Another Trip to Sai Kung, Hong Kong

As the smell of autumn rushed into Guangzhou, it was time for the annual China trips. The sophomores this year were headed to Sai Kung, Hong Kong, a small town on the Sai Kung peninsula. Buses heading towards the town left Ersha campus at 6:45 in the morning and we arrived at our destination around noon. Dorms were located far from the roads and other buildings. Students had to walk 15-20 minutes in the woods to get to the destination, where dorms were located. Activities such as canoeing, kayaking, hiking and raft building/rafting were involved in this year’s trip. Unlike previous trips, as Sai Kung is close to the South China Sea, many water activities were added. It was one of the most tiring trips, but was also very dynamic due to the diverse new games and activities. During the trip, I heard very different opinions among the students, so, I decided to interview a few of them.

Grace C. commented how “it was tiring to walk in and out of the dorm sites” and also talked about how the food provided wasn’t the best or anywhere close to being as good as the food from the previous years. However, she did enjoy kayaking and raft building, as she tends to appreciate water activities more than land activities such as biking and hiking. Adding on to this, she commented on how activities like raft building and kayaking required cooperation between partners/team and was “a lot of team bonding”. Grace C. also added information about the dorms and the overall environment. She stated, “the dorms were dirty and old” and she hopes that Dragonfly, the organization that plans our trips, will change dorms for next year’s Hong Kong trip.

Ryan H., a male student that enjoyed the trip in general, agreed with Grace C. comments. “[He] definitely liked water activities as it was something new for [him]”. Unlike Grace C. opinion on dorms, Ryan actually liked the environment and dorms. He said that having to walk into the woods to get to dorms was nice as he could “see the nature”. What he wishes to be changed is time given to shower. As 7 people had to share a shower, each person was forced into quick, short, showers; many, like Ryan, were not happy about the situation. After kayaking, canoeing and raft building, which all involves getting into either saltwater or freshwater, showers were desired by almost all of the students. Letting 7 people shower but only giving 30 minutes of time was not enough at all, so I personally could not agree more to Ryan’s point.

Kathleen W. liked how we did not have to build our own tents this time with bamboo sticks, unlike our previous year. The campsite was surprisingly clean and was cool at night, which made camping this year even more enjoyable than past year’s. “Food provided in our dorm-site was often cold and definitely was not enough to feed [the] 9-11 people per table”, she noted. She also added how she and her friends often had to eat tons of snacks to keep her “alive” or energized for the rest of the day. In my opinion, Dragonfly should really increase the amount and variety of food students receive in these trips because the activities are always so tiring; especially if students are underwater, energy is lost even faster. They should be responsible for keeping students full from proper meals, instead of snacks brought by students themselves. For all of our lunches on this trip, we had tortilla rolls but could only have up to 3. No one was full after the rolls simply because they were not filling at all.

The Sai Kung trip was fresh and fun, especially when you get to make new friends and meet new people, but there is definitely space for improvement. Overall, kayaking, raft building and canoeing really brought students out of their comfort zones and made this trip even more exciting, despite getting sun burns everywhere on their face, arms and legs. Finally, I want to give a huge shoutout to the Dragonfly leaders that instructed us throughout this year’s trip and to teachers who encouraged us to step out of our comfort zones! Thank you Cheryl Z., Joey Z., Kathleen W., Sofia V., and Ms. Brinkman for the amazing photos.