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The Tour Of China

The Tour Of China

Date: 2012-05-09
On the 5 April 2012, thirty-nine Crawford College La Lucia students embarked on the trip of a lifetime. Two Girls' Hockey teams, two Girls' Netball teams and a one of our (female) tennis players attended the China Stars International Friendship Games in Beijing.

After an exhausting and turbulent twenty-three hour journey, the girls reached Beijing. The Four Star hotel was most welcoming and after some rest and relaxation, their sightseeing started with a visit to the Summer Palace. One of the disconcerting aspects of sightseeing in China is that all the local Chinese people like to have photographs taken with westerners. Needless to say, the girls embraced all the photo shoots that presented themselves!

The days of competition on the Hockey field were fierce and very hard, as they competed against two Chinese Academy teams, a selected Australian team, a New Zealand school team and then our fellow Kwazulu Natal Schools: St.Mary's and Epworth. The girls acquitted themselves admirably and improved enormously, finishing mid-table in a group of nine participating teams.

The Netball girls did very well. They were only beaten by the Combined Australian team, received coaching and gained a lot of valuable pointers. Our tennis player joined a Barbarian's team. She was fortunate to mix with all the participating students and had a marvellous time, both on and off the court, playing at the National Tennis Centre.

The Great Wall of China is a sight to behold and words cannot really describe the magnificence of this structure. This visit was definitely the highlight of the tour.

The girls were privileged to attend an acrobatic show, see many wonderful temples, experience Chinese cuisine on a daily basis, visit beautiful gardens, the Olympic Arena and the old homes of China, but shopping for "genuine fakes" was perhaps the most exciting and special activity for most of our girls. Had it not been for the additional 10 kg allowance for sports kit, many girls would have had to pay a fortune for their overweight baggage on the flight home! En route home, they were lucky enough to spend a day in Hong Kong. It is a beautiful city with vistas much like Cape Town's. The infra-structure is amazing and they finished off the tour with a dinner on a ferry in Victoria Harbour, at night.

After ten action packed days, the girls returned to Durban the day before Term Two was due to start. They were weary and jet-lagged, but had had the most wonderful tour of a most interesting country, with some great girls who had learnt and experienced much, both on and off the sports field.