PlastiScope21 - March-April 2016

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Sami Goes to China
By Samara Carreño
The Great Wall of China.
Hola! My name is Samara Carreño. My mom,
Fernanda, works at Plenco de Mexico, and I would
like to share with you two short videos of my trip
to China for my 15th birthday. In October 2015, five other
girls and I shared one of the most exciting trips of our lives.
Many people ask me why I chose China. Well I admit at first
sight I was really terrified, but I wanted a special trip with
amazing memories. These types of opportunities are few
and far between. I started thin rare place
to visit, with an unusual cul-
ture and interesting language.
My flight was around 19
hours. I found bad weather on
my way to China, so it took
me one day to get there.
Because of the altitude, I felt
very lightheaded the first
days.
We visited Shanghai,
Beijing, Guilin and Xi’an.
You can see big, big build-
ings. I stayed there ten days
and visited some important
place like Tian’anmen Square (the square contains the monu-
ments to the heroes of the revolution, the Great Hall of the
People, the National Museum of China and the Chairman
Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, with Mao’s embalmed body).
The square also was where on June 4, 1989, Beijing’s infa-
mous student demonstration took place. The demonstration
was violently stopped by the Chinese authorities.
The Summer Palace (a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens
and palaces), the Forbidden City (the Chinese Imperial
Palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing
dynasty), The Great Wall of China (a series of fortifications
made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood and other
materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across
the historical northern borders of China), and Wangfujing
(one of the most famous shopping streets of Beijing. At the
Snack Street, you can find deep-fried scorpion and seahorse
on a stick.)
I also enjoyed the Bird’s Nest (Beijing National Stadium),
Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (One of the pagoda’s many func-
tions was to hold sutras and figurines of the Buddha that
were brought to China from India.), Jingshan (Public) Park,
the Terracotta Army (a collection of terracotta sculptures
depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor
of China), Yangshuo County (a county under the jurisdic-
tion of Guilin City), Li River in Guilin (on which we took a
boat trip), Elephant Trunk Hill, and the Reed Flute cave.
The Chinese people love tourists; they were very
nice to us. I felt like an artist
with them because they liked
to take pictures of my group.
I had never seen so many
people everywhere. They live
in little apartments that are in
big buildings. There are many
high rises everywhere, but
their cities are clean. The
tourist guide told me that the
Chinese people look for good
jobs and nice cars; houses are
very expensive for them.
There are more motorcycles
than cars on the roads. They drive crazy! Since they don’t
watch out for pedestrians, I needed to be fast when moving
in the streets.
It seems like they eat and drink the whole day and love
seafood, duck and fried scorpions. I didn’t try the scorpions
because I saw how their legs were still moving. To eat with
chopsticks was a good challenge that I handled at the end.
In China, there are countless stores where you can buy
many things at lower prices. They try to sell everything
expensive, so I learned to haggle. It is ridiculous what you
pay in the end. I found every kind of thing there, including
really good imitations.
Guiling was my favorite city. It has many trees and flowers
and is a place with the most beautiful environment I have
ever seen. My entire trip was amazing, and it will be in my
memories for the rest of my life.