China - Last Day in China - January 14

Today was our last day in China!

We started the day by visiting the Yu Gardens. It was a classical Chinese garden with ponds, trees, and buildings. We took lots of pictures and tried to envision the beautiful colors of the summer. Then we hit the streets starting at a bazaar right outside of the gardens. Here we battled and bargained for souvenirs. Most people stopped at McDonalds for a delicious and nutritious lunch. For those who had money left, we went to Nanjing Road where all of the high class, brand name stores are. We, however, took advantage of the cheaper, side road stores with mostly knock off items. We were able to get good products for a much better price.

The highlight of the day was a Chinese acrobat show. Michael Dolch risked his life by volunteering to participate in the knife throwing event. Luckily, he was blindfolded and no knives were actually thrown at him, even though he thought there was. The show was amazing. It was a great combination of gymnastics, magic tricks, juggling, and beautiful dancing. It was a great finale to our Chinese experience. We look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow.

God bless America.