Day 42 - Goodbye China!

Woke up early in the morning to prepare and get ready to leave. All the wonderful memories we had for the past 42 days will be forever in our hearts with us and we will never forget. Met at 8.50am in the morning at the enterance of the hostel to wait for our coach that will bring us to the airport. We even woke up as early as 5.30am to go out and set our last and only fireworks before we go off.

Last room 319 photo!

Everyone prepared to leave!

Reached Wuhan airport at about 10.30 am and all of us had to carry our enormous luggage to for check in. Weighed our luggage and as expected, my luggage did not went overweight. Since we had lots of time before our flight, all of us decided to go to KFC to have our lunch. After finishing our lunch, we went to board our plane bound for Guangzhou. We had to transit at Guangzhou before we could reach Singapore.

Our flight bound for Singapore!!

Welcome back to Singapore!!

Last photo we took together before going our separate ways after 42days ):

Reflections
Lighting up fireworks is something that I had never done before, it was totally new to me. Doing this together with friends is something fun, enjoyable and of course unforgettable. Being there for 42 days with only friends but no family members and doing every single thing by ourselves has really show us how good our life are in Singapore. Learning to overcome everything by ourselves is also funny and enjoyable with many minor incidents happening along the way. This will really be a unforgettable trip and immersion program for me. I will really miss all the cheap and good food at the roadside stalls, weather, bargaining experience with the shop owners and of course our learning experience there. I will also miss all the other 20 people and Mr Loh, for all the good memories, joy and laughter that we had together in Wuhan. (:

Day 41 - 光谷 for the last time

Our last time visiting Grand Ocean! All of us were left with some cash and we decide to spend finish our money today at Grand Ocean. By now most of us were quite familiar with the surroundings and shops in Grand Ocean. When we first came, we had to look at the directory to find our way around.

Crowded as usual!Had Ajisen for the third time!

Finished up our lunch and we went on to our last shopping spree in China! Bought alot of stuffs such as food, adidas shirt, shoes and etc. Finished up our shopping and we went back to our hostel. Went out to the night market to eat as all of us wants to have our last dinner at the night market which hold lots of memories for us. Ate finish and everyone went back to start packing up our luggage for tomorrow!

Day 40 - Farewell Dinner

Took the mini van to another different location to shop today. We went back to 首义园 to have our lunch, this time round there wasn't much people and we could eat slowly without having to worry about the time! After having a good lunch, we went on to look around and find for the shopping area that was introduced to us by the friendly taxi driver i chance upon a few days back. He told us that it was the main shopping street for the people in Wuchang before Grand Ocean came out.

Finally reached our destination!

Fresh Cockles!

Trying to find the shopping area nearby

Did quite some shopping and I manage to buy a pair of shoes and a few shirts as they were having a warehouse clearance sales. Met up with everyone and we managed to get a van and a taxi to bring us back to school for the farewell dinner that was organized by the China students here.

MDE group photo!

Reflections
When shopping here in China, you could bargain at most of the stores here. Usually the moment you communicate in English with your friends, they will know that you are a foreigner and will tend to charge you more. But if you know how to bargain, you could actually reduce the price by more than half. This isn't something that you can do in Singapore, if you were to start bargaining with them too much, they will start giving you attitude and a irritated look.
Also when you are shopping here, if u request to take a look at the item, they will gladly take it down and let you have a look. Even if you decide not to buy it, they will not give you a irritated look and instead they will just say its ok and ask you politely to have a look at other products. But in Singapore, if you request to look at a item and did not buy it. They will have a irritated look on their face and will not even say anything to you.

Day 39 - Presentation & Rest Day

Had our last class for BPE today, had assignment 3 presentation today and it was not a good one. Finished up with everyone's presentation and that marks the end of BPE for all of us! The presentation ended at about 4pm and all of us went back to our bunks to have a rest. Everyone went to have their group meeting at 5.30 for the discussion on the IS video that we had to make at the end of the trip.

Our last lesson in this classroom!

Having a last look at the surrounding ):

Day 38 - Chicony Shopping Mall

Today's presentation got cancelled as there was no classrooms available for us. So we decided to go out and shop again! Most of us were getting bored with the same few malls we were going thus we asked the mini van uncle to bring us to some where new. We ended up going to 群光广场(Chincony Shopping mall) to walk. The interior decoration and shops look just like Takashimaya. Had Ajisen Ramen once again as most of the people that came out today didn't went with us to had Ajisen yesterday.

Takashimaya lookalike!

My cockles ramen!

BreadTalk in China!

Didn't do too much shopping today as the pricing of the items here are also very much similar to those in Takashimaya. Walked around the other malls and found cheaper items to buy. Played around in the arcade there too before heading back to Chicony for dinner at their food court. The pricing of the food there are similar to the price of food in food court of Singapore.

Reflections
Finding a toilet in China can be really difficult at times. There wasn't much clear directions given even in shopping malls. We had to walk around the place twice before we could even find it due to that their toilet is hidden at one small corner on the level.

Day 37 - Assignment 3

Had brunch in the afternoon at KFC with Zhong Rong and Yoke May. Ordered a family feast and 3 of us shared. It was quite similar to the one you get when you order in Singapore, except that there is also sweet corn included inside. Finished up the food and we went back to our hostel and started working on assignment 3. It wasn't as easy as it seems at first, had quite some difficultly while doing the flexsim model. In the end, all of us had to call up Mr Loh to come and take a look at our models. Thanks Mr Loh for the help!!

Part of our brunch!

KFC Egg tarts!!!!

Went off again to Grand Ocean after completing my part on assignment 3 with some of the rest who finished up their assignment 3 as well. Had our dinner at Ajisen, the pricing of the food here are much cheaper then those in Singapore. Finish our dinner and all of us went for our umpteen round of shopping around the area before heading back to our hostel.

Day 36 - 光谷(Grand Ocean) yet again..

Another shopping day! Didn't know where to go, so we decided to go 光谷 again for shopping! We decided to take a mini van there. It was recommended by Edy who by conincidence get to know the uncle and we could just call him to pick us up at our school and bring us there for only 30Rmb. We could squeeze up to 10 person inside the van, although it was a little uncomfortable but it was real fun with so many people inside!

All the 10 of us squeezing in the van!

Day 35 - Zhongshan Park & Jianghan Street

Another free & easy day! But this time is a little different, the tour guide that went to Wudang mountain with us actually came with us this time too. We chartered a bus to bring us to Hankou and the tour guide will actually bring us to some of the attractions there.

Our first stop: Zhongshan Park

Its actually like a normal park where lots of the public will come here in the morning to have some recreational activities and also to catch up with each other. But at the other end of the park, there is actually a theme park there! There was the usualy roller coaster, viking ships and etc. Some of us went on the try the rides.

Their roller coaster here!

Second Stop: Jianghan Street

After the theme park, we took a train to go Jianghan street. Their train system here is similar to Singapore. But instead of using a card, they use a token and tap like how you do it in Singapore. Upon reaching Jianghan, all of us split up and go for our lunch in groups before proceeding to do our shopping. The street is so big that by the end of the day, we could only finish 1/4 of the place!


Their train token vending machine

The token we use

Doesn't this looks like a SMRT train?

The interior looks like 1 too

Jianghan street! Where all the shopping starts.

After finishing our shopping, we were supposed to take a boat back, each ride cost 1.50Rmb. The boat was actually a public transport for the people here too.

Wuhan harbour

Everyone waiting for the ship to arrive

Everyone squeezing and trying to get a seat on the ship


Reflections
Their theme park here are really different from those in Singapore. Their system is actually pay-per-ride instead of buying a single entry ticket to enjoy unlimited access to the rides. There was also cases of corruption happening inside the theme park. Instead of going to the counter to pay for the ride, the operator at the ride actually ask us if we want to take the ride together, we could actually pay her the entry fee in secret and she will also charge us a cheaper price.

Day 34 - 老鼠街 once again

Went out with Mingyu and Erwin to 老鼠街 again. They wanted to go to this hair saloon that they saw yesterday to have their hair done. The place was quite grand and nice. Took bus 907 to there and they spent about 3 hours inside doing their hair while I was just taking a nap and chatting with the people there. We also found out that to be a hairstylist in China, you have to be train for at least 1-2 years before you can be a professional hairstylist.Erwin and Mingyu outside the shop after doing their hair

The dye they use in the shop.

Went on to Grand Ocean afterward to meet up with Yoke May they all. Had dinner and shop around for stuffs and gifts to buy for our friends and family before going back to our hostel.

Reflections
Whenever we communicate with the China people here, all of them will ask if we were from Guangzhou. When we told them that we are from Singapore, they will be quite surprised. Furthermore, not everyone here knows about Singapore. Some even ask us about in which part of China is Singapore at.
The taxi drivers here in China are also very friendly and easy to communicate with. When we actually asked the driver about the good shopping areas that we can go, he actually told us quite a few places and even gave us directions on how to go there. Seeing that we are foreigners, he even gave us a discount for the taxi fare and even wished us to have a pleasant trip in China. This isn't something that you can get to see much in Singapore. The drivers here do not usually even chat with you and will just remain quiet throughout the whole journey.

Day 33 - 老鼠街

Went to a completely different place called 老鼠街 to shop today. The place was recommended by one of the China friends we made here. It was said that most students will come here to shop as the stuffs here are cheap and nice. It turns out that the stuffs that are being sold here are mostly girl's stuffs. We decided to spilit up, with all the girls left to shop at 老鼠街 while we went to search for a place to shop for guy stuffs.

All of us squeezing in the bus!

My lunch, Chicken Chop

After some walking, we ended up at a different street called Computer City. The place is actually like a enlarged version of Sim Lim Square, where there will be loads of electronic stores around. We decided to take a walk around the area as there wasn't anymore shopping area nearby except here.


A partial view of Computer City!

The view from inside of 1 of the mall.

1 of the best university in China! Located right inside Computer City.

A person writing poem on the ground.

Look at the size of the pooh!

The night market near 老鼠街, filled with girl stuffs.

Day 32 - Written Test 2 & Grand Ocean

Had written test 2 early in the morning today. The test today was harder as compared to the first written test we took early on. At least now after completing the test, all we had left is assignment 3 project!
After completing our test, some of us decided to go off to Grand Ocean to do some shopping and eating. All of us took bus 901 there, their bus here are just so much more cheaper than in Singapore! 2Rmb per ride! We decided to have our lunch at pizza hut, their pizza hut here was quite similar to the ones in Singapore.

Our 2 in 1 combined pizza!

My appetizer, mashed potato

After our lunch, we walked around for awhile. There was way too much people around today, thus most of us didn't get to buy anything much. In the end, most of them decided to go for hair treatment. We went to this shop called Yes I Do, it was quite a famous saloon in Wuhan as we will see it at most of the shopping centres. I didn't went for any hair treatment as I didn't really feel like doing anything to my hair for the day.

Doesn't this photo remind you of Xanier?

Reflections
The bus conductor here does not only have good memory but are also really nice and helpful. When we first got onto the bus, they will even ask us where we were going. When we reached our stop, she will even remind us to get off and gives us direction on how to walk to the shopping mall. This was the second time that this had happened to us, this shows that their service was really good.

Day 31 - Happy Birthday China!

Happy 60th national day China! Stay around in the hostel the whole day. It was a public holiday today and most of the China students had already went back to their respectively hometown. The atmosphere of their national day here is really different. One of our China friend even SMS and urged us to watch the national day parade via the web. Their parade is special in a way as they celebrate in the day as compared to us which was at night.

Watching the parade on the web!

The empty street of the school today.

All of us opted not to go to town as we were afraid that there will be a major traffic jam. Stayed in hostel the whole day and finish up our remaining work.

Reflections
I was really surprised by the enthusiasm of our China friend telling us to watch the parade. She told us that by hook or by crook we had to watch the parade as this was their 60th birthday and the parade will be really grand and nice. We can see that the people here are really proud of their own country. The parade was also really grand with everyone of them being so synchronized. Their parade was also quite different if you was to compare it with the national day parade that you see in Singapore.