Catshanghai

I’ve just returned from Hainan Island with a group of 56 teenagers.

It was a great trip, but I am happy to be home in Shanghai even though the Shanghai weather is deteriorating day by day. Highlights in Hainan included Houhai Beach and Yanoda Rainforest Park.

I was a teacher supervisor, which meant I spent the week observing from the sidelines as the children got stuck into surfing, swimming and beach games. Houhai is wonderful, because it is so good to find a deserted location free from crowds of tourists. I didn’t surf, but I really enjoyed scrabbling on the granite rocks until we found a cave with natural air conditioning.

It is still very hot and the sun is very strong. Hainan is the only place in China that has all year summer.

We also spent some time at Yanoda. Yanoda manages to do a fine job of taming a rainforest without ruining it. The paths in the forest made it accessible without being like a twee theme park. We saw Banyan trees, vines, ferns, rocks and complex ecosystems. The headsets used a geolocator to trigger each commentary, but they should have recruited a native English speaker without the syrupy and repetitive use of ‘Dear Visitor’. All the staff were also welcoming and ultra polite, but they don’t need to make the Yanoda v-finger symbol to everyone on every occasion.

We spent a night camping at Yanoda. Our students are living in the gilded cage of affluent Shanghai expat life so living in the great outdoors is a much needed antedote to the soft living that these teenagers are so familiar with. We didn’t really rough it, however. The camp site had great eco-friendly toilets and hot showers. The camp staff also prepared an amazing barbecue of fish, meat and vegetables. The local villagers even put on a show of Li music and dancing that I must upload at the earliest available opportunity.

Every group also had the chance to go canyoning on rocks and through streams wearing funny straw shoes that look like a cross between flip flops and mini boats. They managed to keep us on our feet mostly.

Going back to Hainan was an amazing experience. Our school organises activity week trips at the beginning of each November. It is always one of the highlights of the school year, because it opens up our students’ horizons while developing their social skills. The best memories and lessons often happen outside the confines of a formal classroom. The best thing about our school are the students who are some of the nicest young people you could ever hope to meet. The only thing I would like to change about future trips is that it should be a little more difficult for them so they are even more challenged as they develop their social skills and sense of adventure.