China 2017, by Imogen Wilson
I was very excited when my Mum told me that my brother and I had the opportunity to take part in the ‘One Belt, One Road’ international youth orienteering camp in Nanjing, China. There would be teams from the Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden, UK and China, of course. The UK team consisted of 6 juniors plus Ben Windsor as our team leader.
My Journey
On Thursday I rushed home from school to wait for the taxi that took me to St Margaret’s. From there I went by bus to Heathrow where I would meet my brother Nick and the rest of the team. We checked in okay and took the night flight to Shanghai (Pu Dong) where we arrived the next day at 5 pm Chinese time. Although it was a long journey, it meant we got time to chill and get to know everyone, including the Czech team who were also on the same flight.
On arrival in Shanghai we were given our very distinctive red ‘One Belt, One Road’ sweat shirts and started our 7 hour bus journey to Nanjing where we arrived at Midnight, feeling very tired, and had to get up again at 6 am in time for our first day of orienteering and the opening ceremony!
Orienteering
Although I did not find the orienteering too technical, I found the areas very interesting with regards to terrain; and the maps in general were all quite different.
The training also differed as it was pretty much like a race every day, but that was ok because you sometimes got to run with a Chinese partner or I just made the course into a training exercise – my partner and I used map memory for example.
I really enjoyed running with the younger Chinese juniors, although there was a slight language barrier, they were keen and eager to learn more, and they were happy to run and navigate, with me correcting them by using exaggerated hand gestures and using the map. It was really fun. With the older Chinese juniors, like my partner, they spoke incredibly good English and you could communicate just as you would with anyone else.
Climbing ‘Yellow Mountain’
I had my first experience of a night train when we left Nanjing for Huangshanshi at midnight, after 5 days of orienteering, ending with a closing ceremony (where we were all given beautiful medals). You were in compartments of 6 bunk beds; two lots of three going up, making it almost a bit terrifying being at the top and you were surrounded by people you didn’t know, but that was just part of the fun.
Climbing Huangshan or ‘Yellow’ Mountain (1864 m, about 1000m climb) was an incredible experience. It was a strenuous climb of steep inclining steps for about 4 hours, but once we got to the top, the boys and Ben madly decided to go for a run, while the girls decided to venture out on a walk. However on the mountain it got very cold, I’m certain it was -10 degrees C at one point, which may not seem the coldest but it definitely felt that way when I forgot my gloves at the train station, where we had left our big bags at the bottom of the mountain.
At the top, and also as we were walking up and down, we were always greeted by stunning views which quite honestly took my breath away. We spent a lot of time on top of the mountain, climbing up and down different peaks and finding interesting places and sculptures. – The ‘icy cliff footpath’ was a favourite of mine – the name being very literal!!
Chinese Culture
Everyone was so kind and friendly, and after learning that hello in Chinese was ‘Nĭ Hăo’ and thank you ‘Xièxiè’, pronounced like ‘sheyshey’, we ourselves were eager to make use of them, in shops, restaurants and even out on the street.
One thing I didn’t know was that Chinese children drink warm water instead of cold water like us, so when I was at my Chinese host family they gave me some with their amazing food and surprisingly it was quite nice – try some and see if you agree!
Chinese Food
During the first week in Nanjing, we ate breakfast every morning in a communal eating place where we would have tokens to order around 5 pieces of food each, a variety of sweet and savoury, which we had to order by pointing and we had no idea what we were getting but that made it interesting and by the end we had discovered which ones we liked and disliked. We also got a cup of what seemed to be rice soup or water, which the Chinese drink for breakfast. I thought it was quite nice despite its unusual consistency.
It was really nice that we got to eat at fairly posh places, since most of the stay in Nanjing was funded by the Nanjing Sports Bureau, and we got a wide selection of interesting dishes each evening and night. I was amazed by some of the dishes - sometimes we were given whole birds and fish, it was almost scary, but some of the Chinese showed us what to do and how to eat it.
By the end of the time I had completely mastered the art of eating with chopsticks, although I struggled for the first couple of days – but when you’re only given chopsticks to eat with, well you have to manage!
Sightseeing
We spent a lot of time visiting traditional Chinese markets and shops in Nanjing and walked through old fishing villages and bustling streets with people’s washing hanging across the street, making it very atmospheric. We were given lots of freedom to explore Nanjing, a very traditional Chinese city which I really liked a lot – it didn’t seem westernised at all. Shanghai in comparison felt much more westernised. We walked through the French quarters, where my friends and I finally tried a bubble waffle with mango. We also visited an incredible, traditional temple, which was just off the street, and some famous buildings like the very tall oriental pearl tower. We didn’t go up the tower but chose to explore more of the city instead. As it was our last day, we were also getting quite tired.
What did I enjoy most?
The best thing about the trip was meeting so many new people from different nationalities. I loved learning about Chinese culture which I found very interesting. I especially enjoyed spending an evening with a Chinese family.
Furthermore I really enjoyed orienteering in areas very different to those in England, like a bamboo forest (such an amazing experience), an orange orchard (we could literally pick oranges fresh off the trees, eating them straight away or saving them for lunch. On the way back we also tried some fresh honey and honeycomb from a hive which tasted so much nicer than anything I’ve had before), a beautiful park with temples and little stone bridges and full of vibrantly coloured Acer trees (my favourite tree!). I also found it amusing that Chinese residents would be fascinated by us, and if we were having our photo taken, then they would take photos of us too, it was almost like having the paparazzi following us. A kind lady also gave us food to feed some birds from our hands.
What did I least enjoy?
By the end of the week we were all a little fed up with Chinese food, mostly due to it just being so different to our cuisine – I was just craving fresh fruit and a salad when I got home.
I think since there was a lot of travelling on buses when we got there, it would have been nice to have had more time to socialise with the other nationalities, although we did that anyway, but maybe in a more relaxing environment – I was very tired by the end of the week, after a non-stop schedule, with some very early mornings.
However, I will never forget the amazing memories I have made and the strong friendships I have formed, I am already planning to meet up with some of them again soon.
Finally, I would like to thank my family, friends and orienteers from LEI, EMJOS and EMOA who supported me and bought my cakes. One especially huge THANK YOU goes to Ben Windsor, without him the trip would not have been possible. I was also immensely grateful to my friend’s parents, who got me safely home again, thanks to their winter tyres, after being stuck at the airport for several hours because of the snow. At least I wasn’t stranded at Heathrow for days (in some cases) like some of the other orienteers and passengers! It was quite a dramatic end to our wonderful Chinese adventure. Thank you.