Enroute home

Final blog

The journey home began at 8:30 am on May 25^th in Hong Kong, and ended nearly 25 hours later on May 25^th in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The China Ag group bid farewell to Hong Kong and the Chinese experience as they boarded for a nearly 15 hour-long flight to Chicago.  Despite the lengthy flight, the time was passed with conversations among our new China Ag family and indulgence in personal touch screen televisions at each seat. 

Many enjoyed a bite to eat (mostly pizza and burgers), sharing photo files and a quick nap at the Chicago airport before boarding for Sioux Falls.  Everyone excitedly noted the familiarity of the sight of farms during our descent.  We were greeted by family, friends, or planned a shared ride home together.  The smiles and excitement were contagious as everyone reunited with loved ones and shared final comments and memories before heading home for the final leg of the journey.  Dr. Gonda was even reunited with both of his hats.  Good luck hanging onto those for the summer!  Dr. Thaler and Dr. Clay arrived home safely on Monday. 

***

It’s amazing how quickly two weeks flew by.  We traveled many miles by planes, trains and busses, met with our governor, immersed ourselves in a culture with roots that go back thousands of years, visited an array of agricultural enterprises both large and small, government owned and private.  We shared in a world wonder as we scaled the Great Wall of China and starred in the photographs of many locals!  We served as ambassadors of SDSU, of South Dakota and the United States, leaving positive impressions through our interactions abroad. 

Challenge yourselves to continue learning from your experience for years to come.  Compare what you learned abroad to our agricultural practices in the US.  Follow up with the economic growth and agricultural development of China.  Email your friends from MAFIC.  Teach others through sharing your stories.  Very few people in the world have the opportunity to explore the world as you did.  Thank you for choosing this experience, and thank your families for supporting your decision. 

Many times throughout this experience we referred to our group as a family.  We were proud of how you took care of each other over the past two weeks.  You reached out to develop new friendships both amongst yourselves but also with your peers from MAFIC.  We also appreciate the great conversations and stories that you shared with the faculty.  Getting to know each of you was the highlight of this experience for us!  Please continue to keep in touch with your new friends and with us over the years.  We have all shared an amazing and incredible life experience! 

We are deeply proud of you and grateful to have shared in this experience.

Best,

Dr. Thaler and Dr. Bott

May 24 photos

 

May 24

We spent our last full day abroad seeing the sights and culture of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an island city of 7 million people and only 20% of the citizens have a car-the remaining 80% take public transportation (mainly buses). Gas prices here are about $9 per gallon (U.S. dollars). Due to Hong Kong's status as a British colony until 1997, there is a lot of British influence here and there are many differences between Hong Kong and mainland China. People drive on the left side of the road, have a different currency (the Hong Kong dollar), and speak Cantonese-a language that varies slightly from Mandarin (the language of mainland China). There is also more English speaking here-which makes things just a little easier for us. 

We started out walking down Star Avenue along the famous Hong Kong Harbor. The famous movie stars of China are commemorated with statues and hand prints on the walkway along the water front. Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and Bruce Lee were some of the familiar names we walked by as we enjoyed the view of the harbor. Next, we spent most of our day at the Hong Kong Ocean Park on the Kowloon side, located right on the coast. Along with the breath-taking scenery there were many attractions. We enjoyed a scenic gondola ride over the mountain where there were roller coasters, marine animal and aquarium exhibits, dolphin shows, gift shops, restaurants (McDonalds!), and last but not least, some amazing amusement rides. Everyone got in a lot of laughs, thrills, and some good sunburns.

After that, we went to visit the Hong Kong Jockey Club at the Happy Valley Racecourse. Happy Valley is an area of Hong Kong that is very luxurious and has nicer homes and stores. The Hong Kong Jockey Club was established in 1884 but people of the area were racing long before then. The Hong Kong Jockey Club actually contributed greatly to the Hong Kong Ocean Park (the amusement park), which was formed in 1977 and managed by the club until 1987. The Hong Kong Jockey Club first started racing horses that were crossed with Arabian stallions and the native Chinese "running" horse breed. We toured a museum that showed the Club's history-it was interesting to see horse racing being so prominent in Asia. In the museum was the skeleton of the racehorse "Silverlining," the first horse in Hong Kong to win a million dollars. We went out to the horse racing track located right outside the museum. It was interesting to see a racetrack in the middle of the clustered city. There were actually several soccer fields (The Hong Kong Football Club), a basketball court, and a running track within the horse racing track itself.

We then went to our last supper as a group-a traditional Chinese meal and some birthday cake in celebration of Dr. Bott's Birthday, which is on May 26th. After some great traditional food we piled onto the bus and travelled back to the hotel. Bright and early tomorrow we leave for the Hong Kong Airport where we begin our long journey home-We leave for O'Hare International Airport at 11:40 and after a brief visit to Chicago we will arrive in Sioux Falls by 7:35 p.m. We are looking forward to seeing you all soon! On behalf of everyone, we would like to thank you all SO much for your support-We couldn't have gone on this great adventure without the encouragement from our friends and family.

-Bloggers Shelby and Lea

May 23 photos

May 23

Hello, once again from China! We started the second to last full day of our trip by heading to a fish farm about an hour and half south of Guangzhou. Everyone on the bus seemed to be getting ready to be home, but still ready for two last days of adventure.  As we were driving through the rain we noticed that there were not as many scooters here in Guangzhou.  Our tour guide Jocelyn informed us that in the majority of this city, motorized scooters are banned to help with air pollution. One out of four people own a car here so 75% of the 17 million people have to use public transportation.

Once we arrived at the fish farm, we were escorted to their conference room, where we were briefed by a representative of the farm. We learned that it is a research farm that uses genetics to produce a superior tilapia, which is mainly exported to the U.S. They do this by cross breeding two different types of tilapia and selling the offspring to the local farmers as young fish. These farmers will then raise them until they are harvested for their meat, since the crossbreed is infertile and will not reproduce. This research institution also has another major area of production among their greenhouses. In these greenhouses they raise vegetables, such as peppers and tomatoes.

For lunch today, we went to a cool little restaurant that was built on top of a pond. We had our own private room where they served a delicious Chinese meal. Tyler, however, showed a little more courage than the rest of the group, choosing to taste a carp's eye ball and brain. In his opinion, they tasted "slimy and salty." After dinner we stepped outside and observed the scenery of the pond. The restaurant raised their own food right along the pond. We were able to see the vegetables, fish, ducks, chickens, and even a lone rabbit that will be served by the restaurant.

After lunch, we again boarded the bus for yet another two hour trip to the Chinese-Hong Kong border. There was not as much farm land along this drive. It was more tropical mountain range, in fact, our latitude is equivalent to that of Mexico City and further south. We were reminded of the unique relationship between China and Hong Kong as we had to go through two immigration systems, not only a Chinese departure gate, but also a Hong Kong arrival area in customs. The British influence on Hong Kong is very unique, and we are excited to see what our stay on Hong Kong Island will bring us.

We are checked into our hotel in Hong Kong Island, and waiting to go out to a group supper.  Hong Kong is one of the most expensive places to live since land is so scarce.  An apartment can cost $1 million.  Not much wasted space here.

This is our final stop of our over-seas travels. We are all eager to be home in the United States with a broader understanding of agriculture on an international level; however, it will be a bitter sweet end to a phenomenal trip. Don't forget to keep checking in on our blog these last few days of the trip. We have over 5000 views thus far, and the record from last year's class was 6,300!  It is great to know our family and friends back home are following us.

May 22

Greetings to all from the land of China. We are in our second day in Guangzhou and leave tomorrow for Hong Kong. The humidity here is a little more than some of us, especially this Minnesotan, are used to, but we're making it work. Fortunately the air conditioning was included in this hotel, rather than a paid option at our previous hotel. It is becoming obvious that this region was the first in the "Made in China" revolution. Shipments of goods here for manufacturing or for domestic use arrive daily in huge quantities, and its economic impact on the region has been immense. Everything from shoes to electronics to clothing bought in the US is made within an hour of where we currently type this blog.

Our sense of smell was kicked into gear early at the seafood market which was our first stop for the day. From lobster to clam to fish species never seen before in the US, this place had it all. Stand after stand exhibited their finest seafood in aquariums and crates of various crustaceans. Statistics-wise, this market goes through about 500 tons of seafood each day, or roughly 20 semi loads daily. The sales are made to individual customers, as well as restaurants and foodservice.

Our next visit was to the fruit and vegetable markets. This market was different in that it dealt with the throughput of goods only by bulk, rather than individual customers. Grapes were the number one fruit quantity-wise in this market, but many others were also sold there such as watermelon, apples, oranges, grapefruit, and pineapples, just to name a few. Imported fruits such as these usually make their way from port, such as the one we visited yesterday, in refrigerated containers. Many of these containers and trucks could be seen lined up throughout the market. They are then either sold locally or bought and shipped elsewhere in the region.

After lunch, we visited the US Consulate office here in Guangzhou, which represents the United States in the south China region. It is a branch office of the Embassy and is one of five located throughout the country. The consulate also is a branch office of the USDA-FAO, or Food and Agriculture Organization. This $300 million facility was moved into in last July and employs over 400 people. One of the main duties of the consulate here is to grant visas for business, study, investments, etc. (non-immigrant visas), which last year totaled over 500,000. This number is the largest in the world granted by any consulate, which shows the global connection to this area for numerous industries. This office deals with market development for US goods as well. When last year's US imports to China totaled over $29 billion, it becomes obvious that this is an important task.

We ended the night on a more scenic note with a cruise on the Pearl River which runs through the downtown area. The lights of the city and sights along the river were beautiful to see. That's about it for the day as we wrap up our time here in Guangzhou and look forward to one last stop in Hong Kong before we head back home. Goodnight (or good morning, probably) from China and you stay classy, America.