Aug 2004

My first proper travelling adventure was on a once in a lifetime school trip to Xiamen in the southern province of Fujian in China. It is a really extraordinary city, it lacks the hustle of the overcrowded cities of Beijing and Shanghai, but it has some fantastic temples and beautiful beaches with stunning views over the ocean. Ok, so it doesn't sound that "extraordinary", but it was a city on an island, conected to the mainland around it by 3 bridges.

The whole purpose of this trip, which was sponsored by the British Consulate, was to promote relations between Britain and China and encourage is to learn Mandarin. If anything it put me off the latter, as it was incredibly hard to learn. I did however, make some great friends whilst out there. The 2 that i still keep in contact with most are Harvest and Popo. - Yes that is there real names!! Amazingly they chose these bizarre english names for themselves.

I love China!! Can't wait to go back to see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City and spend a small fortune (in chinese terms) in Beijing. - Thats all there is to say really