Scenery

When we had first driven those 4 hours to Shennongjia (from the airport), I remember literally waking up to huge mountains around me. It was absolutely unreal, it was as if I had been carried to a completely different world. It wasn’t that I was so shocked by what it looked like, of course I had seen filtered images on Google and Instagram. I was just astounded to be there, in the presence of these massive wonders, some of them perfectly lined with assorted plants for agricultural purposes (sometimes you could see small blots outlining a person working). It was just layer upon layer of colors, and for some reason, I find it breathtaking. Even on the airplane to Yichang, as we were landing close to the mountains, I marveled at this beautifully-shaped land in which we were arriving upon.

When we’d reached the school, I thought I would love to go to this school because it is literally surrounded by mountains, fresh air, and insanely blue skies. Every time I took a picture, it would look like some of it was photoshopped or filtered, because the scenery was actual perfection. Every morning at 6:20, when all the students were woken up and proceeded to the field, the crispness of the air welcomed their morning exercise. It was funny because when we went to join them in running that first day, we were so confused as to why everyone wore only long pants, not a single person wore shorts. We learned (from students) that the school restricted shorts, but also realized that the mountain air was cool enough that they didn’t need to worry about sweating under a beating sun (like we do back in NC). Many also wore long sleeve shirts, along with their school uniform jacket, which looks pretty cool if you ask me.

Traveling During the Break

After a few days of teaching, our group got to have a 5-day break to explore Shennongjia, because the 9th graders had final testing. Throughout all the driving between destinations, it was cool when passing by different little towns, which had buildings very different from what we were used to. For example, some building were lined with light or dark wood, as well as tiled roofing. It was also common to see red lanterns or other bright colors hanging over balconies or anywhere along a building. It also wasn’t uncommon for someone to live above their shop. For example, we once went to a restaurant and I remember asking where the bathroom was, and the employee pointed me upstairs. When I went up, I noticed also other rooms which were obviously for living, as well as toiletries such as toothbrushes at the sink. Overall, it seemed buildings and streets were a bit older in some areas, which was not a huge surprise. The food we got to taste along the journey was good, the theme of Shennongjia food tends to be spicy. Also, we went to many different destinations with “神农架特产”，also selling their versions of street food/quick hors-d’oeuvres (such as chopped and seasoned potatoes).

The destinations we went to were beautiful, we witnessed much of the culture and natural majesticness of nature. Here are some of my favorite destinations:

• We had climbed up many stairs to a very high altitude which was above most of the clouds, and when the fog cleared it revealed a grand picture of clouds slightly covering blueish mountains in the distance. Just sitting there and looking out at the vastness brought such a peacefulness unable to be felt anywhere else.
• In the beginning, we had planned on biking by 2 person bikes, which was a funny but tragic fail of an experience. Elizabeth and I’s bike was seemingly impossible to use, broken so that it swiveled all over the place. But, we were at 大九湖, and it was so serene and quiet there. We went to sit on the bridge for a while, then walked from lake to lake. I enjoyed the faint taps of the rain, the delicate rushing of water, and of course the mountains “never-ending-ly” surrounding us. We also got to see some black pigs, normal pigs, and goats, never had I been so excited to see these supposed farm animals.
• 天生桥 brought me the closest I had ever been to a waterfall, and it was the greatest one I had ever seen. From a distance, it was just a tall grand structure flowing nicely downward, but up close you could see the powerfulness of the water. For some reason, I was shocked at the natural speed of it bursting out into the air. We climbed the many wooden stairs which had been attached to the sides of the rock encasing the waterfall.

In total, I had so much fun exploring all these great places and seeing the culture that went on within and around them.

Appreciation

I would like to say thank you to the chaperones which brought us through this whole trip. It definitely could not have been easy planning and organizing everything. Thank you so much as well for watching over everyone to ensure our safety, but also leading us in a way that it created a positive atmosphere.