At the end of last term an intrepid group of Mandarin and business students embarked on their much-awaited trip to China. Here one of them - language student and school reporter Maya Jayasena - provides an entertaining account of some of the group’s experiences.

September 21st, 7:30am at Nelson Airport. A hop, skip and 13 hours flying away, was Hong Kong, our first destination.

As we walked out of the airport's sliding doors into the city of Hong Kong, the heat hit us like we’d just been slapped across the face with hot water bottles. The place was just one huge sauna. Going without air-conditioning for more than the 15 seconds it took to get out of the hotel and into the bus was a struggle. 

Perfect, we decided, to spend 11 hours at Disneyland. Don't get me wrong, Disneyland is great. Bubble wands, Mickey waffles, and rides straight out of every kid's dreams. And if we found it hot, what did the poor people in the full body Mickey Mouse costumes feel like? But after a while, a few of us retreated to an air-conditioned cafe and proceeded to play cards, right there in the happiest place in the world. Are we ashamed? A little. Do we regret it? No.

The next morning we were off to Shanghai, where we spent the next five days. To make sure we didn't lose our way in the huge crowds, our tour guide, David (Dai Kong), attached a kiwi soft toy to a stick and held it up like a flag everywhere we went: watching giant pandas at Shanghai Zoo, flying up Shanghai Tower (the second tallest building in the world) in the world's fastest elevator (peak speed of 20.5 metres per second), bartering for the lowest prices on totally real Gucci shirts at the AP Market, and going to see Shanghai lit up at night at The Bund - a stretch of waterfront promenade looking out over some of Shanghai's most famous skyscrapers - where business student Juliet was fully prepared to fall over the edge in order to get a good photo.

Zhujiajiao, often called "The Venice of China," is one of Shanghai's ancient water towns. We travelled in gondolas down the deep green water of the canal, hopping off at the far end. Busy stalls lined each edge of the channel, selling fans, fruit, street-food, pottery, beaded bracelets, and whatever else you could think of. Some of us even stumbled upon a stall with tanks of little fish that nibble on your feet (yes, like in that one episode of Victorious), and decided to give it a go.

Bullet trains took us to and from Hangzhou, where we explored Chinese business in the industrial area. Seeing as this was the main business-related part of the trip, and the reason we all went in the first place, I should probably write a bit more about it. Truth is, I haven’t the faintest idea about what any of the graphs and numbers we were shown mean. I’m sure it was interesting, but I’m gonna stick with Mandarin.

We then flew to Taiyuan, which we were told was a small city. Of 4 million people. We travelled to a high school, where we spent the morning going to lessons and talking to students as best we could. Everyone was so nice to us, for no reason other than that we were from New Zealand. Mitchell's golden tresses were adored by all, and Ben has never been called handsome so many times in his life. 

In Chinese schools, at a certain time everyone just goes outside, lines up and runs around a bit. This is followed by standing in line, closing your eyes, and doing face exercises to help with eye strain. Everyone uniformly lined up and all simultaneously rubbing their faces is fairly confusing to those who've never seen it before. Pretty entertaining to participate in though.

For the afternoon we were joined by younger kids to go to some museums with. These kids were super smart, bilingual, and knew everything about everything. Talking to a 10 year-old who knows more than you ever will, really makes you question your self-esteem. It was like having tiny cute museum guides, if museum guides dragged you behind them while running to every single exhibit, and chatted to you until you felt like you could recite everything about China's 4000 year history from memory.

A bullet train took us to Beijing, where we visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Our last day in China was spent walking along the Great Wall - alternatively, A Heck Of A Lot Of Steps. But to be standing on such an impressive man-made structure, with such an old history was truly extraordinary. The next day, a breezy 16 hours flying plus 8 hours in layovers got us back to Nelson.

Our trip to China is something none of us will ever forget. Sure, some of us threw up a few times, and squat toilets take some getting used to, and we had to stand for more group photos than anyone would ever need. But it was an amazing experience for all of us. One particular memory lingers on - the time Chantelle exclaimed "I'm being cultured!" before proceeding to take 5 minutes to pick up a chicken nugget with her chopsticks. 10 days isn't enough to even start fully experiencing China's traditions, etiquette, food and culture. But, like eating chicken nuggets with chopsticks, it's a start. And it's a lot of fun.