G5 Moganshan 2-night/3-day trip

Early on Thursday morning we arrived at Deqing train station to be met by the Keystone Outdoor Education staff Arjan, Meteor and Shirley who were going to be the instructors for the trip. Once we were collected, we set off by bus for our campsite where we would spend the first night. As soon as we arrived at the campsite the students were divided into four teams where they had to sit on 2 long inflated caterpillars and race against each other. The students really enjoyed competing against one another, having fun struggling to stay in rhythm while they were bouncing up-and-down on the caterpillars trying to move forward together.

After the caterpillar activity the students enjoyed some lunch and after their lunch had settled, the students started their kayak activity. Two students per kayak had lots of fun playing a variety of games on the water. They spent quite a bit of time on the water and all the students really enjoyed the kayaking activity.

The students were then shown how to set up their tents and it was the first time that many of the students had set up a tent. Once the tents were set up the students had a quick game of ninja with Arjan and then after that we headed up to an outlook point where we had a barbecue for supper and also some smores. After the barbecue students went back to their tents, relaxed for a bit and then it was lights out.

Day two started very early. The students were only supposed to be up and about around 7:30 AM but at 6 AM all the students started waking up. Once we packed up our tents and cleaned the campsites the students had breakfast. After breakfast it was an hour drive to our hiking site which was in the Mogan Mountains. Before the hike started the students were given a lesson in navigation as they would need to use a map and compass to find their way on the hike. The instructors were very good in allowing the students to make mistakes and to find the right direction that we should be walking. We hiked through beautiful bamboo forest with amazing scenery. The first few kilometers of a hike were mostly uphill and even though some of the students found it challenging they persevered and every single student finished the 6.5 km hike. After the hike we all hopped on the bus where we went to our accommodation for that evening which was a beautiful guest house in a valley overlooking some of the bamboo forest. After a warm shower and supper the students played a game of salad bowl with the Keystone instructors.

Day 3 started with breakfast and then an amazing trip to the local tea plantation. At the tea plantation the students were shown how to pick their own tea leaves. After picking the tea leaves, the students were taken to the tea production workshop where the tea leaves were dried and cured so that we could drink the tea that the students had made. It was extremely interesting to see the process of how tea is made from beginning to end. After that we had a tea ceremony where we drank the tea that the students had made. The students really enjoyed tasting the fruits of their labor. After drinking the tea, the students had a bamboo water activity whereby they worked in 4 separate teams competing against one another by passing water from one person to another into a small bamboo shoot and trying to fill up a 2L coke bottle. After that we hopped on the bus back to Deqing train station. We then said goodbye to the Keystone staff and returned to Hefei.

For many of the students this was the first time that they had ever been away from home, camped, set up tent or hiked. The students really enjoyed the trip and they showed a lot of perseverance during some challenging times. Thank you to Miss Washburn and Mr. Allen for looking after the students on the trip.