Day 3 - Mt Taishan

Today we visited Mt Taishan. The weather is very good today as it's not that warm..
We took a mini bus then change to cable car up to the mountains. The temperature up at the mountain is much cooler than it is downhills..

This is the "nan tian men".. "Tian Jie"
Mt Taishan ranks first in China's five sacred mountains.
Along the way, we took some fun shots.. This is Mdm Jin and Mrs Sze Toh trying to poke the little man.. :PMs Chng trying to eat the people..
The carvings on the rocks are carved in the ancient times when the emperors go up to pray.
We were so happy when we reached the peak..
This is one of the pine trees we see along the way..

We saw so many doggies along the way.. Alot of puppies.. so cute..

Day 2 - Confucius

We went to hometown of Confucius. Since ancient times, Qufu has had flourishing culture and many historical celebrities such as Confucius and Mencius were born here.

We visited the Temple of Confucius. Located at the centre of Qufu City, also known as the Sacred Temple, it was in various dynasties, a place for worshipping Confucius. First constructed in 478 B.C. – the temple was constantly renovated and expanded to its present size in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties with an area of 96,000 square kilometers. The temple consist of 466 halls, pavilions, altars and towers. The temple of Confucius, the Imperial Palace in Bejing and the mountain resort in Changde are known as the “three major complexes” of ancient architectural structures in China.

After which, we visited the Kong family mansion. It is the place where descendants of Confucius lived and handled affairs. It's the most typical architectural of the feudal society integrating offices and residences, and it's a magnificent noble's residence. Next to the Imperial Palace in Beijing, hence the name “No. 1 residence on Earth”.

After lunch, we visited the cemetery of Confucius and his descendants. Also known as the cemetery of the greatest sage, this special cemetery for Confucius and his descendants stand outside of the northern gate of Qufu. With an area of 2 million square metres, the cemetery includes over ??? tombs of the descendants of Confucius. It's the largest, oldest and best-preserved family cemetery and the large man-made garden in China.

Guess the number of tombs in the family cemetery..

Taking the tram around the cemetery of Confucius.
We were eating "brown tissue paper" for appetisers happily..

Day 1 - At the airport

We arrived at the airport at 10pm. Mrs Seah came and she kindly bought everyone of us chocolates from Cocoa Tree for Teachers' Day!! So sweet of her..

Mrs Seah sending us off

Group photo before we leave

We arrived at the Beijing Airport and Mrs Sze Toh discovered the FUWA!!! She screamed and ran towards it.. Following behind are the teachers..

The first stop we went to after we check in to the hotel was the Baotu Spring （趵突泉）.. The "bubbling waters" u see in the picture are the "eyes" of the spring.

The teachers enjoying the dip in the cooling spring water..
Especially Mrs Wong! Look at her candid reaction!!

The interesting fact about this spring is that the water remains at 18 degree celcius throughout the year even in winter!

Guess why we are doing this? :P

Hi Everyone!

Hi! We are a group of teachers (n a VP) from OLGC in Singapore. We will be going to Shandong, China for an exchange programme from 28 Aug-4th Sept 2008. We'll update and post pictures etc up here on this BLOG!! So keep track..

Till then....