[Throwback] Final Thoughts on my China Trip

Before I share my final thoughts, here's a summary of links of my China trip:

Vacation in China
Summer Palace and the Lama Temple
Great Wall of China and the Ming Tombs
Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and Forbidden City
Xi'an and the Terracotta Army
Final Thoughts on my China Trip

This visit to China was the first international trip I took with friends. It was also the first time I joined an organized tour. My friends organized everything so all I really had to do was show up (and pay of course).

I mentioned this briefly in one of my previous posts but on our third night in China, I got to watch a Beijing Opera. Everyone in the group was actually given a choice to watch either a Beijing Opera or a circus. I had seen circuses before so I thought the Beijing Opera would be a more unique experience. As I don't speak Mandarin, I didn't understand any of the words but somehow I could follow the story a bit. There were a lot of very well choreographed fight scenes that are reminiscent of great kung fu movies. Despite not understanding the songs/dialogue, it was still a great experience.

Beijing Opera

Aside from getting to see some amazing sights and visiting places that I had been wanting to see for a while, I also remember our awesome meal times as a group. I understand that in traditional Chinese meals, rice gets served last but since we were a group of Filipinos, we always requested the restaurants to serve the rice along with the rest of the food. One of the more interesting moments over lunch was that someone had the hilarious idea to do voice-over skits. Jason and Omar would engage in very funny conversations and Julie and I would act out whatever they were saying. It was so inane, everyone laughed a whole lot.

Evenings were spent hanging out in one of our rooms where we played cards and enjoyed each other's company. The card game of choice was Bridge. It got quite competitive because, well, a lot of us are very competitive haha but it was all in good fun.

Even if this I took this trip many years ago, I still remember a lot of what happened quite vividly. This walk down memory lane also prompted me to reach out to some of my friends from that group, providing a great opportunity for us to catch up. I'm really very fortunate and grateful that I had the chance to go on this amazing trip with friends.