Guilin- John Mark Bellet

The village we stayed in was small enough to walk through in five minutes! Everywhere you walked between rice paddies and among

parades of chickens and ducks. They seemed to have free reign over the whole village. We hiked up mountains, swam in the river, helped bushwack roads, sang and danced and played Mazhang (a really addictive Chinese strategic board game). On my first Bushwacking venture in the hills I opened up a nest of angry yellow jackets and had to run back down the hill with a big machete! The village mayor thought it was real funny.

BIG THANKS- John Mark Bellet

This trip was truly eye opening and so fun! Every second of each day held a new challenge or unfamiliar situation. A HUGE thank you to the Wilson family for your incredible generosity. Your donations go farther than plane tickets. I will certainly never forget this incredible experience with which you provided me. I hope to use the things I learned on my trip to improve the Chinese program at MBA and to discern some of my interests as I finish my MBA career and head off to college. Once again thank you so much, I will never forget this experience!

Shanghai- John Mark Bellet

Our final stop was Shanghai! The incredible size and scale of the city was incredible. Shanghai was very expensive though. We got to use the subway system to get around and I was able to

practice lots of Chinese!

Yangshuo- John Mark Bellet

We traveled to Yangshuo next. Yangshuo is a backpackers town full of beautiful scenery and shopping everywhere. I got to bike ride to a cave and swim in a mud pit and then bathe in a hot water spring one morning. I bargained and argued with street vendors and had a great time in Yangshuo. One day we went on a boat ride in bamboo rafts on the river (above) and the scenery was incredible. The crowded streets of the city at night were also really fun.

Guilin Departure and Rice Terraces- John Mark Bellet

After taking final pictures with Qingshuan and leaving Guilin we visited another minority where the women never cut their hair (above) and I got to go through the marriage ceremonies with one of the girls there. It was very bizarre and part of the ceremony involved the family members circling around you and pinching your butt? Then we visited what some people consider to be the most beautiful place in China. The rice terraces pictured above stretched out all over the horizon in front of you. On the way up and down the mountain a full sized bus sped at high speeds on tiny roads up the mountain and seemed like it would flip at any moment! And on top of that since many buses were going up and down they had no way of seeing each other around tiny 180 degree turns on the mountain side and only honked the horn when coming to the bend to warn other traffic!

Rural Homestay Guilin: John Mark Bellet

The rural home-stay in Guilin was my favorite part of the trip. Upon arriving at the village we were greeted with the constant crack of firecrackers strands that could go off for over an hour! I don't think I've ever met people that were more inviting and generous than the people of our village. I was especially lucky to be put with a family with two brothers near my age and two cousins that always hung around the house that were around my age as well. My closest brother who was officially assigned as my home-stay brother, Qingshuan (the tall one in the pink), showed me around the village the first day while my little sister followed us around keeping a cautious distance from my brother and me. The first night they served me snails and pickled chicken feet (possibly the grossest thing I have ever tasted) since I was the guest of honor. Even though the food was sometimes far from appealing I never turned down anything they gave me because they always gave with enormous generosity from what they had.

Guilin Rural Homestay: John Mark Bellet

After a 25 hour sleeper train from Xian to Guilin we went to a restaurant for a nice meal of snails before entering the village we would stay in for the next week. We then piled into small minivans for the most bumpy ride of my life through herds of water buffalo and rice paddies surrounding a dirt road.

Xian Scavenger Hunt: John Mark Bellet

One of the most fun things we did in Xian was an all day scavenger hunt throughout the city. We were left to our own devices without our host siblings and had to use the bus system to navigate around the city to complete different objectives. Since I had no idea what this sing on the left said, I was forced to use lots of my oral Chinese to get around town!

Xian Rural Village Visit: John Mark Bellet

We got to go to a small village in Xian where the people used traditional techniques to make paper. It was really cool to see them make paper from the pulp of a plant using a homemade screen to collect the pulp into one sheet. We were also able to visit this famous painter who has painted without any formal training since her childhood. In this picture she is painting the Chinese national flower, Mudan (peony), which represents prosperity.

Warriors: John Mark Bellet

During the Homestay in Xian we got to see the Terracotta Warriors! All the tourist sites are actually jammed packed with mostly native people because there are so many rural people that have never seen the cities. Whenever I did find some foreigners that looked like Americans I was always surprised to find that they were German or French and did not speak a word of English.

Xian first night: John Mark Bellet

During the first night in Xian I saw this Chinese TV show that seemed to be a version of Power Rangers and couldn't resist video taping it because it was so ridiculous. The next morning I met my urban homestay brother, Ruide. We would be in Xian with our new siblings for the next week exploring the city.

Beijing: John Mark Bellet

Our first Day in Beijing was spent in the 2008 Beijing Olympics center! My first conversation in Chinese with a native was asking the security guard whether or not we could swim in the Water Cube. He said we could swim for 50 yuan an hour. (only $7.80!) I don't think I've ever felt like more of a celebrity than during the first day in Beijing. People were constantly taking pictures of us Americans everywhere we went. Often times people would follow me around for 5 to 10 minutes just video taping me walking around.

Beijing: John Mark Bellet

Changan Jie-The most famous street in Beijing filled with name brand shops and street vendors outside selling dirt cheap rip-offs of the name brand products. I bought a pair of Nike brand shorts for close to nothing right outside the official Nike store. I was surprised to find that Bishangke (Chinese Pizza Hut) was a very nice sit down restaurant in China. Even in Kendeji (KFC) the waiters brought the food to your table for you. Typical American fast food restaurants became hip spots for young people to hang out and even great date spots for couples!

Beijing: John Mark Bellet

This Panda from the Beijing Zoo was one of my favorite parts of my trip to China this past summer. We began our orientation in China's capital and my expectations couldn't have been more innacurate...a New York City on roids to say the least! The new sights and sounds of the bustling city were just part of China's huge culture shock for an American. The Great Wall of China was also among the incredible sights we got to see within the first days of our trip. My first time bargaining with a local was at the end of the Great Wall that day. I bought a woodburned tiger plack the man I was bargaining told me was 500 yuan. I told him that he was ripping me off to the best of my ability in Chinese and eventually got it down to 45 yuan!