Final blog post

I am reliably informed that the staff and pupils on the China trip are on their way back to Edinburgh, and have had an incredible trip. Here's one final blog post...

Waking up early in the morning is a pain for even the most disciplined of us, as we soon found out after hearing about how drained everyone was, once we had woken up (at six in the morning!) and left the comfort of our beds in the small rooms we had on the Hogwarts Express from the beautiful, traditional Xi'an back to the rush and excitement of Beijing. Once everyone had been cleared through the various sections of security at the train station we proceeded outside into the intense heat that was the catalyst to the groups complaints. We reached the bus soon enough though, before the moans and groans of our masters filled the air, alongside our own. Then began the short, air conditioned, and for once tranquil drive back to the hotel (so that we could unpack the bags we had taken to Xi'an, and be reunited with our suitcases). I say tranquil, but really it was only  due to fatigue and sheer tiredness that there was a decent amount of peace in the coach. It was evident that everyone craved a shower, a request fulfilled when we reached the hotel and were released to our rooms, before this happened we enjoyed a large breakfast at the hotels second floor restaurant, after which we collected our suitcases and received our room cards, in other words the long sought after keys to the gates that the blessed shower rooms lay behind. After leaving the hotel, our first destination was the Temple of Heaven, we had heard many things about its beauty and couldn't wait to witness it. We reached it at around ten in the morning, and then split up into our family groups to walk around, take pictures and explore the spectacular scenery that we were lucky enough to see. The absolute magnificence of the temples that preceded the Temple of Heaven raised my expectations of it to the extreme and displayed such beauty, showing that fluid craftsmanship and hard work can create something that can awaken the artist within us all.  Seeing the Temple of Heaven, in all its glory, was inspiring, it showed dedication, represented faith and demonstrated loyalty which knew only the sky to be its limit. Lunch was then our priority,  after reaching the restaurant and being seated, everyone was graced by the presence of many very well presented as well as incredibly amazing foods, this kept the smiles on our faces going for quite a while. A small village was our next stop. This was where we were intrigued by new methods of renewable farming and ingenious ways of reducing waste, it was very eye opening as well as informative, especially as it's something so important. We saw many gorgeous animals there, including a pony, cow, donkey, two peacocks, and some cute little rabbits, one of which seemed to be exhausted by the heat and was trapped under a rock, after Sebastien (I named him) had been rescued it seemed he was still very tired, as he just lay on the ground, breathing slightly whilst looking in pain, Mr Irvine then took charge in fanning Sebastien to cool him down. He then picked him up and handed him to one of the farmers so that he could take care of the little rabbit, an act of extreme kindness if nothing else. A short coach ride to another section of the village followed, we were on our way a nursery to meet some small children and give them presents we had brought. It was a very touching experience, every child was beautiful and behaved very well, they even prepared a dance for us! It was absolutely stunning, one could see that a lot of hard work was put into it. We then gave the presents we brought to the children's teacher, as she would distribute them fairly. Their teacher then asked Kitty and I to hand out pieces of shortbread to the kids, we took a packet each and went around offering them to the sweet little kids who were engaged in colouring at the time. Seeing as I'm far too scary in appearance, only a few kids said yes to shortbread from myself, but Kitty being so friendly and petit was accepted by nearly everyone, it was a really nice thing to do, have a short chat with them, give them something that they'd never had before, and then watch their eyes light up with surprise as they enjoyed what they tasted. Leaving the nursery was hard, we couldn't bring ourselves to leave such cute kids, it was a challenge. The market nicknamed the 'Silk Alley' was our final stop, and the end of our tour, this was where
- after splitting into groups and deciding a time and place to meet - everyone had been told to save their money for, as it would be very cheap and the haggling would be plentiful. True to the rumours it was, everyone came back with plenty of gifts, souvenirs and presents. It was a very lovely place and it will remain a lovely memory for all of us, as haggling was not only exciting but rewarding. Finally, after a long and noisy coach ride back, we had dinner at the hotel. The food was amazing, I really enjoyed the conversations we had, the laughter we shared and the cake for Nicholas' birthday we all loved. All good things must come to an end, or maybe that's not true, seeing as we all have such fantastic memories, ones that will stay with us for life, does that mean that this good thing will never come to an end? I think so. I have made new friends, spoken to people for hours on end with whom I've never spoken more than a few words to, and learned so much about a culture that is so interesting and historical. Our time as a family is also nearly at an end, which saddens us all in some way, large or small, but I'm confident in saying that the memories and experiences of our large, dysfunctional and annoying family will be with me forever, always close to my heart.