout arrived at Beijing.  As we went in the arriving hall of the airport, two reporters from the Xinhua News Network came for us.  On that tiring night, I did not remember things clearly except for the cold dinner with the extra spicy soup and the meat soaked in soya sauce….

28th July (Thu.)

At first, we all had to go to the Tiananem Sqare for the national flag raising ceremony in the wee hours that day.  However, the little ones were too tired for that.  So, only the older members had to go.  Dad and I could sleep as late as we wished.  When we got up, I could even enjoy some good movies in our cosy room at the Beijing International Hotel. 

After the group came back from the ceremony, it was already noon.  All of us had lunch and then went by seven coaches to a park full of attractive and lovely cedars.  There were also some bright red bridges crossing the crystal clear river flowing through the park.  Afterwards, we went to Tiantan, also known as the Temple of Heaven.  At Tiantan, we took a group photo holding a long banner after which we walked along the Tiantan Park.  At last, Timmy’s mother gave me several bottles of icy cold water because we were blasted with hotness.

At night, we went to a restaurant near the Bird’s nest.  There were some woman dancers performing for us.  The most special dish I ate was the sticky rice wrapped in bamboo sheets in the shape of a cone.  We were originally supposed to meet the Chinese government leaders and visit the Bird’s nest and Water Cube today, but the scout leaders cancelled it for some unknown reasons.  What a pity.

29th July (Fri.) am

Today might be the second most important day on the itinerary.  We went far away from our hotel to a well-known middle school called Zhongguanchuan Middle School for exchange and rehearsals.  As we were on the coach, a conductor said it would hail, but it didn’t.  There were also two brothers who sang silly impromptu songs.  Plus, they chanted, “Star! Moon! Sun! The girl…”  Someone thought their behaviour was annoying but some thought it was hilarious.  The orchestra administrative secretary even took a video of them. 

When we just got there, the school staff and students and us watched videos about both Zhongguanchuan Middle School and Hong Kong Scout in a medium-sized hall.  It was quite fantastic.  Then, our performing parties partnered with the respective counterparts  from the middle school.  We, the orchestra went into a room where their woodwind orchestra practiced.  The conductors gave a brief talk and we had a good practice.

At lunchtime, the scouts paced to a canteen where we had a mini buffet.  The food were quite okay.  After lunch, we headed for a small museum which belonged to the middle school!  I observed the amazing animal specimens.  The animal species I like best is the small cat.  And of course we watched other things but I like the animal specimens best.

29th July (Fri.) pm

This night, the leader relented and let us have a stroll along Huangfujing Pedestrian Precinct.  However, Dad and I went to Qianmen main street by the underground.  It looked exactly like the Chinese version of Main Street USA of Hong Kong Disneyland.  At last, we saw our orchestra members welcoming my piano teacher, Emas to join us after her wedding yesterday.

30th July (Sat.)

After the heavy rain just yesterday, the lovely blue sky appeared.  This sunny day was our performing day.  In the morning, we rode the coaches to Pinggu.  It took us two dreary hours.  My orchestra practiced, ate, then practiced and practiced again.  At breaks in the backstage waiting room, I played Angry Birds and watched others matching one another for Fruit Ninja.  I like the Angry Birds Seasons of Saint Patrick’s Day.

At night, we ate McDonald fast food on the audience seats at the theatre.  The junk food was okay.  The celebration performances that night were so varied and excellent that they were beyond words. But I can say there were a lot of good performances, for examples, dancing, singing and Chinese lion and dragon dancing.

This was the best night!

 

31st July (Sun.)

In the morning, we went to the headquarters of Xinhua News Agency where visitors are by invitation only.  We watched a moving video made by the Agency about our tour.  At lunchtime, we had a yummy feast.

The next stop was the incredibly beautiful Bird’s Nest.  First, we waited a long time on the square.  Feeling too hot, some members swallowed ice-lollies bought by the conductor.  However, I didn’t.  After we got into the Bird’s Nest, we took a few group photos on the audience seats.  In the stadium, I noticed some people flashing past coolly on the Segway transporters which only had two wheels!  They were usually used as police transporters.  After that, Dad and I bought a Soffie Mixed ice- cream.  Mine was vanilla and his was chocolate with vanilla.  It was the smoothest ice-cream I ever had.  As I almost finished my ice-cream, I took photos with my favourite Fuwas Jing Jing, Ni Ni and Ying Ying, mascots of the Olympics 2008.  They were simply cute.  At last, we bought the souvenir.  Still, Dad said the Fuwa stuffed toys I wanted were too big to carry back to Hong Kong.  Actually, all kinds of Fuwa stuffed toys I found there were either too big or too expensive.  We also went to the wax exhibition showing waxes of the Olympics Committee leaders.

At night was the farewell dinner of Hong Kong Scout with some guests like the Zhongguanchuan Middle School headmaster.  Unluckily, I was not even hungry.  Timmy and I watched performances besides the table.  The most hilarious was the fat guys playing the drum in an extremely rapid speed, wearing bathing cloaks and sandals from the hotel!  Everyone burst out laughing.  Timmy’s Mum then gave me a box of glass key rings of the whole collections of Fuwas!

At the late night, Timmy came to my hotel room.  He lent me his iPad for playing angry birds while he watched the Transformers 2.

1st August (Mon.)

After the buffet breakfast, Dad and I went to the small lawn outside the breakfast hall.  I stroked the dainty rabbit.  There were ducks and swans too.  Then, Dad took Timmy, Timmy’s mum, Justin, Justin’s dad and I to the Tiananmen by underground.  I felt faint at some moments.  The most special after the last lunch was that I took photos of everyone of the Hong Kong Scout Orchestra with Dad’s camera.

At last, the afternoon of the last day came to an end.  The Hong Kong Scout flied back to Hong Kong.  I don’t understand why that flight was especially short.  Dad and I arrived at our lovely home at last.