During 13^th to 16^th September, Grade 9 and Grade10 of our school had a Explore China school trip to Aba ,Wen Chuan and Hei Shui. We went to the Qiang village and Monastery to experience the culture, we went to the top of the glacier mountain to challenge ourselves.

Day1

We departed from school at 8:30. On the way to Wen Chuan, everyone is excited and looking forward to the following trip. As the bus got closer to Wen Chuan, mountains began to appear and the sky became blue gradually.

Our first destination is Yingxiu Earthquake Museum. There was a big earthquake happened in Yingxiu on 12^th May 2008. Although I was only 8 years old at that time, I can still remember it clearly. When the earthquake happened , our class was having an English drama rehearsal in the gym, I have never experienced earthquake before, so when it happened, I was thinking maybe there is someone using electric drill under the ground, no one realized what was happening for a few seconds, suddenly, our teacher yelled “Earthquake! Run!” I was excited all of the sudden for no reason. After we ran to the playground, someone in my class began to cry, I began to find it’s serious, it’s not a game. I began to think about maybe I would not see my mom and dad again, I began to cry too, just in a few minutes, most students in my class were crying. But to my surprise, my dad and mom came to pick me up after 30minutes, I hugged them and cried. For the first time in my life, I found how lucky I was to be with family. Sometimes when I still have something, I think everything is common and I deserve it, but when I realize I may lose it, I begin to find how valuable it is. So when I was in the Earthquake Museum, I could still feel the atmosphere of the Earthquake, though the Earthquake destroyed people’s home and family, they were still strong and thankful to all the people who helped them. Earthquake can ruin people’s house , but cannot ruin people’s spirit.

Our second destination is Taoping Qiang Village, that is a community for Qiang people . When I arrived at the guesthouse, the room made me a little bit disappointed, insects are everywhere, on the celling, in the bed, I was thinking I couldn’t sleep tonight. But after meeting the host, everything became acceptable, the host was a nice and kind person, her smile and her words swept all the negative things I was thinking about before. After settling in the guesthouse, we went to a local home to discovered the underground waterways. The house we went to has more than 1000 years’ history, it has six floors, during more than 1000 years, it’s a miracle that it wasn’t destroyed by any natural disaster. The host of this house Yang told us the reason of that, this house was made by wood, wood is flexible, when the earthquake happened, wood just moved its position, it’s hard to destroy wood. But it’s not the most amazing thing of this house, the most fantastic thing of this house is its underground water net. The underground water net just like an underground maze, it goes every house in this village, but it is all from Yang’s house, it can not only provide people with water, it’s also for fire control. Because of the underground water, the temperature there in summer is not hot, in winter is not cold.

Day2

On the second day we went to a Monastery and experienced the special culture of Buddhism. The Monastery is on the top of the mountain, on the way there we passed some villages, the guide told us that before 2008, there was no road down to the town, so the children in these villages need to walk down to school on the little alley everyday. After listening to the story, I think we have such a good condition to study compare with them, all we should to is value it, use it well rather than waste it.

The Monastery we visited is very luxuriant, different colors and textures mix together, every decoration is a way for Buddhists to show their admire and faith to Buddha. There are many different Buddha, the purpose of making Buddha is showing different aspects of human beings, which can explain why some Buddha seem kind but others seem evil, because everyone has kind and evil aspect. The monks in Monastery prey everyday, they hope people can live happy life, the world can be peaceful. But it’s not an easy thing to be the best monk, they need to study and work hard everyday and be away from social life in order to be pure. The way to show respect to Buddha is very interesting, first we put our hands in front of head which means our mind, second we put our hands in front of our mouth which means our speech, at last we put our hands in front of our heart which means our body. It means you give your mind, speech and body to Buddha. After knowing further about Buddhism, when I looked at the Monastery again, it became not just luxuriant, but full of bless and faith behind the magnificent appearance.

After visiting Monastery, we had traditional Tibetan food for dinner. It was special and delicious.

Day3

The third day was the most exciting day for me. We went to the Glacier Park and stand on the top of the mountain. It’s the first time in my life to be on such a high altitude. The whole Glacier park is just like a painting. When I stand still in front of such a scenery, I felt like I was in the picture of a poem, green water reflect green mountain, the water is so still that it’s just like a mirror, on the foot of the mountain there is a small village, yaks and horses are eating on the grass. People there are happy all the time, they smile all the time, they are satisfied by the little things in their life. Maybe sometimes living in such a little village won’t be worse than living in the city.

After the bus sent us to the height of 3500 meters, we need to take cable car to the top of the mountain. When we were in the cable car, at first I could still see many green mountains, as we went up higher and higher, green plants started to be fewer and fewer. At last, when we were at the top of the mountain, there was no even one plant there, everything were rocks. But it is a wonderful thing to see all the mountains that used to be much higher than you now all below you, it’s like you are stand on the top of the whole world. The same thing happens in life, if you want to be top, you must be prepared to bear loneliness and you need to deal with many problems. But when you overcome these difficulties and success, then when you look backward, nothing is a big deal. Life is the process to climb the mountains one by one, there may be many difficulties on the way up, you may cry, you may want to give up, but when you review all the thing you have done, whether it is sad or happy, you will smile to them finally.

Another thing needs to be mentioned is how my body reacted when I was being so high up. Since it’s the first time to be so high, I didn’t think my body will feel bad before I went up. But when I was at the top of the mountain, my heart beat so fast and my head was so dizzy when I walked around. For the first time I need oxygen so much and for the first time I feel lucky to live in flatland.

In the evening , we walked to the public square to join traditional dance, it was beautiful but hard to learn. Anyway it is always exciting for me to learn new things. As we danced, there were many kids running and laughing, maybe their condition is worse than the kids in the city, but they are happier, kids in the city have lots of homework to do and have extra classes even in the primary school, it has been a long time since they can run and laugh without pressure. So sometimes it is hard to judge whether it’s a good thing to be in the city or not.

Day4

On the way home…

 

It’s a wonderful trip and I have learned a lot. I am looking forward to the next time…

The End

(All the photos were taken by myself)