Hayden’s Blog

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Hong Kong Disneyland Day

What I Saw:

I went to Disneyland in Hong Kong and I went on all of the rides.

My Favorite Part of the Day:

My favorite part of the day was everything!

What I Did:

We got to be the honorary guests an I got to open the gates for the people.  We were the first ones in the park.  We went on Space Mountain two times.  I likes the RC Ride too.

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Reed Flute Caves in Guilin, China

What I Saw:

I saw there Reed Flute Caves stalagmites, stalagtites, and pillars.  I also saw Elephant Trunk Hill.

My Favorite Part of the Day:

My favorite part of the day was seeing the pagoda on the top of Elephant Trunk Hill.

What I Learned Today:

I learned that the Reed Flute Caves are over 180 million years old.  It was named for the reed that grows out of the cave.  It can be made into flutes.  It was rediscovered in the 1940s by refugees running away from the Japanese troops.

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Stone Forest and New Friends in Kunming

What I Saw:

I saw the stone forest and how it was made.  I saw the clothes the people wear.  I also made two friends that live in Shanghai.

My Favorite Part of the Day:

My favorite part of the day was playing Pokémon with my two new friends, Noah and Casey.

What I Learned Today:

I learned how the stone forest was made.  First, the two plates come together and form cracks.  Next, the rain water erodes the rocks down in the cracks.  Last, the rocks become like trees and that is how the stone forest is made.  The rocks are Limestone.

(Hayden is wearing the traditional clothes of the Yunnan Province)

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Leshan Giant Buddha

What I Saw:

I saw the largest stone Buddha in the world.  We saw the cave tombs.

My Favorite Part of the Day:

My favorite part of the day was seeing the clay animals, there were horses, pig, dogs, chicken.  These animals were in the tombs.

What I Learned Today:

The biggest Buddha was built to calm the river.  After it was built, with all the rocks and the Buddha done, it did calm the river, it was safe for ships to pass.  A structure (protecting it) was destroyed and sacked by the Mongols during the wars at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

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Pandas in Chengdu

What I Saw: I saw lots of Giant Pandas in their cages eating bamboo.  The pandas were all different ages and I saw Red Pandas too.

My Favorite Part of the Day: My favorite part of the day was watching the baby pandas eat bamboo.

What I Learned Today: I learned that baby pandas get black stripes when they are 1 month old.  They open their eyes when they are 6 weeks old.  They crawl when they are 3 months old.  At 1 year old, they start eating bamboo.

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Kung Fu at the Shaolin Temple

What I Saw:

At the Shaolin Temple, I learned the history of Kung Fu.  I saw a very cool demonstration.  We saw the kids practicing their Kung Fu.

My Favorite Part of the Day:

My favorite part of the day was seeing the Kung Fu show.  They had volunteers and they were funny.

What I Learned Today:

The Pagoda Forest is where they buried the monks when they die.  The Shaolin Temple is considered the cradle of Kung Fu.  The Shaolin Temple is the Temple of Buddha.  The Shaolin Temple was built on the seven peaks of the Song Mountains.

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Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an

What I Saw:

I saw the Terracotta Warriors and the different types of warriors.

My Favorite Part of the Day:

My favorite part of the day was learning about the different types of warriors.

What I Learned Today:

I learned that the Terracotta Warriors are more than 2,000 years old.  A farmer was diffing a well on March 29, 1974 and he found a clay head.  He asked archeologists to find the rest of the body and instead of the body, they found more of the warriors.  They have found 8,000 already but they are still finding more.

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Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square

What I Saw:

I saw the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.  I also saw the Great Mosque, the Stele Museum, and the Tang Dynasty dinner show.

My Favorite Part of the Day:

My favorite part of the day was the steles (large stone tablets with writing.)

What I Learned Today:

Tianenmen Square is a large public square most known for protests by the people of China.  The Forbidden City is the Chinese imperial palace built in 1420.  The Stele Museum is a temple that holds 3,000 steles since 1087.  There were also stone statues of lions and tomb gates.

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Great Wall of China

What I Saw:

I saw the Badaling section of the Great Wall.  I saw the South and North sides.  The Great Wall goes up and down lots of hill.

My Favorite Part of the Day:

My favorite part of the day was walking up 724 stairs.

What I Learned Today:

The Badaling section is the most visited section in the Great Wall of China.  It was built in the Ming Dynasty in 1504.  This section of the wall is more than 500 years old.  It was the first section open to tourists in 1957.  It was very cold.