For the exchange tour itself, it is organized by a non-profit making organisation known as "U-hearts (http://www.u-hearts.org/)". As one of the group leaders, I have to take care of eight boys and girls of age from 11 to 13. They are good boys and girls, but we are responsible to ensure they really grow from the experience they gained in the trip. Therefore, I spent much efforts in motivating the teenagers to make breakthrough for themselves. In short, it is not a leisure trip for me, and I found it much more demanding than my trip in Europe. I even suppressed my excitement on thinking about visiting a place famous of Miao culture.
No need to mention itinerary, it involved a lot of travelling, coach from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, flight from Guangzhou to Guiyang 貴陽, 2 hours travelling on coach again from Guiyang to Kailishi 凱里市, and then day to day visiting schools away from Kailishi for at least 2 hours travelling on coach. In short, boring.
HOWEVER, seeing the Miao people is a very exciting experience to me. Girls wear very beautiful costume and a lot of silvery ornament. They are great in singing and dancing. And they are very friendly and nice to visitors. Everyone entering their village must drink their home-made wine as a greeting. It is known as welcome wine 攔門酒.
Moreover, we stayed in the Shidong Secondary School at Shidongzhen 施洞鎮 for two days and my group made friends with the Liu family, the younger brother is a junior one student and his elder sister is a graduate of this school and now she is a senior one student. Mrs Liu made a big fest as a welcome dinner for us. And she is so kind that she helped me to wear the full costume of her daughter. Of course, my friend helped me take a lot of funny photographs. But to me, it is the most beautiful for her daughter to wear the costumes. And it is a very enjoyable experience of seeing the mother to help her daughter to dress up. The Liu family is so nice and friendly. I am really touched. Both of us were unwilling to let go and we shed tears at the moment we left.
It is a pity that my SLR-DC could not work properly in the first two days of my trip. Therefore I did not bring it with me in the stay at Shidongzhen. I really wanted to take good records of the people, the dresses, the silvery ornaments, the scenes and the old buildings.
Meanwhile, I only occasionally to take photographs with my SE K810i with my newly-met friends, as I simply treasure the moment with them. Moreover, I believe that no camera can record truely beautiful moments. I prefer to enjoy the moments instead.
At the end of the trip, I have made up my mind of re-visiting Shidong. This time, I will live with the Liu family, work in the field and catch fish together.
Yeah!
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