Nearly 100 students from the marching bands at Red Land and Cedar Cliff high schools have returned from Beijing where they performed in a series of pre-Olympic festivities.

They spent a week playing at Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. They played with another band from Arizona and also performed with some local Chinese groups.

"There are no words to put this experience into perspective. It was just once in a lifetime," said Red Land band leader Rob Starrett. Starrett said he was told that the group's performance at the Forbidden City was the second ever by an outside group. The only other foreigners to perform there were The Three Tenors.

The students also did a lot of sightseeing. They saw the Peking Opera perform.

Some students said the highlight of the trip was meeting with Chinese students about their same age.

"They were so hospitable. They wanted to know about us and they were just so friendly," said Cedar Cliff color guard member Jennifer Palmer.

Starrett said the trip went so smoothly that they would consider doing a similar trip in the future.

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