6

Day 6- 31st Aug

We woke up at 11am for more shopping!! HA! I can’t get enough of it:) Feels more wealthy in China as their food is usually 1-2SGD and thus I have more money to spend.

We went to eat at a western restaurant which serves buffet at a price of 38rmb(approx 8dollars). WHAT! Buffet okay… and it is so cheap. They have waiters walking around holding sticks of meat (sotong, prawn, chicke, pork, sausages and even chicken heart). Sighh.. I unknowingly ate the chicken heartL gross! I still thought it was satay:S.

The Carrefour was really packed but we had to buy our necessities such as Maggie mee, mugs and etc. All of these cost us 280+ RMB.( will be split among the 3 of us- ivy, dina & me).
Kai Xin and Amaris was almost rob of their purse which was placed in the trolley. Actually they have lockers for people to place their bags and stuffs for free. Dina and I had experienced trouble with the locker before and we almost could not retrieve our stuffs. Phew. After shopping, we rushed back by the taxi(starting price of 3rmb) and it only cost us 8.20RMB. Jun Wei was cooking for everyone and he was a former cook in Fish & co. Yay. His spaghetti was great though it was not enough to go around :(.

5

Day 5- 30th Aug 08 (Free and Easy Day:) )



Most taxis have "barriers" to prevent robbery. The view from the taxi. Sigh.. raining:(


@ the "ORCHARD ROAD"



We woke up at 10am and met up to eat at 11am:) We decided to try the Zhi Cha nearby which was opposite our hostel. It was quite run down but the food was nice but oily though.

We met Yu Xuan who was a local of Wu han who studies at NP. He brought us to their ‘orchard road’ at Hankou, another part of Wuhan. We are situated at Wu Chang.

There was a night market as well and we were told to safekeep our belongings well as the theft rate there was higher. Bing Quan was given a counterfeit note of 20RMB(4dollars) as he did not check for its authenticity. Poor him.. That made me alert as I realized that counterfeits were aplenty as whenever we pay for any stuffs, it was noted that the cashers would check the money.

As I still could not really understand their slang, I got ripped of 42rmb(8+ sgd) in buying sweets. =_=. Was utterly unhappy with the attendant as when paying, I said I wanted less as it was too expensive. She fiercely did not wanted to reduce it and I stupidly paid them. (Should have just refused to buy and walk away).

As we walk along, I realized that wuhan’s night is cooler than Sg’s night but wuhan’s day is hotter than sg’s day.

I have to learn the art of bargaining as in China, everything is yours if you can bargain well.

Sadly, we have a curfew and we have to be back on any day by 11pm. :(

4

DAY 4- 28th AUGUST 2008Day 4- 28th Aug 08

On board the 4stars cruise ( we were actually promised of a 5 stars cruise)

DAY 2 of SAN XIA

We woke up at around 6 to wash up and 6.30am to eat breakfast. They gave announcements for all the major programs. At the breakfast table, there were plain porridge, small side dishes, hard boiled eggs, sugar solution and pao.

We were cruising in the san xia so we were told to go up to the deck for sight-seeing. It was raining heavily and it was really cold. They sold umbrellas and ponchos at quite an expensive price. There were 2 professional photographers too who offered phototaking services.

Some cool things that were noted:
· There were coffin burials in between cavities of mountains. It was one of their age-old tradition and the coffins were hanging in mid air and they were only supported by 2 wooden planks. =X( how they could carry up there remained a mystery)

· There was a huge bird nest cave. :)

birdnest cave!

We went down the cruise to smaller boats which were rowed by men staying around the mountainous area. In total, there were 6 men, 4 at the front and 2 at the back. 1 of the front men played an important role in the later stages. He was slacking until the water got really choppy. We witnessed 拉纤， which was rarely seen in the world anymore and it was their hometown tradition.

As we passed by the mountains, there was a guy who was sitting at the bank, blowing a tune to welcome us. Aww. Such friendliness coming for a village folk.

The great scenery!- Usually, in Chinese paintings, you get to see mountains & rivers. Yup! We are seeing this all right in front of our eyes!

The entire day was really wet and we had to walk in the rain when we alighted to visit the temple. There were ancient artifacts from the three kingdoms time. There were statues of all kinds and one was headless. The main focus was on Liu Bei, Zhu Ge Liang, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. It was quite eerie though.

The steps leading to the temple of Liu Bei, Zhu Ge Liang, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

Me and dina is sitting on are sedans. There will be folks carrying us to the place we want, of course you have to pay.

Ancient Chinese writings

Some of the famous status of the well known 3 kingdom heroes.

A tour guide explained about the difference in tomb wood and linked to the wooden comb which the people there sold. It was supposed to have health benefits… Really? After we went back onboard, we were invited to the Dinner and Dance which was the cruise activity at the Karaoke room.

All of us enjoyed the crazy fun night with rounds of Singing. Initially, some (who I will not name), were so reluctant to sing ar! HAHA. In the end... you can guess it yourself!

Chinese people seemed to like folk dancing as they waltz to the tune which they chose. There were a few couples that danced. We just looked on. Every where on the streets in the nights, there will be music playing and many couples waltzing. This is probably one of their fav past times!

3

The nice chinese restaurant that we ate at

The streets of China (one of the more developed rural area)
h aug 08

We set off at 11.40am!! There was the tour guide which accompanied us along. She told us to call her xiao wu and she is really young. Just a few years our senior. She knew all her facts and told us about the history of the tunnels that we passed through. There were 5 major tunnels built for the route which passes through the mountains. The longest one is 3.6km. I was forfeited for guessing the number too far away from the actual length (16km=X). Anyway, she sang us her folk town song. Cool. We were told to echo after her and it was quite entertaining.

We were told not to expose our identities for safety purposes. This is because even though we do not have a slang, we could easily pass off as a China native. This also prevent us from getting ripped off. *lesson learnt~

We ate at a typical Chinese restaurant and there were really many dishes which were nice but are oily. After dinner, we took a walk and we went past many run down shophouses. Nothing much but as we walk along, there were people sitting in the open and playing mahjong~! COOL.

A form of relaxation which is commonly seen on the streets.

There were even condom vending machines too. HA! Guess they are quite open when promoting with safe sex. Btw, we also saw a run down sex shop. I actually thought that Chinese were very conservative but this goes to show that the world is becoming more open.

One of the few condom vending machines along the street (one of the guys (hans) got curious and he bought 1)

We went back to the bus and the bus travelled for a distance before reaching a pitstop where there was a minimart which sold rabbit meat and jerkys. Not those kind of entire rabbit but those in packet form per piece. Like the ba kwa in Sg which has change to suit the consumers' taste.

When we reached our cruise, it was not as magnificent as we expected. As it looked quite old and there were nothing much except for a mahjong room, massage room(told not to go there as they are a rip offs) and a Karaoke room. We realized that the mahjong table were automated (COOL).Yup, they shuffle your cards and help you arrange them:). )

I did not sleep a wink at all! Spent the night chatting away....

2

My hostel!

Day 2- 26 aug 08 (tue)

Early in the morning at about 8am, we went to have breakfast at the school’s canteen. There were nothing much left for breakfast as they usually open at a really early timing of 6am. The habits of China people are of an early bird kind, they wake up really early.

After breakfast was a tour around the school. It was H-U-mongous! Like a few times of Ngee Ann Polytechnic as their various divisions seem to be very far away from one another. The buildings ranged from really old and dingy to newly built ones. The differences between the new and old ones were really big. There were like 30 basketball courts in the area. I guess the school is just too big! HA! Anyway, the school stretches to over the other side of the road and we used the underpass constructed for the students as the traffic was unbecoming. We took at least 20-30minutes to walk to my soon-to-be classroom. Mine was located at the 7-storey!!

NO LIFTS!

The school was really empty as the students have yet to report to school as it was their holiday still. There were lots of hawkers by the sidewalk and even in the back alley. All the fooood. Fried rice, Noodles and soup. All the Chinese cuisine... Gotta try them!
After the long and tiring walk, we went to Carrefour, which was in their shopping mall. Quite a cool shopping mall though! It’s like sg’s but bigger. The place was quite empty and we tried the Zha Jiang Mian:). There were carrots and cucumber slices for 10rmb (2SGD). We took the bus back to the hostel to wash up for the welcome ceremony. (grand eh?).

Btw, the bus system was quite weird. For non-airconditioned buses with farecards, it is more expensive by 20cent RMB compared to paying by cash and for airconditioned buses with farecards, it is cheaper with the farecard. :S weird.

We felt very welcomed by the Chinese teachers who held a conference style welcoming session for us. The vice principal gave a welcoming speech followed by the various teachers and more importantly, our lecturer and our representative-IVY. Ivy was really very compost and her Chinese speech was awesome. We expected students to be there but there were only the teachers and VP.

Tomorrow we are setting off for the san xia tour. 3days away from the hostel!

Hopefully, the internet connection will be up by the time we are back. :)

My school campus

1

DAY 1- 25th August 08

From today onward, I have to learnt how to be independent and learn how to do my own laundry… Truly anticipating the future yet I have part of my heart left at home. It’s the start of something new! How will China be like? Is the accommodation going to be like a shared dorm with a common toilet? Is it really as dirty as people say it will be? Does the toilet even have doors?

Early in the morning, my entire family sent me to the airport along with Maurice and Ivy. We reached in less than a hour and since there was still time, we went to Burger King to have a quick breakfast. We bade farewell and soon, we were on the plane. I could not believe that I was on my own to a foreign land faraway for the 1st time! Perplexed!

We reached the transit area at canton. There were some screw-ups already! We seemed to have a language barrier with the person at the counter who was supposed to check in our luggage for the next flight even though we spoke the same language=X Sigh. What made it worse was the miscommunication between our group and some of them went missing. In the end, Dina (geraldina) and Frederick (Lecturer) found them out of the check-in area.

After this episode, we went to eat. The entire airport was huge! We ended up at a café where people smoked=_=. It is not like Sg where smoking was banned in an indoor environment. Sigh.

We were running late when we went for the next flight as we overshot the boarding area and took quite awhile to head back. By the way, the airport attendants who checked our belongings and us before we went into the boarding area were very thorough.

We alighted at the Wuhan Airport and had to get off the plane to the ground where there were 2 shutter buses who brought us to the immigration counter. I actually found a crack in my luggage and did not know what to do. So ‘gong’ lo. We could actually claim the losses from the airport.

Leaving the place, I realized that the air was SOOO POLLUTED. The air was dense with dust and my throat feels uncomfortable already. I don’t wanna get use to this… This place seems quite backward and it feels so different from the glamorous Beijing where the Olympic was just held. All around were haphazard buildings and the place so big that even the bus driver got lost! Supposedly it only took 1hr, we ended up taking 3 hrs to reach! The wide big roads without road signs were intimidating as there seem to be a lack of LAW on the roads! Like vehicles and motorists would speed from all directions without waiting for the pedestrians. They ‘U-turn’ without a warning too!

I heard the driver calling out to fellow drivers and he calls the “shifu”(师父)-master. Sounds very polite and though some drivers help to direct him, others scolded him to go away”滚开”. Poor guy!

There was something very cool which happened, the female teacher from china who accompanied us related us to the different parts of China. She said that I look like I’m from Wuhan while dina- Northern part of Beifang, like from Fujian too as she was tall and straightforward. Ivy-looked like she as from Fujian.

The school was inconvenient yet unexpectedly welcoming. All the facilities were there such as the toilet, washing machine, tv, kitchen with fridge and microwave. :)

All the ideas of it being under standard for living dissipated. :) YAY! I wanna go explore!

Prologue

PROLOGUE

This blog is for my IS module which requires me to blog about the things I learn, see and everything. :) Yup! It will replace my fellyfryingpan blog for the entire trip so... Check me out here! I miss Singapore! HA!