The Beginning of the End

Saturday November 21

Only two full days left in China, and we were kept busy with lots still to do and see.

Saturday morning we attended a fundraising event organised by the Rotary Club of Beijing.  The Christmas Bazaar, at the Marriot Hotel in Beijing.  It was a very well organised event with many stallholders selling gifts for Christmas, raffles and musical performances.

In the afternoon we visited Tsinghua University  in north west Beijing.  The University is one of the best ranked Universities in China, and attracts many overseas students.  We were given a tour by an Ambassadorial Scholar from Belgium who is studying Economics at the University.  We rode on tandem bikes, which drew a lot of attention from the public, but was also a fun team exercise - not something we would normally do.  The University has 30 000 people living on campus, there were some beautiful parklands, a lot of space for sports, with many people using it for soccer and basketball while we were riding around.  Many buildings had a very American College feel to them as there is a historical relationship with America and Tsinghua.  This was an interesting visit, allowing us to see how the Rotary Scholarship is helping someone to study, and to find out a little about University life in Beijing.

That evening we were taken out by some Rotary friends to share a meal of Beijing Duck.  This was a favourite meal that people bragged about in Beijing, and with deserved bragging rights - another meal we thoroughly enjoyed, especially with the company.