My Life in Wuhan

Day 42 - Goodbye China!

2009-10-14T16:55:00.008+08:00

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

2009-10-11T23:27:00.000+08:00

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

2009-10-11T14:35:00.000+08:00

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

2009-10-10T02:13:00.000+08:00

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

2009-10-09T00:44:00.000+08:00

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

2009-10-07T23:18:00.000+08:00

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..

2009-10-06T23:02:00.005+08:00

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

2009-10-05T22:59:00.000+08:00

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

2009-10-04T22:31:00.001+08:00

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

2009-10-03T23:25:00.006+08:00

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

2009-10-02T23:47:00.000+08:00

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!

2009-10-01T21:29:00.000+08:00

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.

Day 30 - Presentation 2

2009-09-30T22:59:00.000+08:00

Didn't have much to do the whole day except the for the presentation. All of us were busy preparing our presentation in the morning. Had lunch again at canteen 3 before going for the presentation in the noon. Didn't do very well for my presentation as there was some problems yet again with the slides and miscommuncation. Ended the presentation and there was practically nothing left for us to do for the day.
Wordy presentation slides yet again!

Some questions to let us reflect on after finishing the lecture

Presentation by Edy's group

Presentation by Yoke May's group

Reflections
The news of what happen to the SP student was really sad and it spreading very fast. This really let us see that one's life is really very unpredictable. It's really saddening for his family to have heard what had happen.

Day 29 - Interaction Night!

2009-09-29T23:45:00.000+08:00

Had the whole morning to ourselves again today. All of us were really tired so we decided to sleep in for the morning. Woke up at about 12pm and went out to canteen 3 to have our lunch. Proceeded to class after that to complete our last chapter for BPE. We decided to take the quiz without going through the lecture since all of us were really tired from doing all the assignments the night before. After completing the quiz, we were allowed to go off early to get a little rest and prepare for our night activites.

Doing our last quiz!

Disco Night!

Room 319 group photo

Look at all the goodies!

The interaction night was real fun with all the different activities organized by the China students. All of us had lots of fun and some of us even went on stage to perform! The program ended at 9pm and all of us had a group photo together before going back to our hostel. Later on we had a small surprise celebration for Gloria's birthday at night. Although the surprise wasn't really successful, but overall it was not bad!

Day 28 - Pharmaceutical Company Visit

2009-09-28T23:49:00.000+08:00

Had lecture and and quiz for chapter 8 at 10am today, didn't had much to do as we are nearing the end of the module. After completing our quiz, we were free to go off. We were also told to gather back at 2pm for a factory visit to a pharmaceutical company.

Had lunch in the school before proceeding for the visit. The company was actually just a 15mins bus ride away from our school. All of us were actually expecting to at least see some laboratory in the company. But in the end we were only touring the company from the outside, since they didn't allow any visitors inside their company as hygiene standards of such place are usually very high.

The front view of the company

A worker carrying some coal to the generator next door

Ion Reaction room

The warning signs that could be found around the factory

As we could not enter the building itself, the tour of the place was relatively short. The tour of the place actually only last 40minutes. This tour was more towards for the LSCT students who were always there with us. They actually had to do a report on the place when they return back to school.

Reflections
Usually when we think of China, we will think that their hygiene level are really low. But actually after visiting this company, I realize that not all places in China will have low hygiene level. Their technology and their precaution measures are actually on par with what we see in Singapore.

Day 26,27 - Wudang Mountain

2009-09-28T21:48:00.000+08:00

Day 26

Another day that we had to wake up really early in the morning! Met up at the bus bay again at 6.30am to board the bus for our 7 hours bus ride to our destination. Had a really good sleep on the bus while traveling there, all of us were tired out doing assignments the night before!

All on the bus getting ready for our 7 hours ride

Our tour guide for the next 2 days!

Had our lunch at one of the hotel there, the taste of the food here is not that good as compared to the food we got on the cruise. It was raining quite heavy when we reach there, luckily we will only be climbing the mountain the next day!

Raining heavily when we reach the foot of Wudang Mountain

We had to change to their environmental friendly bus to travel up the mountain

Wudang tourist centre

We were informed that we will be staying up in the mountain for the day and we will only be touring some of the famous tourist attractions on Wudang mountain today. The temperature up in the mountain was really cold! It was around 20 degrees in the day and it could drop to 14 degrees in the night.

Our first attraction for the day!

状元榜! It shows all the outstanding scholar names

Look at the mist! This shows how high up in the mountain we are!

Second destination, Purple Cloud Temple

The hotel we will be staying for the night!

Day 27

Woke up early in the morning to prepare for our mountain challenge! Heard that we have a total of about 6500 steps(4.8km route) to climb before we will reach the golden peak which is the top. Most of us chose to climb while some others took the cable car, we take this as a challenge against ourselves. Had a fun time running up long flight of stairs and cheering our friends along the way. This was really a good exercise for us, most of us were tired out even before we were half way up the mountain!

1 of the most famous mountain in the world!

Look at the number of steps!

Think how hard it is going for this guy to bring the food and water up the mountain

Steps, steps and more steps!

Our final destination up there!

It took us 2.5 hours to actually reach the top of the mountain, all of us were tired but very happy with our achievement. Had a really nice view of Wudang when we were at the top. We spend our next 2 hours taking lots of photos and enjoying the scenery. After that we had to take the cable car down as we didn't have time to climb back down again. Had our lunch at a nearby restaurant in Wudang and again we had to endure another gruesome 7hours ride back to school.

Taking with the scenery!

Our way down in the cable car

Reflections
After we had successfully climb up the mountain, this shows me that impossible is nothing. Although this isn't something that is very difficult, but it still take lots of determination to actually complete this. At some point while climbing, I could see that some of my friends actually almost wanted to give up. But with us cheering on them, they would actually push themselves and complete this feat with us.

Day 25 - Business Etiquette

2009-09-26T01:44:00.005+08:00

Had IS lesson again today! Today lesson was on business etiquette in China and around the world. Get to know some important etiquette that could really be useful if we ever work in China. Today lecture was actually making use of something like remote assistance, whereby everyone monitor will be showing what the lecturer computer is displaying.

Getting ready for class!

Our lecturer for the day!

Some basic introduction to business etiquette

The slides are as wordy as usual...

Had lunch at canteen 3 after IS lesson. Tried out a new stall today, it was something like mixed vegetable rice. The food was tasty and wasn't too oily for our liking. Proceed to BPE class after lunch and went through chapter 7 lecture and had the quiz today. 2 more lectures for BPE and that is all for BPE!

My lunch!

Reflections
While buying lunch today, I observed that cutting queue in China is something that is very common. You actually have to also follow suit and cut queue with them or you will never get to have your meal. They will actually not flare up at you even if you cut their queue. It is something so common here that in fact everyone is doing it in their everyday lives.

Day 24 - National Day Celebration

2009-09-26T00:48:00.004+08:00

Another boring school day! Slept in till 11am in the morning since all of us were tired out by the outward bound activities the day before. Had a group lunch with group E together at canteen 3 and had a small discussion about our IS presentation. Went for class straight after that and we cleared chapter 6. Saw our schedule for the coming week, looks like it will be a hectic week for all of us. With all the presentations and test coming up, no time to rest!

We actually were told during lesson that there will be some performance at the admin block at night. So some of us actually went to have a look at the performance after dinner. We found out from the local students that it actually was a party for celebrating the ending of military training for the freshmen here and also for their national day celebration.

Nice view of the admin block at night!

Look at the amount of people watching the performance!

Some performance going on!

Reflections
We actually got to know that all the performers for this celebration are actually performed by freshmen who volunteered themselves. The performances was really outstanding. They actually have to find time to practice for their performances along with having to attend military training. This could really be a hectic schedule for them but they could still juggle their time well. I am really in awe by how much effort they actually put in for this performance despite already feeling tired after the military training. This is really something that I could learn from them.

Day 23 - Outward Bound

2009-09-24T00:17:00.008+08:00

Had student activities aka outward bound today. Really had fun with all the different activities for today, especially rock climbing and high element! We were also suppose to come out with our own tribe name for our group. We named ourselves 龍, and our tribe leader is of course none other than Xanier!

Tribe Leader!

Team Dragon!

Explaining to us about the safety measures

Jarold almost made it to the top!

Had lunch break after the rock climbing session, went back in the afternoon for high element. We actually had to climb up to the platform and jump across a short distance before we free fall down. The distance was actually quite short, most people could do it without much problem.

High element! It is actually 8 metres tall in height up there!

Jun Ru jumping across!

A shot with the instructors!

Day 22 - CocaCola Factory

2009-09-23T23:37:00.005+08:00

Another day without lesson, had the whole morning to ourselves and some of us slept in late. Skipped breakfast and headed straight for early lunch instead. Met up at about 1.30pm to take the bus which will be bringing us to the CocaCola factory that we are visiting. When we reached, we were each given a bottle of Coke and a short video was shown to us about the history and progress of the company.

At the enterance of the company

The model for the company!

The free that was actually given to us. But we were not allowed to bring back the glass bottles as they are collected back for reusing

CocaCola is the pround sponsor of the Fifa World Cup!

World of Warcraft figurine and a limited edition coke can beside it!

We were also brought around to look at the production line of Coke, photos are prohibited so I couldn't get any photos to be uploaded here and shared. After the tour of the production line, we were given free drinks again by the company. We actually had to open the bottle caps ourselves this time, I actually find that it is really fun to just open the caps 1 by 1 using the opener.
Headed back to our school after the visit and it was free and easy time again for us. After some discussion we actually went to a nearby restaurant to have our dinner. Our main purpose was actually to try out their fishball which is a local food they are famous for. The food here are really cheap, we ordered 4 dishes and 1 fish ball soup which actually consist of 60 fishballs. It only cost us 110Rmb for 11 person which is like it cost only S$2 per person!

Day 21 - Information Gathering

2009-09-23T21:29:00.006+08:00

Had IS class in the morning at 9am, today was yet again another different lecturer teaching us about Chinese traditional thoughts. We will actually have another lecture from him on Taoism and Buddhism. I also heard that the lecturer that is teaching us today is actually the dean of the foreign language school!

Lecture time!

Some questions given by him to let us reflect on

We had the whole afternoon to ourselves, so some of us decided to go to town to just enjoy and have a good meal. Erwin, Edy, Daniel and Adrian actually took the taxi the other 7 of us took bus there. This was our second time taking the public transport here in China, I must say it is really a totally different experience as compared to Singapore. Many interesting things happened along the way and when we actually reached our destination we even almost forgot to get off the bus!

The place we had our lunch! The beef steak here is really nice

The waitress cleaning up the table for us while we wait to be served

There is actually a haunted house inside of this shopping mall, all of us shall come here next week to try it out!

Reflections
In China, I actually notice that you could stop the bus and board it even if when you are not at the bus stop. We actually tried this out and it actually works, as long as you are within 100 metres of the bus stop you could actually flag it and it will stop for you to board it. Whereas in Singapore, even if you are just 10 to 20 metres away from the bus stop, the bus driver will some times just actually drive off without waiting to let you board the bus.

When we were on the bus, we actually forgotten to alight when it was at our stop. But the bus conductor actually shouted at us to tell us that we have actually reach our destination. When one of our friends actually did not manage to get off the bus in time, the other passengers in the bus will actually help to get the bus driver attention to ask him to open the door for our friend. In Singapore you actually don't get to see this often, most of the people in Singapore will just sit around and pretend as if nothing have actually happened and will just stare at the person that is actually still stuck on the bus and they did not offer any help at all.

Day 18,19,20 - 3 Gorges tour

2009-09-20T17:27:00.020+08:00

Day 18

Got up really early in the morning at 5.45am to get ready for our 5 hours bus ride to our destination, 3 Gorges. Most of us woke up extra early just so that we could check our results. The results were out at 6am, saw my results but I am not really satisfy with it. Had some delay while on the bus and we only start moving off at 7am. Got informed by the tour guide that we will be visiting the 3 Gorges dam and then getting on the cruise for the tour.

Everyone sleeping on the bus when we are on the way to our location

Our location for lunch!

Look at the spread!

Pretend weapons??!!

The water lock we saw while on the bus, our cruise will actually pass through here the next day!

Group 5 photo!

Look at how big the dam is!

Look at the condition of their public toilet, no door also!

We had a tour of the different attractions of the dam in the afternoon before we went off for dinner at a small town nearby the port where we will getting on the cruise at. We were warned by our tour guide that the food on the cruise will be quite bad as compared to what we had for lunch and dinner. Some of us actually went to stock up on instant noodles just in case we could not get used to the food.

Our room on the cruise.

Day 19

Got woken up early in the morning at 6am by the music on the cruise. Our tour guide also actually went from door to door giving everyone a morning call. Got off the boat after our early breakfast to visit one of the tourist attraction around the area.

One of the attraction, 白帝城

Entrance to 白帝城

Everyone coming to the top of the cruise to watch the nice sceneryTrying to act as some princess of the ancient times =X

Playing mahjong at the roof of the cruise!

Look at the top of the mountain! Doesn't it look like someone is actually lying down and reading a book?

The door actually shows that it is a sick bay, but look at what is inside!

We return back to our cruise after visiting 白帝城, had our lunch and we were off the our next location. At the next location, we actually have to transfer to a smaller boat and tour the area. We also had to transfer to a small sampan at a harbour for some water drifting. The boat was actually being row by only 6 person and there was 18 of us on the boat. It must really be really tiring for them! They also did the traditional boat pulling, whereby the 6 of the them will get off the boat and use ropes to actually pull the boat along.

2 of the boatmen for our boat. Don't be fool by their appearance, they are actually very strong!

The tour guide explaining to us the history of the place. He can actually speak good english too!

Look at how hard it actually is for them pulling the boat.

Got back to our main cruise after the touring of the Gorges. Had dinner and it was free and easy time for us, most of us actually just hang around at the rooftop or in our room playing cards to pass time. At about 11pm, we actually was passing through the water lock whereby it is a shortcut for boats to go to a lower or higher ground. This is also my first time experiencing a water lock process.

The gate of the water lock

Look at how big the place is!Look at the water level, the water was being emptied and we were lowered by 20 metres!

Day 20

The same music was played again to wake us up in the morning, the more i hear it the more i feel its like a lullaby. It makes me want to sleep more! We had the same thing as yesterday for our breakfast before we left the cruise. The bus ride back was very long, took us about 6 hours to before we actually got back to our hostel. Skipped lunch and had 麻辣火锅 for dinner!

Our 2 soup base for the night!

Some of the food we took, each stick only cost 0.30 RMB! ( 6 cents SGD!)

Reflections
The tour guide actually told us that our cruise was a 4 star cruise. But we could actually see that were cockroaches and occasionally rats on the cruise and especially in our rooms. When we actually complained about this to our tour guide, she actually said that it was normal to have rats on boats. You will not actually expect to see even cockroaches on a 4 star cruise in Singapore, but to them here it is actually very normal.
I also notice that China people get into quarrels very easily, they could even argue just because someone cut their quene. They would actually shout at each other at the top of their voice and the passerby will not even care and see what is happening. It seems to them as if it is a very normal thing that is being done.

Day 17 - Written Test

2009-09-17T17:19:00.002+08:00

Just another boring school day today, didn't had lesson in the morning so we went out to had our early breakfast for the day. Had a really bad shoulder ache and really had to thanks Alvin and Daniel for helping me rub the ointment. Brought back food to our bunk and just eat and slack till it was time for our afternoon class.

My breakfast for the day!

Group photo of my bunk mates + Alvin!

Went for class at 2pm and we had written test today. Although it was a open book test, it was still very tedious as we were only allowed 1.5hours to write down our answers. My shoulder was also aching all the way throughout due to my wrong sleeping posture the night before.

The paper that gives people nightmare!

Will be going off to the 3 Gorges tour from tomorrow till sunday! Hope that it will be fun and there will be some nice scenery!

Day 16 - Presentation

2009-09-16T23:24:00.000+08:00

Had our second IS lesson today about Traditional Chinese Wedding and Feng Shui. Was shown some funny videos comparing the traditional wedding and the wedding nowadays. Some parts of the Feng Shui was also interesting, showing us how to actually decorate and design our rooms to have good Feng Shui. We were also asked to use the headphones to listen to the lecture, its still quite fun, you can even speak to the lecturer using the headphones.

Listening to the lecture on Feng Shui

Had our lunch after our IS lesson, didn't really feel hungry so I went back to bunk and rest before heading of for the afternoon BPE class. Had lecture 5 and quiz 5, right after that was our first presentation in Wuhan for BPE assignment 1.

Presentation in progress!

Our MDES president in action!

Day 15 - Interaction

2009-09-15T22:36:00.000+08:00

Had a whole day to ourselves today! Our lecturers actually cancelled all our classes today so we could have some interaction activities with the China students here. We went to a tangerine farm to actually see the farms in the rural area of China and also to taste their tangerines! Went off to the farm in the noon at about 1.30pm, thankfully the weather for today was cooling if not we will all just die of the hotness out in the open.

On our way into the farm!

Look at the fresh (but not very ripe) orange!

Took me a long time to take this photo!

Had some tangerines freshly plucked from the tress, most of those that i ate were all not really ripe yet. Most of them were still quite sour but with a occasional few that were sweet. We saw this river by the side of the farm and we actually saw a few clams there!

Look at the size of the clam!

Look at size of the flesh!

Jump shot of group 4!

Went back to campus to have a small rest before we made our way to the BBQ pits for our BBQ at night. When we got there we were quite surprise to see that their pits were really different from what we see in Singapore. It resemble those campfire style BBQ whereby all of us will sit around the pit and start cooking our food. They also did not have fire starters so we had to use dry leaves and twigs to start the fire, time to test our jungle survival skills!

The bottles here are actually 2.5 litres each!Our 2 small pits for the night

All seating around the pits.

Cooking time!

Reflections
Although I did went for farm visits before back in Singapore, I can see that the farms here are really different from the ones you see back in Singapore. The facilities here are really very bad as compared to those in Singapore, but they can actually maintain the farm so well. This is not something that can be done easily as lots of hard work have to be put in.

Day 14 - Happy Birthday Shun Qing!

2009-09-14T00:04:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday Shun Qing! Had a failed attempt to surprise her yesterday night at 12am, but nevertheless it is still her birthday! Sang the usual birthday song for her and we were off to sleep.

Some drawings out of boredom :D

Went through lecture 4 for today's class and also quiz 4. Getting used to having a quiz for every lesson. Went for lunch at canteen 3 for the first time, the environment here is so much better than canteen 2! The ventilation is better, greater variety of food and also taste nicer! Had about an hour rest after lunch and we were off to have afternoon class. Did a flexsim mock test before we were given the real test itself, luckily the test wasn't that hard and I was able to do it. Assignment 2 is also coming in and we can start working on it, so don't see that we are only playing! The work load here isn't that fun too!

Hard at work!

Soccer after class was fun, got to play with a different group of China students. The weather for the day was quite windy, the ideal weather for soccer! Tomorrow we are off to have some interaction activities with the local students, we are off to pluck mandarin oranges! Hopefully the trip will be fun and the weather will also be cooling tomorrow.

Day 13 - Shop and Play

2009-09-13T23:13:00.000+08:00

Another tired but fun day out today! Today was part 2 of our city tour, woke up at 7.45am and got ready for the trip to the city today. We first went to Yangtze River for sightseeing. The place was windy and the scenery was very nice too. There were also many shops selling kites and many of us were tempted to buy and play! But since we were only staying for awhile, it wasn't worth buying it.

Entrance to the park

Kites for 8Rmb each!

Look at the kite go! From this....
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After visiting the Yangtze River, we were brought to 步行街 for shopping. The place is quite messy with all the people walking around. Saw many familiar brands such as Nike, Adidas and The Body Shop. Didn't buy anything much as nothing catch my eyes, we went to the arcade and started playing the plushie machine instead!

The busy streets of 步行街

Time for arcade!Look at the condition of the lift!Their basement are shown as negative numbers here

This is actually a barber! But look at the decoration of the place!

Reflections
I notice that in China, most of the people here just dash across the road recklessly and do not really care about their own safety. Even if the light was still green and cars are still moving around, they will just cross the road like nobody business. You don't get to see this in Singapore as everyone in Singapore are very law abiding whereas people in China actually do not care much.
The hospital here is also very inefficient and the facilities are also very bad as compared to Singapore. Even if the condition of the patient is already very bad, they do not start treatment immediately but actually asked for the patient's name before they will proceed on to do anything. Even for every little sickness, you will be ask to go for drips of glucose instead of just giving some pills to tackle the problem.

Day 12 - A Day Out

2009-09-12T20:52:00.016+08:00

Had a really tired but fun day today! Woke up early in the morning at 6.30am to prepare ourselves for the day tour. Boarded the bus and we were off to enjoy for the day. Went to quite a few places for sightseeing and plainly just to enjoy ourselves!

Our tour guide for this 2 days!

Our first destination was the east lake, the scenery here is really nice and the place was really windy! We could choose to either take the buggy for 20rmb person whereby they will take you to all the scenic spots or just walk explore the place ourselves. All of us chose to walk since we just want to enjoy the cool morning breeze and save some money.
The East Lake

The buggy service!

Our tour guide explaining to us the history of East Lake

Nice scenery right? :P

Nice place to have a morning jog!

Maple Leaf

The statue of Qu Yuan

Our next destination is the Hubei Provincial Museum. Whereby we saw alot of artefacts of the past. How does a coffin looks like, having an accompanying coffin for the Emperor and so on. How do their weapons look like, their utensils, suitcases, musical instruments and many more. It is really interesting since you are looking at the REAL stuffs instead of those duplicate you see back in Singapore. This really open up the history of China right before your eyes!

This exhibit shows the item that were found from the tomb.
The real part of a bronze spear used thousands of years ago! This is one of the main national treasure they have here too!

The description for the above spear

A pure gold bowl!

We headed for lunch after visiting the museum, the tour guide brought us to the famous street for snacks called Shou Yi Garden Snack Street. Tried many different dishes such as the prawn dumpling which was really nice!

The place is not really big but the variety of food available here is alot!

Prawn Dumplings!

They use a card system here for paying food

Headed to the Yellow Crane Tower after lunch. It was walking distance from the snack street. This place its 9 storey high! However from the outside it only looks like its 5 storey high. This tower has been destory for The tour guide explained to us about the story behind this tower and we were off for a free & easy around the place.

See how high the tower is!

A picture showing the legend of this tower

The view we had from the top of the tower!

Reflections
While having our lunch today, I actually saw that the guys from other division that was sitting beside us was reserving seats for their friends. But the local people actually just took the seats without even asking as if the seats were not occupied. When the guys actually told them that the seats were reserved, the local people actually ignored him and just continue on with their food. I think that this could be part of their culture here, whereas in Singapore you do not see such scene. Even by just placing a packet of tissue on the table, people will know that the seats are already reserved.

Day 11 - Happy Birthday Mingyu!

2009-09-11T21:47:00.007+08:00

Happy birthday Mingyu! Had a mini party last night as we are having morning class the next day, we try to keep the noise to the minimal as it was already pass midnight when we were having the party. Finally had our first IS lesson today on the history and culture of Wuhan, Hubei. Our lecturer was called Anna, although she is only teaching us for this lesson she was still quite a nice teacher!A animation video shown to let us clearly understand the history of Wuhan, HubeiExplaining to us about the battle of red cliff and the brillance of Zhuge Liang!

Look at the powerpoint slide!

After the lesson, we were free for the day. Mr Loh was really kind to cancel the class let us have some time to finish our own work as most of us did not have much problem with flexsim. Went to have lunch at the same mini restaurant we had our brunch yesterday. Had beef brisket claypot rice, was really delicious! Went back to our hostel and start working on the group assignment and tutorial exercise that we are suppose to finish for BPE.

My lunch! Beef brisket claypot rice!

In the evening, we went to celebrate Mingyu and Shun Qing birthday. It was suppose to be a surprise for both of them. We celebrated Shun Qing birthday in advance as hers was on the coming monday. We could see from their face that both of them were quite shocked when they saw the birthday cake. Met up with some of our China buddies just now to discuss where they are going to bring us to next week. All of them were quite friendly and were easily to interact with. I am really looking forward to our outing next week!

Day 10 - Hectic Schedule

2009-09-11T01:09:00.009+08:00

All of us are getting busier everyday, with all the assignments and exercise we are suppose to do. Didn't have much time to go out and walk around, all of us remain in our rooms doing our work other then going out for dinner. Woke up late again today since class start only at 2pm, went to a mini restaurant open by the university students for brunch. The environment of the place was quite nice and the pricing of the food was not expensive also.

Waiting for our brunch to be served

The complimentary drink that they gave us, sour plum juice.

My brunch! Braised pork rice

Went for class after our brunch, had BPE lecture 3 which lasted only 30mins and right after it was the quiz. Finished the quiz and flexsim exercie and end at around 5pm. Rushed off to meet our friend Nian Yue who is also studying at NP, he came all the way from Beijing to visit us here! I also get to found out that the new students of the university actually have to go through 3 days of compulsory military training before they start their classes. Saw some of them having their military training while walking back to our hostel. We had KFC for our dinner and i tried out their prawn burger! It tasted really nice, too bad it isn't available in Singapore.

Quiz time!

Military training for all students regardless of gender!

My kfc dinner! The prawn burger is really nice!

Reflections
When we went to the kfc for our dinner today, one of us actually left our wallet at the restaurant. Most of us Singaporean actually have a stereo type thinking that if you actually left something behind in a foreign country the chance of getting back is almost zero especially for China. But to our surprise, one of the staff in the restaurant actually ran after us and gave back the wallet to our friend. This kind of scene is rare, even in Singapore. Thus we should be more open minded when discussing about this issue instead of just thinking that China people would have steal the item instead of returning it.

Day 9 - Happy Birthday Rebecca!

2009-09-09T23:45:00.002+08:00

Happy Birthday Rebecca! Had a small surprise birthday party at their bunk last night at about 12.30am. All of us ambushed outside her bunk at 12.25am to get ready to surprise her with the cake that we have bought. Guess that she already know we are coming since we are making far too much noise outside her room. This is also the first birthday we are celebrating in Wuhan!

Preparing outside her room!

The birthday girl!

Group picture edited by Polim

Woke up early in the morning at 7.45am to get ready for our class at 9. Went through chapter 2 lecture for BPE and had quiz 2. Having a quiz every lecture really is tiring, need some time to get used to it. Our bedsheets were changed today, also found out that our bedsheets are being changed every wednesday. Went for our brunch after class at the school canteen nearest to our hostel. Went to level 2 of the canteen to try out the food, the place was poorly ventilated and the whole place was smoky.

Our bedsheets changed

My beef ramen!

The chef that cooked our brunch

Snoy Eriosscn

iPhone 4G!!!

Reflections
While Daniel was buying the speakers today at the nearby computer shop today, we actually saw that they took out spoiled speakers and was trying to sell them to us. We could see that the speakers they were trying to sell to us were spoiled because they were the ones that Edy actually exchange with them a few days back. This shows that they were dishonest while doing their business. Instead of keeping away the ones that are spoiled, they actually put it back up for sale.
While buying our food in the canteen today, the service by the counter girl was quite bad. She did not even take the effort to try and remember a few of our orders and she had to ask us to repeat our orders to her. Some of us waited over 10mins when there was not even a queue, and the person actually shouted at us when we chased them for our order saying that we did not order loud enough. This is really bad service, if this was to happen in Singapore, people will not have patronize the particular stall ever again.

Day 8 - Surprise

2009-09-08T22:23:00.002+08:00

Had quite a boring day today, class started at 2pm and we spent most of the morning sleeping. Went for lunch at the school canteen with the others, had mixed vegetable rice. The portion of the food they gave was quite big and their food was also quite tasty. The weather in Wuhan is finally turning better! We could finally walk from our hostel to our classroom without sweating and the temperature for today went to as long as 19 degrees. Had our first lecture on BPE today and we already have a 3% quiz for today's lecture. Continued to familiarize ourselves with flexsim after the quiz by doing the next tutorial. Finished class at about 4.30pm and we headed back to our hostel, didn't join with the others for jogging today as I wanted a rest. More action less talk!

Our classroom, room 407.

Only the girls are left in the classroom when the class ended!

Lecturer's workstation

They are still using cassette players!

The view outside our classroom block

Had wonton soup again for dinner! Tried another flavour, meat with century egg wonton. After dinner, we went to buy the cake for rebecca surprise birthday celebration tonight. The cakes here are really cheap and big as compared to those in Singapore. But 一分钱一分货, the cakes here are make up of about 70% cream!

Cake making in process!

Look at the size of the cake! It only cost us 108Rmb (S$21)

Day 7 - The study begins..

2009-09-07T22:11:00.001+08:00

Today was finally our first lesson since arriving in Wuhan. The class started at 10am and we started trying out the flexsim program that we were going to use for BPE(Business Process Engineering), the module we will taking in Wuhan.Getting ready for class!Teaching in process

After our morning class,we had our lunch break at 12pm. The weather today in Wuhan is really a killer, it went up to as high as 38 degrees! Most of us went to the wonton shop to eat again. Tried another flavour of the wonton and it was simply delicious!

After the lunch break at 2pm, we had a tour of the campus. Met up with the rest of the NP students from ICT and LSCT who are also in Wuhan at the adminstrative block before proceeding to the tour.

WUST welcomes new students from all over China!

One of the 2 schools we visited, Information Engineering School

Electronics laboratory

Mobile communcations test board

Our savior for the day, aircon!

The next school we went to was the School of Life Sciences, it was at the other far end of the campus. Its worse than walking from NP bus stop to block 46!

Medical Care Lab

A scary looking manikin

Some of the China students having their practical session

After the tour, it was free and easy for us. Most of us went back to our hostel for a small rest, before going out for a jogging session lead by Xanier! It was my first real exercise since reaching Wuhan, had a campus run and did some cardio exercise.

Photo of everyone that went for the exercise session :D

Reflections
When we were at the wonton shop eating, I notice that when you are dining inside the shop, they actually do not collect back the plates and bowl even after you have finish eating. They only start cleaning and collecting the plates when you are going to leave the place. This is rather special as since in Singapore, most typical hawker centre and food court, the cleaner will actually start collecting the plates once they saw that you have finish it. Some will not even ask if you have actually finish and will just start collecting. This is actually a big difference in the social etiquette of both China and Singapore.
The facilities available in the school are also actually limited. Most of the classroom are not equipped with air-con, no wireless network was available and the most of the students here actually do not own a laptop. Whereas in Singapore, you can see that most of the area in NP actually have air con and almost every student actually do have a laptop. We are really fortunate as compared to the students here.

Day 5 and 6 - 绿林山

2009-09-06T19:25:00.000+08:00

Day 5-

Woke up early in the morning on saturday at 7am to prepare to go on the tour to 绿林山. It was a 4 hours journey from our campus to 绿林山. Along the way the ride was also very bumpy as the road was uneven, instead of those road you see in Singapore, the roads here are usually made up of big tiles or there are small holes here and there on the road . Had our lunch at the local restaurant when we reached there and after that we were off to white water rafting! All us bought our straw shoe for 2RMB. The straw shoes are wore during the rafting to prevent slipping. Didn't have much photo to post for rafting since we could not bring our cameras in.
The rafting lasted 2hours and total distance of 7km. We washed up and get on the tour bus to our next destination, 美人谷 (Beauty Falls)
We were ask to choose to either take the bamboo raft for 10RMB to tour the area or we can just walk. We chose to walk so as to save the money, in the end we didn't regret walking since there were some nice scenery that would only be available if we walk.
Our bus to 绿林!

The straw shoes we bought.

A photographer took the photo of us while we were rafting, paid 15RMB for it.

Bamboo raft, 10RMB per ride

Taking photos of the nice scenery

Beauty Falls!

Photograph at the falls

After touring the falls, it was dinner time. We had dinner at the restaurant near to the resort before returning to our resort for a small rest. We were told that there were some performances for us to watch and we proceed down to the performance area. The performance area was something similar to those 歌台 you see in Singapore during the lunar 7th month. After the main performance, they had a interactive dance around the campfire whereby they asked all the audience to join in also.

Some dance being perform

Interactive dance!

Group photo at the campfire

Day 6 -

Woke up early in the morning at 7am to get ready for breakfast. After the breakfast we proceed to get on the bus to go around for sightseeing. The ride was a very bumpy one again, we went to place called 南山寨. It was once a war area, there are also some activities you can try out here such as horse riding and archery.

North gate

Riding the horse, 10RMB per ride!

Archery!

Route to cave to the heaven

Treasure cave!

After the sightseeing, we went to have lunch and it was time for us to travel back to our hostel. Most of us were quite tired and slept all the way on the bus back. Had our dinner at the school canteen for the first time, tested out 热干面 and it was quite nice!

Reflections
On our way to 绿林, I saw many posters asking people not to discriminate girls. As China policy is that every family can only have one child, most family have the traditional view of having a son so as to pass on the family line. In China, testing for your baby gender is also not allowed so as to prevent people from aborting their baby when they discovered that it was a girl. This show that there is still gender discrimination in China whereas compared to Singapore, such thing usually does not happen.
The drivers in China are also very impatient and reckless, when we were on the bus traveling to and fro our destination, the bus driver will be horning away at the vehicles in front so they can speed up and cut into their lanes to arrive faster at the destination. You usually will not be able to see this in Singapore as drivers in Singapore are more concerned for their safety as compared to China.

Day 4 - Orientation

2009-09-04T22:13:00.000+08:00

Woke up late in the morning at about 9.45am and I was informed that we were suppose to meet at 10am for the orientation. Rushed to get ready and met the rest of the people at the hostel lobby. We proceeded on to climb the slope up to where our classroom is located. The slope is higher and less steep than the one in NP.On our way to our classroomAdminstrative block, same like NP block 1

Librarysoccer field!!

Reaching our destination, foreign language school.
Speak english please!

After looking at our classroom, we were finish for the day. All of us were tired out from the events from the past few days, so we just proceed back to our hostel and send our clothes for laundry.

Our laundry cards, use to collect our laundry after washing.

We had 麻辣火锅 for our dinner, they gave us 2 soup base. A spicy one and a chicken stew base. The food here is really cheap and nice, the spicy soup base was real hot too! They count the price by counting how many sticks and plate we took. We paid only 100RMB for 10 person, which cost like S$2 per person.

All the plates, sticks and bottle of drinks we consumed. 150 sticks in total!
The little stool we sat while eating

Food!!

Finished everything!Roadside pool!

My lunch, Wonton soupProsperity Wonton

Day 3 - 步行街

2009-09-04T00:38:00.000+08:00

Another free & easy day for us! We were being informed by Mr Loh that our campus orientation tour was postponed to friday as the school staffs and students was not ready yet. Since we have the whole day to ourselves, all of us decided to head down to the city area and have a walk around. We took bus 903 and travelled for about 30mins to reach 步行街.

Their bus system is really different from what we see back in Singapore. Instead of the using tapping of ez-link card, there is a bus conductor on board to collect the fare from you. I really take my hat off to the bus conductor, not only can she move around so easily in the fully packed bus but she can even memorise every single person who have not paid their fare. To think that we are still complaining about the buses in Singapore being fully packed all the time, the situation here is much more worse. People are even entering through the back door and squeezing with you even though it was already fully packed.Breakfast at the campus canteen.My breakfast! Cost me only 2.50Rmb ( S$0.50)

See how packed the bus is!!

My bus ticket

Finally reached our destination!

世界城 Shopping mall

Group photo outside the shopping mall. :D

Class J02!

Our place for lunch!
The variety of food found in the Macdonald here are about the same as does in Singapore. But they do have some special items that are not available in Singapore. Such as mango pie, yam pie, coke float and pork burger. One other thing that really surprised me was their good customer service. Just after we had settled down inside, the manager came forward to us and gave us the number for Mac delivery. She explained to us that she saw all of us had cameras with us, thus she thinks that we are all foreign students.

Pork Burger.

I'm Loving it. :D

Some abandoned car found in the shopping mall

Smelly Beancurd!

different food stalls + Erwin :P

After finishing our lunch, decided to head to the cinema to watch a movie. There wasn't any nice show available at that time so we decided to go to the arcade. The arcade here is much cheaper than Singapore. 1 token here cost only 0.50RMB(S$0.10)! Decided to change some money and have a go at the soft toy machine. Lady luck was on my side, I managed to catch 1 soft toy with my last try.

Inside the cinemaTiming of all the shows

Plushie machine!The plushie i gotten! :D
I actually caught the green plushie which was what Erwin wanted, but after some negotiation I managed to trade my green plushie for my favorite yellow one with Daniel. Random photo of the inside of the shopping mall.

We met back at about 6pm together at the bus stop to take the bus back to campus. The traffic and crowd was terrible since it was the peak hour now.

The beautiful sunset!

The bus journey back was also very eventful, a passenger actually started shouting vuglarities at the driver just because the driver closed the door before he could alight the bus. Everyone of us in the bus was shocked and the whole bus went quiet. But when observing the other China people in the bus, they seems to be indifferent towards what had just happened.
After reaching back to campus, we had a small rest and after that we headed out to the night market stalls to have our dinner. The food there was cheap and nice, we even managed to see some fireworks while we were eating!

Dumplings! 6 for only 1Rmb!BBQ Squid!

The vendors cooking our food!

Enjoying our food and posing for the camera! :D

Reflections

There are really lots of cultural differences between here and Singapore. What I saw and experienced today was the differences of the transport system. What I saw on the bus was really shocking to me, i really did not expect the person to start scolding vuglarities just because the driver close the door before the guy could get off. This was also the first time I had to really squeeze with lots of people in the bus. Usually in Singapore, when the driver or passengers saw that the bus is full, they will tend to just drive off or they will not even attempt to try and get onto the bus.

Day 2 - Free & Easy

2009-09-03T01:50:00.000+08:00

Had a nice sleep till about 10am since we did not have any activities on for the day. We were only suppose to start our orientation tomorrow, so we had a free day today. Some China students came around our hostel selling prepaid cards and i bought 1. It only cost me 50 RMB(S$10) for it, including 300 free smses and unlimited free incoming calls. After the prepaid card was settled, all of us decided to go around exploring the area and buying the necessities we needed.Card for buying food in the canteen
Road side stall
Their menu, lots of variety!

We settled down at a small eatery along the road to have our lunch. Had lean meat fried rice for my lunch. The portion here are really a lot bigger than those you see in Singapore. We will really need some time to get used to the food here.

Look at the amount of oil!! Some really nice cake designs we saw outside the bakery

The necessities we bought, including pails, hanger, kettle.

Their supermarket, similar to the Giants in Singapore

After much exploring of the area, we found a KFC and decided to have a small rest in there. The taste here are quite different from those in Singapore. Most important, they did not sell my favorite cheese fries!

Some other school around our area

Look at the amount of rubbish!!

Never ending stretch of street with all the road side stalls

One of their public transport, trishaw-like taxi

We also went to another shopping mall to have a look and get some other necessities such as air refreshener, mineral water and some tidbits. Their entrance was very special, instead of those normal sliding door you usually see, they use those flaps that are usually use for cold storage warehouses.Crowded night market

Our dinner!The cup i bought!

Next up: the GREATEST invention of all time....
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The toilet chair!!
This is really going to save our legs from 42 days of torture and we can finally do our business in peace without worrying about breaking our legs!

Reflections
After 2 days in Wuhan, I realise that whenever you pay your bills with large notes such as 50rmb or 100rmb, they will tend to check the note first. This shows that there are still many fake currency notes circulating around, this was never a problem in Singapore. You could just pay using large notes and they will usually not check your money.

Day 1 - WUST

2009-09-03T00:21:00.000+08:00

Woke up early in the morning at 4am and started getting ready to go off to the airport. Met up with the other people at Changi Airport. Many of our camp pinata friends were there to send us off, they reached the airport even earlier then me! After checking in, we didn't have much time to loiter around the airport since we were only just on schedule. We boarded the plane and it was a 4 hours journey to Guangzhou.The plane we are taking!

The name of their Guardian, Mannings.

We reached the airport at about 1pm. Had our first meal in China at a restaurant in the airport. The restaurant name was called Jinlong Restaurant. The environment in the restaurant was quite nice and the food was not bad, just that it was a bit saltier and oily. Looks like we have to adapt to their taste for the next 6 weeks.

The noodle i ate, Shrimp Wonton Noodles!

Their tim sum menu

After our lunch, we gathered to get ready to take our transit flight to Wuhan, our final destination. This is also the first time i am taking a transit flight. We went through another 1.5 hours of flight and finally we landed safely in Wuhan! This was not all, we still need to travel by coach for another 1.5 hours before reaching our hostel.

Our dinner we had upon reaching the hostel

After dinner, we finally settled down in our bunks. Each room is to be occupied by 3 person, my room mates are Zhong Rong and Daniel. The room turn out to be better than what i was expecting. This is really a interesting experience for me to travel overseas together with friends instead of family and for such a long period of time. This is also the first time i have travel to China. Hope we will have a enjoyable and interesting trip for the next 6 weeks!

Adrian, Daniel and Zhong Rong

My air ticket!

Buggy service at Guangzhou Airport
Our washing areaThe 5 star toilet we had

Our comfortable and "soft" bed in our "hotel" :D