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Hammond’s hungry henches

Rachel and Lizzie

 

We all met at school at three o’clock but Rosie Riding was late and held us all up.  By the end of all the travelling, some of us had been awake for over eighty hours.  Mr Sterry was wearing a lovely body warmer which cheered us all up.  We all got mistaken for a Canadian rugby team which was a lovely compliment.

 

When we arrived at Shanghai Airport, we were met by Mary, the loveliest tour guide ever.  On the first day, we just got settled in and went on a boat trip.  It’s our second day now and we’re starting to feel like minor celebrities because Chinese people keep taking photos of us because we’ve got blond hair.  We all had a walk down the Bund, the part of the city that was once dominated by Britain and the street vendors took to just shouting, ‘Money! Money!’ at us instead of trying to see us ‘Chanel’ bags and the like.  One even pushed me over- it’s chaotic.

 

We then went to the Jade Budda Temple where we had a lovely tea tasting session.  The temple was beautiful.  Then it was time for the highlight of the day: lunch!  Hammond’s group love their food!  We demolished everything of our own food and even some from other tables.  Alice Marsh mentioned that we had not eaten much of the rice, but then Lizzie Cassidy told it was our second helping, not just of rice, but chicken and pork too.  There’s mixed opinions about the food though.

 

We then went to buy some lovely ‘reproductions’ in what we called a shop but was in actual fact looked more like someone’s house.  It was the most bizarre place ever: wall to wall Chanel and Gucci. 

Next, we went to the silk factory where we were honoured with a fashion show and the quote of the day came from Stezza, ‘It’s all in the accessories, girls!’  We had a tour of the factory and the opportunity to buy silk products, some of which were lovely. 

 

In the evening we went to an acrobat show called The Shanghai Magic Troupe where there were hats, hoops, doves and limbs all over the place. The finale saw a huge sphere with five men on motorbikes in near collision and Alice Marsh started complaining that couldn’t fit any more on the circumference.

 

Lots of love Belv!  Rachel and Lizzie and the rest of Hammond’s hungry henches xx