In summer of 2004, Gail went to China to teach English as a second language at two summer camps there. Her assignments were in the small city of Luxi in Jiangxi Province and in the city of Wenling in Zhejiang Province. Her travel was completed by a week of sightseeing in Beijing and Shanghai.

This page has six photos from her time in China. At some point in her travels, the focus mechanism in her camera malfunctioned so her photos after that are fuzzy.

At Luxi, Gail worked six days a week and had Sundays off. On Sundays, they could go sightseeing. Gail’s sightseeing trips from Luxi took her to various destination. One Sunday she saw some museums and a Buddhist temple. On another she visited a dairy farm and then rafted down a river. On a third, she took a trip into Yilong Cave. The final adventure in Jiangxi Province was hiking up Wu Gong Mountain to spend the night in a hostel at the top and watching the sun rise the next morning.


When Gail visited Yilong Cave (Dragon Cave), the power failed halfway through. One student had a cell phone and its light helped them find their way out in the dark.

Gail Holm standing with a student in front of colorfully lit rock formations


At the end of her stay in Luxi, she joined the other teachers for a hike up Wu Gong Mountain, a 1918-meter high peak. They planned to stay in a hostel over night and then watch the sun rise for good luck the next morning. It was supposed to be no more than a four hour climb, mostly on stairs, but Gail's feet gave out and she had to be helped to complete the climb after dark. She did see the sun rise in the morning.

The next day on her way down she met a Chinese man climbing up. He took this picture of her and sent it to his daughter in Maryland, who sent it to Gail.

Gail descending Wu Gong mountain


At the end of her China stay, she and her fellow teachers visited Beijing, seeing the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. They walked on a segment of the Great Wall.

One not so good episode occurred with her fellow teacher, Brandi. Brandi was walking on a Beijing street when someone grabbed her wallet out of her backpack and ran. They were unable to catch up with the thief, but a young Chinese man, Meng, helped them get to a police station where they could report the robbery.

Gail Paton with her fellow teachers, Anani, Dana, Cathy, & Sandy on China's Great Wall Gail Holm, helper Meng, and fellow teacher Brandi standing on a street


Before flying home, she traveled to Shanghai and visited Henry and Nick, two Chinese men who had stayed with us while studying English the year before. p>
Henry and Gail Nick is the man wearing the white shirt
Henry with Gail Holm in a restaurant in Shanghai Gail Holm at a banquet in Shanghai with Nick and others


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