Camping!

Pappa dumpling here. About three weeks ago The-works/Paying-customer & myself hooked up with the local boyscouts and went camping! That is Boyscouts of America btw, don't confuse them with the the Young Pioneers or the Shanghai Scouts.

Interest in scouting in Shanghai is surging, about 5-6 years ago there was only one troop (troop 12), as Shanghai grew/expanded another troop was started in Pudong (troop 969) to better support people on the east side of the city. This year a 3rd troop (troop 88) was founded in pudong as the troop 969 split. Overall its amazing how quickly things grow, develop & change in Shanghai.

Two weeks ago we went on the 6th (7th?) annual Richard Horak bike & hike. Richard was an active scouter in Shanghai for many years and organized the first bike & hike. At one point he moved back to the states, only visiting Shanghai occasionally. His love of this event caused him to make sure his trips always coincided with the event so that he could attend. He passed away several years ago and troop 12 continues this event in his honor.

For this campout our amazing activities coordinator (12 year shanghai resident from california, former scoutmaster, former asst-SM & overall incredible scouter) showed us around some of the rural parts of Shanghai province. We camped in a field located at the Meadowbrook Equestrian center. The owner is a former UK scout and a very active supporter of scouting, hosting campouts from many of the Shanghai packs & troops throughout the year.

We started by riding to the Huzhu Pagoda. A 900 year old structure located west of Shanghai about 20-30 miles. This 20-meter tower leans more than the tower of Pisa and is located near the top of one of the tallest "mountains" in Shanghai province. Its older than the one in Pisa and leans a wee bit futher, but isn't as tall. Its located in a beautiful national park that made for a nice break from the days riding. It started leaning after some people started digging under it looking for buried treasure (pirates!).

After that we headed over to the tallest mountain in Shanghai. In the village of She Shan there is an old Catholic Bassilica, one retired

observatory and one active observatory. At 328ft Sheshan mountain is tallest point in Shanghai province and we climbed up and enjoyed the views of the surrounding countryside.

While in She Shan we also enjoyed an authentic chinese-style lunch. One of the parents was bilingual and ordered a very tasty collection of dishes. Including peanuts (with chopsticks!), chicken soup served with an entire chicken in the bowl (cut into pieces and served on the bone), rice, eggplant, tofu, bokchoy, fish and some other stuff. We washed it down with pepsi & orange-juice (mix together for best flavor) The boys did well & tried many of the dishes and voiced no complaints about the dishes they didn't like or weren't comfortable tasting. I was very proud of them!

We finished the day by riding back to the campsite for hotdogs & a campfire. By the end of the day we had ridden over 20km and everyone slept very well. Evan was in charge of building campfire and Owen helped prepare the dinner. One advantage of a smaller troop is that everyone gets an opportunity to pitch-in and help out (we had 7 scouts and 5 adults)

One of the other scouts traveled by train all the way from Nanjing to join us on our campout. He is part of the "lone scout" program were he & his dad work through badges/advancement without the full support of a troop. He's about an hour way, close enough for campouts, but to far for weekly meetings.

Owen's favorite part was sleeping in the tent. Evan liked biking. I enjoyed the fresh country air at the horse farm we camped at. Evan and Owen also taught the boys some of the camp songs they learned at gerber last summer.