An Experience In WuHan

2009-04-18T13:17:00.002+08:00

FLASH BACK

Time really flies, we have been back to Singapore for around 1 week already. I'm feeling much better as compared to the first 2 days when we first arrived. Without the presence of my OIP and WUST peers, I still feel very lonely and upset. I really miss them alot. It has been a long time since I feel this way. Life is very cruel to us because all good things will eventually come to an end. I really hate this two words - 分离. It means "separation", which is a very tough job for all of us. It is not easy for us to let go and pick ourselves up again. But, at the same time, this kind of situation is inevitable. Sigh. Like what some of us say, time will heal all wounds. Yes, I hope so too. I'm one who is very emotional so I guessed I might need more time than others.

There are many things in WuHan in which we don't have a chance to experience in Singapore. Some things like: living in the hostel which will enable us to be more independent, staying under the same roof with our friends, hanging out at the back alleys as and when we like, experiencing winter and so on. I love the kind of life we lead over there. It's full of freedom. Another thing is that we managed to make so many new friends. The WUST students are really very amicable and I feel that they are more mature in a sense. They took care of us like big brothers and sisters although in actual fact, most of us are of the same age. In these six weeks, I have learnt alot from each and everyone of them. Each of their faces and voices has already left deep impressions in my mind. It was very pleasant for me to know them. I will remember them and keep all those beautiful memories in my heart.

I remembered on the day of departure, some of them sent us off with tears on their cheeks. I remembered this girl called Cherry. She was the one who held me close to her and said with tears in her eyes, "你们不要走好吗？" I was very touched by her words. I didn't know what to say but at that point of time, tears just rolled off my cheeks too. She really left me a deep impression at the airport.

Although six weeks are neither too short or too long, but the bonds between us and our WUST friends have already been developed and strengthened. Thus, saying goodbye was very tough for all of us.

Anyway, I heard that some WUST students will be coming over to Singapore for just few days and all will be coming over too next year. Do contact us and hope to see you guys again! We hope to be better hosts to all of you.

I hereby thanked and wished them all the best in whichever things they do and I hope most of us will still stay in contact regardless of the far distance. Take care everyone! (:

2009-04-14T16:41:00.000+08:00

12/04/09 (Day 41)

Just wanna say, you guys made my stay in Wuhan a very pleasant one! Thanks everyone! I MISS ALL OF YOU BADLY )':

The journey ends here...

2009-04-12T02:51:00.001+08:00

11/04/2009 [Day 40]

Last minute shopping @ HAN ZHENG JIE. There are so many shops in this area. Seriously, I will miss this place!!
There was some kind of singing competition in the shopping centre. This guy sang really well. His voice resembled 李玖哲.

Our last time to have dinner at 呢喃. ): I think I will also miss their food because the taste are quite similar to homecooked ones.

Today we had more dishes than usual. 7 dishes in total. :)

The sweet memories I had... )':

Just a moment ago, it was so so so MESSY! When I took out all the things I bought, I stoned for awhile because I didn't know how and where to start my packing task. A BIG HEADACHE for me!

After some time... TADA! TASK ACCOMPLISHED. ^^ Thank you Winson for helping me to tie my luggage although it looks kind of... ERM... Ha ha. Nice ribbon. I bought this carrier at Han Zheng Jie because my luggage is too small to fit everything in!

Nice right? Zebra straps + Pokka dots! =P Anyway, I'm going to check in this as well as my black-coloured luggage. The chance that they will be over weight is very LOW~

Hmm, time really flies. 41 days just passed without us realising. Sigh. Right now, my mood is very complicated. I'm happy that I can see my family and friends soon but at the same time I can't bear to leave this place.

I will miss...

the time spent with my OIP peers and local friends.

I will miss...

jogging with my buddies at the stadium early in the winter morning.

I will miss...

the food along the roadside stalls at the back alley.

I will miss...

the kind of lifestyle that we led in WuHan such as learning to be more independent by doing the chores by ourselves and also learnt to tolerate one another as we're all living under the same roof.

I will miss...

the good and bad times that I had experienced. )=

I will miss alot of things but for now I'm too tired already.

It's time to bid GOODBYE. 天下无不散之筵席 [All good things will come to an end]. GOODNIGHT WORLD.

2009-04-11T04:34:00.001+08:00

05/04/09-06/04/09 (Day 34 & 35)

Basically, we spent these two days at the Lu Ling Resort and also toured around the areas nearby. The room that we were allocated to was pretty comfortable as the conditions in there were considered well-facilitated. However, one main problem is that there were many bugs and spiders crawling around in the room!!

Franice & I shared the same room.
This is the exterior outlook of the resort.

Our first destination was the “美人谷...

It was like my dream to stand among the flowers and take photo. So illusional. If I'm not wrong, the yellow flowers are called "油菜花". They can be manufactured into vegetable oil and be used for cooking.MEI REN GU. (=

A boat that is made of bamboos. The scenery is really beautiful. I really love it!

Touring around mei ren gu. I don't know when this photo was taken. Ha ha.

As usual, our group C photo! :]

A big group photo which consists of both MDE and LSCT! Waterfalls behind us!

Peacock. It's gorgeous.

Can you see that the rocks looked like a face of a human? Use more of your imaginations... (:

We happened to see a PIG near the resort. Pigs are clever animals.

After touring around mei ren gu, we visited the village which is near the resort. I started to reminisce the memories I had in Fujian province [my hometown] when I was young. In some way, the experiences I had in Wuhan is somehow similar to what I had experienced in Fujian. I felt slightly down as thoughts were beyond my control. I really missed the times I had in my hometown. It is a place in which I grew up.

Woods. They can be used to start the fire for cooking purposes. But I guessed nowadays also quite a number of villagers have already started to use gas to cook?

Mushrooms~~

A small kid that we saw on the way. I think she's a girl. Ha ha..

What can you see in this picture? I saw what kind of life the villagers are leading...

I want to go back my hometown! )=I'm having fun. I'm not sure what this throwing stone activity is called. But I remembered in my childhood time, kids love to play this.

We all trying very hard to make the stone jumped very far!

WOO! The shaky bridge.

After dinner, we were invited to join in a campfire! So cool. These two guys were the performers in the campfire activity.

Merry-go-round. Clive being the leader, leading everyone.

After campfire, Fran & I took up the courage to sing on the stage. We sang "我无所谓" by 张惠妹.

Due to time constraint, we didn't managed to complete our song. :/

When everything ended, all of us took a group photo on the stage together with some china people and also our tour guides.

MengZhen with MENG MENG =P

He's our tour guide for the 2 days & 1 night, Zhang Hao. He sang pretty well. Actually I feel that majority of the tour guides that we met were very friendly and take up responsibilities well.

Lovely sunset~

These two days were quite enjoyable although what we do mostly was sightseeing. There's really a lot to see! Beautiful places!

2009-04-04T23:48:00.001+08:00

04/04/09 (Day 33)

NE Message: We have confidence in our future. United, determined and well prepared, we have what it takes to build a bright future for ourselves, and to progress together as one nation.

That day while I was chatting with one of the local students [Fire], he told me about the life he had when he first entered WUST. All the year 1 students [both genders] will have to undergo a 15 days of military training when they first started their university life. This is to let them have a taste of what hardship is. He mentioned that the trainings were tough. I think it's good to have this kind of trainings. A 15 days of hardship might be short but it might be able to change a person [be it physically or mentally].

Singapore does not have this kind of trainings provided to our university students. But our governement has established great education systems to nuture each individuals and provide them with ample of opportunities to challenge themselves and to further work on their potential areas.

Other than that, our government also encouraged males who are above 18 years old to serve the national service [NS] for a period of 2 years. In China, not every male will be given the chance to go for military trainings as their government conduct selections based on various criteria. So I think Singapore guys should treasure the opportunities that they are provided with.

2009-04-03T11:56:00.001+08:00

03/04/09 (Day 32)

Hui Miang, Clive & I went jogging at the stadium at 9am. As usual, Ci Min joined us to enjoy the morning breeze but she didn't run.
Three who ran and one time-keeper!
最佳拍档 (=

The six of us. Xiang Yu and Benedict joined us later. It was the first time they joined us for jogging. I was kind of surprised!

In the washroom of a toilet in a shop that we shopped. I took a photo of it because I think it is very rare that I can see washrooms with such good conditions ever since we came to WuHan.

At Han Zheng Jie.

I don't know what Ci Min is trying to do. HA HA!

Dinner at Mr Loh's house.

They were watching Red Cliff 2.

Breads...

Dishes that some of them prepared. Thanks for the dinner~

In the midst of watching Red Cliff 2.

Drinks!

I have achieved a great sense of satisfaction. [PEACE BIRD sells pretty clothes! I really enjoyed shopping at its outlet.]

Basically today is free and easy for all of us. In the morning, I went jogging with Hui Miang, Clive and Ci Min. A refreshing morning for me! I hope next week the few of us can go jogging together. When we go back singapore, I bet there would be other chances for us to go jogging together! ): It's really a nice experience for me...

Anyway, after jogging, we went back to our respective dormitories and get prepared to go out. Some of them went Walmart and some went to Computer Town. As for Ci Min [my shopping partner] & I, we decided to shop at Han Zheng Jie. It was just the two of us. We randomly picked a bus stop which is near Han Zheng Jie and we alighted. Ci Min has a good sense of direction, unlike me! Ha ha. I feel safe with her by my side. We're pretty lucky that we did not lose our way. Today's shopping experience was great because the staffs in the shops were quite friendly and approachable. (= I hope to visit Han Zheng Jie again!! I like the place because there's a lot to shop!

We left Han Zheng Jie at approximately 6+ pm. It was raining at that point of time so the weather was very cold! We were freezing~ We had dinner at Mr Loh's house. When we first arrived, the others were already engrossed in watching Red Cliff 2. Before that, we even lose our way as we have forgotten which gate will lead us to Mr Loh's house. Thank you Xiang Yu for coming out to fetch us. Dinner was fine and after which we had a short KTV session. ;]

Oh, thanks Hui Miang for the breadtalk pork floss bread which was bought from computer town! Yummy~~~

These few days I have thought through a lot, came to realised few things and managed to clear my thoughts.

2009-04-01T23:22:00.009+08:00

31/03/09 (Day 29, continued...)

Guess whose cake is that?

TADA! It's my birthday... :]

NOPE, I was just kidding with you guys only! We're all waiting for the REAL birthday girl to reach the doorstep of the girls' dormitory. Let's take a photo before the clock strikes twelve! Hmm, sounds like the fairytale story- CINDERELLA?

Here comes the birthday girl! HUI MIANG cum MY JOGGING cum CLIMB WUDANG SHAN BUDDY cum GROUPMATE. :) I love to repeat my points! What can you do? Hee hee..

As you can see from her facial expression, she was very surprised! (这!!)

Making wish(es)??? HM, don't be greedy okay? :P

The twelve of us :]

As usual, our group photo! I guessed we're the most united one yeah. =)

Since when we have got two new members??

Yo! Happy birthday girl! May you have the happiest birthday. Hee hee, see, so many people celebrate for you. You're so fortunate, unlike us [Ci Min & I]. )= We have got no cake and flowers because our birthdays do not fall in this period of time~~

Even when you are cutting the cake, you also looked very cool and serious. Ha ha.

Officially introducing the popular BLACK BLACK AND WHITE WHITE. ERM, as usual, we were self-entertaining ourselves by kidnapping Ci Min's black black and white white to battle. In total, there are 3 steps before battling. Ha ha!

WOOO, fruits and more fruits. I love all kinds of fruits!!!!!! Anyway, this was another cake that Mr Wong and the class bought for HM to celebrate one.

Mr Wong must be hungry...

A kiss for the birthday girl~

She likes to play basketball!

Once again, 祝你生日快乐！

Her 18th birthday celebration... The candles were quite unique in a way..

WOW, what a huge cake!

In the process of distributing the big big cake... it was like our breakfast.

They were indulging in the birthday cake.

They managed to finish up such a big piece of cake?!? Ha ha.

A new way of eating cake.

That was her new hat! Don't you think it is very special?

Mr Wong was demonstrating us his robot dance. COOL ! :D

To Hui Miang: Hope you had fun ! Let's going jogging this friday morning okay? (=

2009-03-31T01:22:00.000+08:00

31/03/09 (Day 29)

祝你生日快乐。。。

祝你生日快乐。。。
祝你生日快乐。。。。。。
祝你生日快乐。。。。
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUI MIANG, MY GROUPMATE CUM JOGGING CUM CLIMB WUDANG MOUNTAIN BUDDY ! May all your wishes come true!
Stay cool & cheerful always!! ^^

Note: Photos will be uploaded tomorrow as it's getting late already.

All of a sudden, I miss my family especially my grandmother. )':
She went back to Fujian Province yesterday. I don't know when I will get to see her.
Although I know I'm selfish in this way, but I really can't bear to let her go.
I'm feeling so down right down.

Fate? I don't understand. Deep in thoughts. . .

2009-03-29T08:52:00.007+08:00

28/03/09 (Day 26)

The weather was real bad. It was raining early in the morning. Nowadays, I really dislike rainy days because when it rains, the weather will be super cold.

But sometimes walking in the rain do made me feel refreshed...

Our tour guide for the day: Liu Liu. I realised they all only have single given name.

Most of us were engrossed in doing our own stuffs.

Dolphins as photo-taking background! Hmm, I guessed it's pretty alright? =D

To Hui Miang: I thought the dolphins looked like SHARKS yeah? HA HA!

江汉路步行商业街.

Happened to see this and I find it rather interesting! I think it's the window pane of a restaurant.

汉口江滩. Actually we were supposed to take a walk at the JIANG TAN but because of the rain, the schedule was changed. We shopped at 步行街for a couple of hours. I hope to go back there again because I saw some things that I wanted to buy! Hehe..

Can you see the huge signboard which is on the building? "武汉是我家，建设靠大家". This meant that WUHAN is their home and to build this home, everyone plays a part. The same applies to SINGAPORE, our homeland. Everyone plays an important role in building up a racial and harmonious home!

I'm just too in love with the nature! (=

Be proud of your country, it is where you belonged to!

People whom we are thankful to:

Han Xuan tour guide. The cheerful lady...

Qin tour guide. The patient one...

Yesterday was like the last time that we can see them. I believed fate brought all of us together... Thanks for making the efforts to ensure that we enjoyed the trips! You guys are great and I'm really thankful to your! I don't know how to express my feelings in words but I just wanna say, ALL THE BEST~ (:

2009-03-29T08:30:00.002+08:00

27/03/09 (Day 25)

We gathered at the main entrance at 9.15am. Before setting off, a group photo is essential!

Group C. I can sense a stronger bond between us now! (=

Visit to "Yangtze Optiocal Fibre And Cable Company Ltd

Upon arriving at the main hall... [We were only allowed to take photos in the main hall, other than that, no photo-takings are allowed.]
He was the one who brought us around. He was giving us a short introduction on the company and how the various processes works.
Optical Fibre Preform.

All kinds of optical cables. So colourful!

Don't you think the coloured fibre looked like coloured threads? Beautiful colours... Just like the colours of a rainbow.

PMF Preform.

Optical Cable.

A close-up view of the optical cable. Cool!

Big group photo! [MDE, LSCT, ECE, EE]

Visited the YANGTZE OPTICAL FIBRE AND CABLE COMPANY LTD in the morning. It was another eye-opening experience for us. Basically, the company specializes in two types of products such as optical fibre and cable. For today, only the optical cabling processes were introduced to us. Unfortunately, we were unable to take down photos of the various processes in the company as they were supposed to be kept private and confidential. However, videos of how optical cables were produced were shown on televisions and we also get the chance to take a look at the various processes through the transparent glass windows.

For optical cables right, the processes are all automated using computers. The operator's job is only to insert the raw glass tubes into the machine and tighten them. When the processes are completed, the operator will then take out the products from the machine. The entire process takes about 4 hours!

KTV session in the Shopping Mall

Randoph, Clive, Hui Miang, MengZhen, Masita, Hajar, Winson & Ci Min. Fran was the photographer.

The room was spacious but the performance of the audio system was not satisfying. :/ Hajar and Masita must be very bored as the songs were rather limited.

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the singing session with the accompanies of my fellow OIP peers. (=

2009-03-26T23:48:00.002+08:00

26/03/09 [Day 24]

As usual, I woke up early to shower and prepared for morning class. Today, Mr Wong conducted on two chapters, they are chapters 9 & 10. The quiz we had was on chapter 10. Class ended at 12 plus and we went out of school for lunch.

They were helping the fake KFC to do promotion.
I realised up till today I still don't know the actual name of the fake KFC outlet. We always called it as "FAKE KFC". It's time for me to check out the outlet name!
Note : Look at MeiYun, she's already cam-whoring... HA HA!
OUR LUNCH! As usual, I ordered the grilled chicken set. It goes with french fries and pepsi. Yummy~~ But I should take less of this yeah?
The chairs are cool thus we decided to pose for more photos! =)
I told you we're going to take more photos!
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
We're making good use of the mirrors in the fast food outlet. Many said we looked alike, do we? Hmm, in some way, I guessed.
The six of us! :]
I showed Hui Miang this. And, I think my cheeks looked like fishballs. :/ Why are they so chubby? Sigh, I want my face to look slim.

I saw this little child on the street. He was playing with a mini chair. Actually I wanted to take a photo of his face but he happened to turn away. I didn't mean to take this photo! Hee hee.

After much analysis, I think parents made their kids to wear this kind of pants for the sake of convenience? Well, I hope they won't feel cold in this kind of weather.

I wanted to capture an image of this bird outside the lecture theatre but I was too late. It was flying off already.

In the midst of preparation for the presentation to the local students.

After everyone settled down, the presentation was started off by the LSCT students.

Seok's group was doing a skit on the transportation system in Singapore. They were rather entertaining and they did a good job!

Xiang Yu was hilarious. I thought he was a quiet guy but NO, I changed my impression on him. Ha ha.

Zee Min's group. I like their shirts! They said they bought those shirts from BUGIS.

The movie that they made was also very creative and funny! All of us had a great laugh!

Weiguang was giving out mini gifts to those local students who managed to answer the questions.

Randolph [my assistant group leader]. He was presenting on Peranakan history and traditional costumes.

Clive, the assistant leader of Hashanah's group. He was presenting on Peranakan's food and wedding day.

Benedict, he's the assistant leader of Stephanie's group. He presented on the Malay culture.

Our China friends [WUST students]..

MDE presented the item "RASA SAYANG" to them. It is a Malay song. We sang and added in simple dance steps.

Nadiyah, Hashanah & Zee Min led us in the song.

Hope all of them enjoyed the whole presentation (:

We were getting ready to go off for dinner. Hungry man~ It was still raining when the presentation ended. Thanks Tracy and Autumn for sharing their umbrellas with us! Tonight's weather is cold because of the rain!

When we sang the national day song together, it feels like we're having our National Day Celebration. The atmosphere was there. Ha ha. I guessed most of us are missing the life in Singapore. Through today's presentation, I have also learned more about the Malay culture, Peranakan culture and etc.

Credits to FIRE & HIS FRIENDS for the above photos. THANKS! (=

It's getting late! GOODNIGHT~

2009-03-25T23:54:00.004+08:00

25/03/09 [Day 23]

Had our Flexism Simulation Test in the morning at 10am. There were two groups for the test. One is at 10am, the other group is at 11am. Hmm, I think I did rather bad for it because I mis-interpreted one of the questions. ): Anyway, it's no point crying over spilt milk. So I shall be more careful in the next time round!

After test, we went to the food streets to get our lunch. Bought takeaways to our hostel and eat. The taste of the fried noodles was delicious! Ha ha. Fried noodles with soyabean milk [this has became one of the most common drinks I normally buy]...

Afternoon BPE class was changed to 2pm. Mr Wong conducted his lesson on chapter 8. As usual, we had a quiz at the end of every chapter. Then, after class, all of us had a short discussion on tomorrow's presentation to the local students. We also had a mini rehearsal for that. HA HA. I hope all of us will have fun tomorrow!

After class, Ci Min, Hui Miang, Winson & I went to the back alley to play pool. Although I have went in before but this is the first time I'm playing. It was fun! CM is my pool master although she also... HA HA! I shall not elaborate. HM & Winson also taught me. Thanks guys! I shall master pool skills before I go back Singapore.

Before dinner, Fire told me about the movie screening in their lecture theatre. So I went there after dinner. There were approximately 20 who went. The movie was called "Catch me if you can". I guessed some of you might have heard before. I think the movie was okay as I missed out some part of it in the beginning.
It was kind of early when the movie ended. Thus we walked around and chatted, and had supper at the food streets. I'm still feeling very full now! Ha ha. Hmm, we had a nice chat. [:

Anyway, today is my grandpa's death anniversary. I didn't know until my mum called and reminded me yesterday. I don't have much impression on him as he passed away when I was only 4 years old. But my mum told me that he started to dote on me more when I can speak and call him "ah gong". In the past, sad to say that, boys were preferred over girls.
I guessed my grandpa is doing fine up there [heaven]?
Oh, I forgot to mention that my grandpa is actually a twins. (= But his twin brother also passed away few years ago. Sigh. Life is unpredictable and most of the things are predestined.

I'm so tired now! Going to sleep soon... Goodnight!

2009-03-23T23:55:00.001+08:00

22/03/09 (Day 20)

This was the day whereby we climbed WuDang Mountain! OUR JOURNEY TO THE GOLDEN PEAK HAS STARTED! (=

Hui Miang [my jogging partner cum group mate] & I went ahead of the rest and we reached the golden peak in approximately 2 hours time. Both of us had a great sense of achievement! We did it with one another's encouragements. Although climbing up the stairs was tedious but it was a great experience for me. I don't think there will be a next time for me because once is enough for me! :D This was the first time I climbed up a mountain and did it with so much determination. And yes, I managed to reach the peak!

Can you see how steep the steps are?? And there's so many of them. Ha ha.
Hajar & peijie at the front.

I guessed the numbers here represented the height at which where we were? I'm uncertain too!

Locks which were locked to the chains at the golden peak by tourists. After locking them, they will throw the keys away. I forgot what's the meaning when you locked your locks to the chains.

We were about to reach the golden peak. Hang on there!

This is the temple which is located at the golden peak [金顶]. It was crowded! We had to squeeze our way through as people were pushing around.

Can you see the coins that were attached to the windows of the temple? I saw many people doing so and I also saw many of them throwing coins up to the roof of the temple.

Cable car ride. It was much higher than Singapore's! In some way, it is different from the one that we had in Singapore. The ride lasted for around 20 mins but the queue was very long!

Look at Hui Miang's face! HA HA! She seems reluctant to take photo with me? :/

In fact no, she didn't know that she was in the photo. That's why her expression looked so funny.

The scenery behind us is nice one okay!

Took this on the way back, using Ci min's camera. I saw lots of yellow flowers and cherry blossoms. So nice! But I didn't manage to take photos of the cherry blossoms because my camera's battery has depleted! )=

I saw old couples looking after the goats on the green grasslands. So sweet & loving~~

I saw farmers farming their lands.

Leading a simple life with your loved ones and doing the things you enjoyed, full of freedom and peace. I have been hoping for this kind of life. I guessed this kind of scenario only happens in tv dramas?

Han Xuan tour guide gave us a short farewell speech on the bus. She's a sweet lady. I was somehow touched by her words. Thanks Han Xuan tour guide! I can see the tour guides had a hard time gathering all of us on time. It was really hardwork for all of them as there were many of us. Nevertheless, I want to thank them for all the patience they had for us, ensuring our safety all the time and also making sure that we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest! I think they did a great job! =)

在登山的过程当中，我们碰到好几位老太太与老爷爷。他们有些跟我们一样是上山，有些是下山，都显得很积极。有些想以诚意感动神明，有些是想挑战自己。我心中不禁有一股冲动想要扶他们一把，因为有些好像行动不便。当时的我，心中也有很多想法。真佩服他们有那份毅力，决心与诚意!

Anyway, this morning I did a careless thing! I wanted to transfer my "day 20" photos to my laptop so what I did was to cut the photos. But I forgot to paste my photos and so they went missing!! I tried to search for the folder but to no avail. )'= Super sad! SIGH! I actually teared over the missing photos. I know it's kind of stupid to tear over that but I just feel so helpless and sad that my photos were gone. ): I just want to keep them as memories but...I lose them! Sigh sigh sigh... This time round I have really learnt my lessons already. How I wished I'm an IT expert?

2009-03-23T23:25:00.000+08:00

21/03/09 (Day 19)

Our lunch at a hotel. We reached the hotel at around 12+ near 1 pm.

We have finally reached our destination! The bus journey took us approximately 5 hours to reach! It was very tiring for all of us especially the driver. This is the place where the WuDang Mountain entrance tickets were sold.

The entrance to WuDang Mountain. It was very crowded during the weekends. We had to squeeze our way through to board the bus.

This the station whereby we boarded the bus to move on to the next stop of the tour in the mountain.

I'm in love with all these beautiful sceneries. I just like the nature [the trees, the flowers, the mountains and so on]. It gives me a sense of peacefulness. (:

This map shows the various stops of WuDang mMountain. Stop no. 21 is the golden peak [金顶]. I think it is the highest peak of the mountain.

We visited several temples. Anyway, do you still remember? This is my group, group C! I still remembered on the first pre-trip briefing, we're all still strangers [other then Ci Min because we are classmates since year 1]. And through the few briefings, we have got to know one another's names, courses and so on. In the various stages, from strangers to OIP peers and then to being group mates, I have gradually get to know them better such as their hobbies, habits, weaknesses, strengths and more interesting stuffs about them. They are all great people. I'm glad to have met them~

JUMP shot! Many of them like to do jump shots which I don't understand why because I'm lousy at it. :/

Clive being our photographer! Randolph has trained him to take good photos.

All of us were practising martial arts, with Mr Wong as our master! :)

Real martial arts! The master stood at the front and the students followed his instructions strictly. See, most of them were very young!

平安带.

Sign boards are everywhere to remind people to shower the mountain with love such as from fire and from litters.

Big tortise!

WuDang Mountian [武当山].

Our room: 3217. You might want to use this number to buy lottery! Ha ha, maybe will strike...

This is the hotel room in which Fran & I shared for the night. It's very cosy! I hope we can stay longer but we can only stay for one night. Ha ha. The next morning we woke up at 6.30 am to prepare ourselves to walk up the WuDang Mountain. So early~

Basically, for the first day in WuDang Mountain, we visited 3 locations via the buses provided for sightseeing. There were temples, souvenior shops and I saw many little kids selling souveniors along the routes. Hmm, they seemed so young. I wondered whether they're forced to do so under certain circumstances or ?? With the detailed explanation from the tour guides, I get to know more about the meanings behind the structures of the temples and the way they were being built, the religions and beliefs that the people had. Sometimes, I really find them amazing. I was wondering how the people managed to build the temples up on the high and steep mountain, how they constructed the roads and everything else which were on the mountain? I really think it's not an easy task to do so. The people who constructed all those had made a great contribution to the country!

2009-03-23T00:09:00.001+08:00

Hey guys! I'm back from WuDang Mountain. We reached our hostel at around 9+ pm. The bus journey was very long!
Tomorrow [Oops! It's already past 12am, I should say 'today'] I'll be updating about the trip to WuDang Mountain.
I'm going to turn in real soon.
GOODNIGHT TO ALL :]

2009-03-19T21:42:00.002+08:00

19/03/09 (Day 17)

Mr Wong,, Xiaoling Lao Shi,, Mr Chong

MDE with Xiaoling Lao Shi (=

I'm gonna miss her ):

桃花 [Peach Blossom]. So beautiful... I like! Randolph volunteered to help me take photos. He's the like the future photographer.

The leftover of my Yangzhou Fried Rice at TIAN TIAN restaurant. The heart shape that I did. Nice right?! :D

Ci Min's leftover. Her star looked fat and out of shape! Ha ha.

Seok was drinking her favourite soyabean milk. As for Meiyun, I think she was stoning?

Fran did not want to show her face...

I realised Hui Miang is cute!

Ci Min is trying to scare people off. =.=

I can't think of any better pose, so... here's the typical one.

Basically, I feel that today's time passed pretty fast! The morning class was cancelled but I don't know due to what reasons. I only remembered when I was sleeping yesterday night, Seok told me today's BPE lesson was cancelled. I thought I was dreaming! Ha ha.
I'm feeling much better today. After eating my magic pills [PANADOL], I slept at around 9 plus and soon after my fever went off! :)

THANKS TO ALL THOSE FRIENDS WHO CARED! Without you guys, I guessed I won't feel so much better. Such a coincidence, my aunt and cousin called and messaged me yesterday night. They are like my medicines too. Maybe when one falls sick, he/she will tend to be homesick. Because, yesterday I was like that. Hee hee.

Today's IS class was the last lesson. I must say, Xiaoling lao shi has been a great teacher! She's really cheerful and I always see her smiling. Although we were noisy and talkative during lessons but she has always been very patient and friendly towards each and everyone of us. Thanks Xiaoling lao shi for teaching us and giving us so much information related to China's history & etc!
虽然相处不久，但我心中始终还是会有些不舍。。。

Time really flies! We have already stayed here for nearly 3 weeks. I'm looking and also not looking forward to going back Singapore. I know I'm contradicting! But right now, this is how I feel.

Anyway, next thursday we'll be giving presentations to the local students from 4 to 6pm. But as for who will be presenting, it is not confirmed yet. Hope it won't be boring for them. (=

Tomorrow will the day whereby our results will be released! I'm so nervous and worried!

Right now, I'm going to revise through my BPE notes because tomorrow got test from chapters 1 to 5. And after test, we'll be going out, most probably is to shop! YAY! My favourite.

2009-03-18T21:13:00.005+08:00

18/03/09 (Day 16)

We had our BPE Assignment 1 presentation in the morning from 10am to 12pm. My group was the 2nd group to present! I was feeling kind of nervous as I have never made any presentation in the presence of my OIP peers before. I'm glad that our presentation went through smoothly. But of course, I missed out some points due to anxiety. )=

Now, it's my turn to present! I chose to do on PDCA Cycle. Sorry for the poor quality photo. Chinese Queue (Pigtail) - a specific kind of hairstyle worn by the Manchus from central Manchuria and later imposed on the Chinese in China.

A "lily footed" woman. "Lily footed" refers to tiny feet.

In this picture, you can see that the shape of the feet was kept by binding. Bones were broken during the process. OUCH! The pain must be unbearable but the girls had no choice in the ancient times.

A girl with bound feet.

Benedict must be lacking of sugar in his body!

Winson must be in love with Stephanie's teddy pencil case.

Interesting facts I have found out from today's IS class:

Chinese Queue (Hairstyle)- When the Manchus broke through Shanhai Pass in 1644, they forced surrendering Han Chinese to adopt the queue as a sign of submisison. It also aided the Manchus in identifying those Chinese that refused to accept Manchu domination of the Chinese state. It became a symbol of the Qing Dynasty until 1911.

Foot Binding- The origin of foot binding started in the Five Dynasties. It symbolizes feminine beauty and royal approval. In the upper class of ancient China, girls of every family were supposed to have their feet bound as early as 4 to 6 years old. Oh my god, it's like so young and they have to bear with this kind of pain! Poor thing ):
To describe tiny feet, the term "Lily feet" was used.
To describe feet that were less than 3 inched in length, the term "Golden Lilies" was used.
To describe feet that were 4 inches and 5 inches in length, the terms "Silver Lilies" & "Iron Lilies" were used respectively.
What is the purpose of foot binding?? It was to identify high class women and to prevent women from "wondering".

I remembered my grandmother telling me that my great grandmother also had her feet binded. But my memories of her has faded. I only know she doted on my brother & I very much. She passed away at an age of 91.

唉，我觉得好难受，很不舒服。全身酸痛无力，刚刚量了体温，是37.9度。。。
现在什么也不想做，只想好好的休息一下。
我在想，我在这里生病了，谁会来照顾我？
最起码在家里还有家人的呵护与照顾，但在这里呢。。？ ):

2009-03-17T23:54:00.000+08:00

17/03/09 (Day 15)

Basically, today we visited the WuHan Steel Mill [武汉钢铁企业]. In short form, it's called 武钢. We were brought around to see how steels were manufactured through completion of the various processes. This is the first time I have seen those processes! So COOL~ It was really an eye opening experience for me. When I first entered the factory, I could not get use to the loud noise level. It was very noisy inside and I wondered how the workers can endure with it! I guessed if you work in there for a period of time, you will have hearing problems and because of the high temperature too, you might feel stressed up easily.

On the bus, on the way to Wu Gang! It was early in the morning like around 8am++.

Winson was being helpful by helping us to carry our helmets. But in this photo, he was only pretending to be. Ha ha.

Statues of deers?? They were found in the industries area.

The train is only used for internal transportation. This meant that it only travels within the industries compound.

BEWARE OF TRAIN!

We entered from west gate 1 and ....

exit from west gate 7 (:

We were forbidden from taking photos in the factory thus the photos uploaded are only on the external appearance of the factory.

I heard from Mr Wong saying that there are approximately 30,000 to 40,000 people [forgot whether is families or people] living within the factory compound. He also mentioned that the biggest steel mills in China are as follows: AnGang, HaoGang and WuGang. So WuGang is in the third place! Hmm, not bad~ (-:

After the industrial visit, we headed back to school's back alley for lunch! I had dumplings with noodles. It was yummy! Then BPE lessons were conducted at 1pm. Dinner was settled at the fake KFC with Ci Min and Fran. The rest went to Macdonalds.

Oh oh, anyway, my mum messaged me just a moment ago. She said she miss me very much. *SHY*... Ha ha. I miss her too! And also my family and friends.

I have to turn in soon because tomorrow we're having a presentation for BPE assignment 1. Hope everything turns out well! =) GOODNIGHT PEOPLE.

2009-03-16T23:56:00.004+08:00

14/03/09-15/03/09 (Day 12 & 13)

Franice: My room-mate. The cruise's rooms were quite small.

Mountains & more mountains!

Had our breakfast on the cruise. After which, we changed to another ferry. To and fro, we spent approxiamtely four hours on the ferry. The scenery was beautiful! I wished I can stay at that place on a long term basis. Ha ha.

I managed to take a photo of 长江大桥. (=

Row row, row a boat.... la la la.... Ha ha! I don't know the lyrics of this song. But this scene reminds me of the song.

We sat on those boats and on each boat, there will be one tour guide doing the introduction on 神农溪 and the people living there [土家族].

船夫们 (:

In old times, they used to be naked when pulling the boat with the ropes. That was because they had poor family background thus they did not have money to buy clothes. But now, the river has became one of the tourist attractions.
In this photo, they were pulling the boat with the rope as the water has become too shallow for the paddles. It was a tough job for all of them. Actually I felt guilty when I saw them pulling the boat. ): I think most of them are aged between 50 to 60 plus? But they still looked very fit!

After the tour guide was done with the introduction, she sang us few common love songs among the 土家族. It was like their culture to sing love songs when a guy wants to woo a girl. I have recorded now the songs using my camera but not very clear. I think the songs are nice but of course it sounds quite different from modern songs. I bought a CD for my parents to listen to. Hope they will like it! :]

Take a closer look at this photo! Don't you think it is familiar?

It is the picture which is at the back of the 10 RMB note. Don't believe?

Check it out then! :P

Sunset...

After visiting sheng nong xi, we visited bai di cheng. It's a place which is full of historical background and artifacts.

We had to climb up many flight of stairs in order to get to bai di cheng. A good exercise for all of us!

Sedans! I want to have a try of sitting on it!

Basically, for these 3 days & 2 nights at 3 Gorges, I learnt more about the geographical location of the river and a deeper understanding of the history in China especially on how and why the dams are built.

I also realised that those natural sceneries are really amazing!! A good example would be the Mao dong shan. It looks exactly like Mao zedong with our imaginations. Hee hee.

As for the third day, we alighted from the cruise at around 7.30 am. To get back to our hostel, we took around 8 hours of bus journey! It was really tiring for all of us. That's about all.

2009-03-16T22:24:00.001+08:00

13/03/09 (Day 11)

Last friday to sunday were the days whereby we visited the Three Gorges. We had to gather at 7am sharp at the main entrance. The bus journey was very long.

On our way to YiChang [宜昌]...

We had our lunch at a restaurant.

She's Han Xuan, one of our tour guides. She introduced the whole schedule in details and told us some interesting things about the places that we visited. In total, we had 4 tour guides leading us. They are all nice people and protective of us.

三峡大坝

GROUP PHOTO! Our favourite! Ha ha.

One of our tour guides too.

好像人间仙境

大江曲

毛公山. The tour guide mentioned that many years back, there was this photographer who likes to travel around and take lots of photos. Then he came about this mountain and took a photo of it. He realised that it looks like the statue of Mao Zedong lying down. Thus, he sent the photo in for approval and he received a sum of money as reward. From that onwards, the mountain is named as 毛公山 as it really resembles Chairman Mao. You have to use most of your imagination to look at the mountain. I think it's really interesting.

Ci Min & I enjoyed the breeze although it was freezing~

The 长江大桥. Cool! The night scenery is so beautiful. (:

The whole process of going through the dam gate was very long as there were other boats and cruise queueing up too. We heard that there will be a signal light [it's like a traffic light]. When the light turns, it means that the cruise is allowed to pass through the gate already.

This is the first dam gate that the cruise passed through. It was like... FINALLY the gate opened. We sacrified our sleeping time just to see this.

He's tying our cruise to another cruise. By the way, the cruise that we took is called "银月亮".

We waited and waited for the Three Gorges dam gate [三峡大坝] to open but in the end we gave up the thought as it was very late already. We slept at 3 plus am on the first night on the cruise. So tired & sleepy but I think it was worth it as this was a very rare chance & great experience for me!

I couldn't get used to sleeping on the cruise. It was very cold! The toilet condition wasn't as good as expected. The flushing system needs to be improved!

Basically the whole day was spent on bus journey. The departure time of the cruise was delayed from 6pm till 7pm because of us [MDE, LSCT & ECE]. We took too much time touring and taking pictures of the Three Gorges Dam and so on. So sorry for making the tour guides so stressed up. I can see that they were all trying their very best to settle things in the most appropriate way. I think being a tour guide is really a tough job. They have to be flexible and knowledgeable!

My conclusion is that punctuality is very important! There's so many of us thus we can't afford to be late.

2009-03-12T22:23:00.003+08:00

12/03/09 (Day 10)

It has been raining since morning. The weather was very cold as compared to the past few days. I was freezing!! Anyway, that is my purple mickey & minnie unmbrella! :]
Today we learnt more about Yuan Dynasty, Min Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi and etc.
This was Mao Zedong's calligraphy work.

This is Zhou Enlai. I don't really know about him.

I think he's looks quite handsome! Ha ha. Xiaoling told us that he only had one wife. So I guessed he must be a very faithful guy!

Deng Xiaoping!

I brought my laptop to IS lesson. Mr Wong found someone to help me solve my internet problem. So the main problem is that... I accidentally unabled the local area connetion! Ha ha. So happy that the problem is resolved!

"这！" WUST students like to say this. It's a way of expressing shockness. They taught us. Ha ha. I think my face looks weird and funny!

"晕..." Looks real right? It's their way of expressing speechless. :P

Had instant noodles for Dinner. My room-mates & I managed to finish up the BPE assignment 1 report. (:

After so many days of observation, I realised that the people in Wuhan do not have the habit of saying thank you. When we said thank you to the staffs in the shop or etc, they seem to be quite surprised and happy to hear that! Maybe some Wuhan people feel that it's not necessary to say thank you as they paid for the services or products. But I still think it would be good to say that. I'm sure just these two words are enough to brighten up a person's day.

And the other thing is that, they have the habit of eating while standing or walking at roadside stalls. We're not so used to it but we're trying to do that too! Ha ha. I find it rather interesting! I mean, since we don't really get the chance to do that, we should try out too. (:

Tomorrow we'll be going to Three Gorges by cruise. And we'll be sleeping on the cruise for 3 days 2 nights. Hopefully it would be a fun one! Will update when we come back!

I'm going to pack my stuffs already! BYE~

2009-03-11T22:04:00.000+08:00

11/03/09 (Day 09)

Went jogging in the morning with Mei Yun & Clive. Ci Min being our timer, failed to carry out her task! SIGH.

We had our IS lesson. Xiaoling teacher covered a section on the history of China. I learnt alot during this 4 hours of lesson.

Below are some information that Xiaoling teacher revealed to us:

Origin of the name of Zhongguo: Guo referred to city or state in ancient china, Zhongguo meant central city or central city. After the 1911 revolution, Zhongguo became the shortened form of Republic of China. Then in 1949, it became the shortened form of People's Republic of China. Basically, China has approximately 5000 years of recorded history and tradition.
China has accomplished two splendid projects. They are mainly: The Grand Canal & The Great Wall. The Grand Canal is also known as Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It's the longest ancient canal or artificial river in the world. The total length of the canal is about 1770km. The Great Wall stretches from east to west china and it's approximately 6400 km.
The four great inventions in China: Compass [Invented in spring & autumn period.], Gunpowder [Invented in the 9th century. It's formula was discovered by Taoist Alchemists of ancient china when they attempted to make pills of immortality.], Paper [Invented in Eastern Han Dynasty. Cai Lun was the inventor.], Printing [Invented in Northern Song Dynasty. Bisheng invented movable type printing.]
Xia was the 1st Dynasty and followed by Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Three Kingdoms, Jin, Southern & Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang ['golden age' period], Five Dynasties & 10 Kingdoms and Song.

Painting Scroll.

Hui Miang & Ci Min :)

I was feeling quite sleepy. . .

The transformation of Chinese characters since ancient times. I find it very interesting. In ancient times, the characters started with drawings and slowly transform to chinese characters.

Empress Wu Zetian. She was the only woman in the history of China to be assumed the title of Emperor. Do you know why she was buried with a tombstone without any inspiration after her death? Xiaoling teacher mentioned that that was because she didn't want to say anything about what she have done. This showed that she was being a very humble person.

I was surprised to know that, at her age of 13, she was already selected to be Emperor Taizong's Cai Ren [a kind of Tang concubine] because of her beauty and intelligence. It was then that Wu began to attract attention of Prince Li Zhi who later became Emperor Gaozong.

Although she was a good ruler but I feel that she's very cold-blooded. She killed her biological baby daughter with her own hands in order to get the position of Empress! So cruel ):

Mr Wong & Mr Loh brought us to a chinese restaurant to have our dinner. It is within walking distance. But before dinner, he showed us where he lived and we even went into his unit. Along the way, there is a wet market too & so we went in. The above photo is taken in the wet market. For your information, it's a photo of chickens! I'm sure you won't get to see this in Singapore! Dinner was to my likings as we requested less salt, less oil and no spicy.

I'm still feeling troubled over my laptop. It's my laptop's problem. Should I bring it for a repair or just get another external lan?? ):

2009-03-10T17:46:00.004+08:00

10/03/09 (Day 08)

Today is the 8th day since we came here. I believed most of us are already adapting to the environment and immersed into it. We are mostly used to the food (the canteens, restaurants and roadside stalls), the weather, the hostel condition hanging out with our WUST peers and having classes here. But, I'm missing the home-cooked food that my grandmother normally prepare. ): I don't like outside food because they are rather oily & salty.

Yesterday my mum and aunt called me! I was happy to receive their call.

My brother also sent me messages to see how I am doing. He will always ask me to take good care of myself, drink more water and keep myself warm at all times. [:

The message that he sent me yesterday was even more weird. He said: Be good and study well. Enjoy yourself to the fullest!

Seriously, this is the first time I received this kind of message from him! Of course I was smiling to myself when I saw all those heartwarming messages. I guessed my brother have grown up to be more mature. I miss him! Hope he's doing fine in the police force training.

Anyway, my cable point is not working again so I have to borrow Seok's laptop to blog!!! I'm very irritated by it now! Stressed up with this!!! If this continues, I think I will grow white hairs!

Seok & I. She's my breakfast buddy! Ha ha. Normally in the morning before we attend our lessons, we'll go the roadside stalls to buy breakfast. For now, soyabean drink is my favourite because I prefered drinks that are bland.
We're trying out the Flexsim. Flexsim allows organizations to stimulate their businesses, allowing them to adjust their processes to work to the optimum level . This helps organizations to cut down costs and reduce wasted time as they do not have to try out different methods and suffer losses during the process.
This is one of the exercise that we tried out. It's actually viewed in a perspective (3-Dimensional) view. I'm glad that the graphics in my laptop are quite clear. Unfortunately for some of them, they do not have clear graphics on their laptops.
The processor. When more processors are being used, the higher the cost it will be as the number of operators used increased, more rental space will be required and so on.

Queue.

Source.

Sink.

Basically, I think Flexsim is quite practical. It will show us all the statistics tabulated in the processes. So, all in all, it should be useful to organizations.

Nowadays, the weather is getting warmer and warmer. Today I only wore a pullover with a shawl. It was just right for me! I felt comfortable under the sun. (=

Alright, right now I'm going to make a phone call back to my hometown (FuJian). I'm sure my grandma would be surprised to hear from me! :D

2009-03-09T22:24:00.003+08:00

Hey, sorry for the late post! My internet connection wasn't working AGAIN! I don't know why but I'm quite irritated by it already because this has been happening frequently! I'm so worried that the connection might just disconnect anytime. It's weird. I have been figuring for a long time but still cannot find the root cause.

08/03/09 (Day 06)

Today is known as the "三八妇女节 (Woman's Day)". Some of the WuHan people do celebrate this occasion. Early in the morning while I was jogging at the stadium right opposite my dormitory, I heard the sound of firecrackers. In Singapore, we won't get the chance to hear this as we're not supposed to set firecrackers and fireworks. How good if I'm able to set fireworks too?

Anyway, as I've mentioned above, in the morning I went jogging with Hui Miang & Clive at the stadium. We jogged six rounds in total. It has been such a long time since I jogged. This is the first time I went jogging during Winter. It was a great experience! :]

This is my breackfast cum lunch. Fried Noodles. It was quite salty for me.

After lunch, Our China peers brought us to RiverBank (汉口) to have fun. We went to the Amusement Park by bus 549. It took us approximately 40 minutes to reach there. The bus was very squeezy. We are often reminded by our China peers to take good care of our own stuffs. BEWARE OF THEFT AND ROBBERY!

Our destination! The streets were crowded.

I guessed they must be father and son working hand in hand to row the boat. It's so heartwarming to see this kind of scenario. (:

Ci Min deep in thoughts. . . maybe she's missing home?? Or she's thinking of food??

Isn't it artistic? HA HA!! I'm just kidding man.

My lovely groupmates! :D

Benedict and I.

The 3 best friends (One is missing, by right there's four) & Franice! (Oops, Zero happened to blink when the shot was taken.)
The storyline which has been used before...

Guy A was standing by the lakeside. He was enjoying the scenery.

Here comes Guy B. He had some evil thoughts in his mind. MUAHAHAHA!

OH MY GOD! He kicked Guy A down the lake! Guy A: HELP!!!! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM! Guy B: WHO CARES...

Guy B: Where's Guy A???? I'm sorry that I can't help too. (EVIL LAUGHS)

The entrance fee for Amusement Park was free. Some of them took Roller Coaster whereas I sat on other rides such as Viking and etc. I didn't dare to take roller coaster because I was really scared!! So sweet & cute!! The little girl girl gave her first kiss to the little boy boy. I like toddlers :]

One of the rides that I took. The ride was okay only. It still cannot be compared to Viking.

Viking! This was very thrilling! Ha ha. We were sitting at the second last row. My heart almost jumped out when it swings to the top.

Huge candies!

A huge statue outside the shopping centre. There were quite a number of shopping centres in this area! There wasn't enough time for us to shop! I want to go back there to shop again.

The streets here are still quite crowded in the night. But I heard that there will be no more bus after 9.30pm.

We rushed for the bus before it's 9.30pm. The bus ride was... JERKY! I felt very uncomfortable on the bus... I think it's worse than the thrilling rides we sat at the amusement park.

The bus had to pass Yangtze River Second Bridge [武汉长江二桥]. A portrait of mine! It costs me 25 YUAN. Before leaving the amusement park, I had my portrait drawn by a street artist. Some said it looks like me. What do you think? :)

I had to remain stationary for around 10 minutes. I felt uneasy. Ha ha.

This portrait shall be well-kept as memories in WuHan...

Hmm, I saw many beggars when I was at the Amusement Park. I only donated money to one of the beggars. I wanted to help them very much but I have my limits too. I felt guilty. Sigh, I realised I'm actually very fortunate as compared to them. At least I still have a roof over my head, I have enough to wear and settling my three meals is not a problem for me. I think we all should really be contented already.

2009-03-06T23:41:00.005+08:00

06/03/09 (Day 04)

Today is like colder than yesterday, but in the later part of the day it gets warmer. Every morning when I look out of the window, I will see many youths playing basketballs at the huge basketball court. Business Process Engineering (BPE) lessons was at 10am and ended at around 12 plus. We had a quiz at the end of the lessons. Time was like passing quite fast!
Randolph (Assistant group leader).

Benedict and Clive.
Mr Wong Chun Chong was going through the schedule.
First lesson of BPE was conducted.
That was Ci Min's spectacles! I hope my eyesights are still perfect!

CI MIN's expression is always the same. Ha ha.

Paying attention to lesson...

Same here!

Look at Winson's expression. Hilarious!

Lunch was settled at the roadside stall located near the school. It was delicious! :] But the environment was not that clean after all. You can see rubbish lying all around. All the used plastic bags, tissues and etc. Now I can understand why the air is polluted and why the weather is so weird nowadays.

BLOW WIND BLOW. Ci Min, be careful of your LIPS oh! =D

Stephanie & I.

Singapore does not have this and I think it is quite unique. One big piece only costs for 2RMB. It was filling. We bought this to go with....

the dumpling soup!

This was our lunch. There's more dumplings than the soup. The stall holder said they don't accept dollar notes for those below 1 RMB. I don't understand why???

WUST students are very sporty! After lessons, I often see them engaged in activities such as badminton, basketball and table tennis. They must be mostly experts! :]
I admired them for their enthusiasm.

I'M HUNGRY! Just kidding! I only bought one cup noodle but the rest bought more than me.

Can you do it? It was very challenging for me! =P

Cam whoring in our hostel! Sorry about that, it was A BIT MESSY! HA HA.

We did our laundries right after lunch! I do wash my own clothes in Singapore but not as much as what I need to wash here. The feeling is great. Doing things by myself and taking care of myself. Living in the hostel provides me a chance to be more independent. I have to tidy up my bed, settle my own meals, wash my own clothes and learn how to handle my emotions more appropriately. All of these are not something that we can experience in Singapore.

So basically today was a day whereby we do our housechores. Ha ha.

Hopefully the clothes will dry up as soon as possible so that I can have enough to wear!! (=

We were on the way to settle our dinner. On a #702 double-decked bus. Fire and his friends have been bringing us around the city. They have been great hosts!

Night scenery..

We ate at those so called foodcourts. Of course different from Singapore. Each of us had to purchase a card with a deposit amount of 5 RMB. The staff was very rude to me. ): I couldn't understand what she was trying to say. But I knew she was complaining about some things. Luckily, our china peers are with us! If not I won't be able to handle this kind of situation.

Anyway, I ordered hot dry noodles (热干面). The brown coloured sauce is made of black sesame. Heard from Fire that it is one of the most popular food in WuHan.

I wasn't really feeling well after eating the food. My stomach was feeling uncomfortable. Up till now, I have been visiting the washroom. :/

Anyway, that's about all. Tomorrow will be the city tour, visiting of museum and so on. So I have to rest early already!

Good night world :-)

2009-03-06T02:08:00.003+08:00

05/03/09 (Day 03)

I did my bed! (=
This morning I woke up at around 6.50am. I was feeling so sleepy as I blogged till 1+ am yesterday night! IS lesson was supposed to start at 9 am. All of us spent some time waiting for the IS lecturer but she did not turn up. After which, Mr. Wong Chun Chong told us that the lesson actually starts at 1pm! Sigh, we could have slept for a longer period of time. ):
I’m not sure what does this Chinese phrase meant but I’ll check out the meaning as soon as possible.

They were doing volunteering works for all kinds of services such as related to medical, repairing things and so on.
Since there were no lessons, the seven of us (Seok Hui, Ci Min, Stephanie, MeiYun, Franice, Winson & I) headed to the Macdonalds nearby to have our breakfast! (= I ordered a fillet-o-fish value set meal for 18.50 RMB with an upsize. Yummy, but I felt bloated~

There's a second level but nobody is allowed to enter yet. Anyway, we’re not supposed to take photos in Mac but we just took them secretly!

Then, we shopped at the departmental store for a short while and headed back to the hostel.

I didn’t know that Macdonalds have Mac delivery bicycles?!?

As mentioned yesterday, this is the main block in WUST. It is right in front of the school's main entrance.

Say "KIMCHI"... In Korean, "Kimchi" meant cheese.

This shot was unsuccessful in capturing the jumping actions.The WUST students from logistics management helped us to take photos! They are nice people!! Now, it’s our turn to help them take photos.

This is GUY. (You can call him gay!) He was trying to jump but my camera was too slow in capturing the action. I think he looked like a batman in this photo!

The streets near WUST. Most of the time, it is crowded.

We need all kinds of moisturizers to protect our skins & also lip balm! Lip balm is very important. We have to apply it to prevent our lips from drying up. IT'S REALLY TROUBLESOME TO APPLY SO MUCH CREAMS.

This is Xiaoling teacher conducting the IS lessons. She speaks fluent english and she's very friendly & easy-going.

Basically, she covered a part of the Hubei province history.

I didn't know that Hubei people have a nickname. They are given a name called "Nine-Headed Birds". It means cunning (too smart). Interesting!

And have your heard of the ancient stories like "Hua Mu Lan" and "Dong Yong and the Seventh Fairy Maiden"? Both Hua Mu Lan and Dong Yong were born in HuBei. Dong Yong was born in XiaoGan.

Oh, Qu Yuan was born in Hubei's ZiGui too! As a remembrance to Qu Yuan, commoners threw dumplings into the river to prevent the fishes from eating up Qu Yuan's dead body.

As for Zhu Ge Liang (a famous politician), he was not born in HuBei but he lived in HuBei for a long period of time. He lived in LongZhong.
I didn't know that so many famous ancient people were born in Hubei!!

Do you know that there's seven warring states in China? They are Chu, Han, Qi, Zhao and so on.

Do you know that China has 56 nationalities including Han?

If you don't now you do! ^^

Xiaoling teacher provided us with lots of information. Thanks to her, I get to know so much more about China's history. :]

Xiaoling teacher also told us some of the places of interest [East Lake, Yellow Crane Tower, Snake Hill, Tortise Hill, Red Cliff, 3 Gorges, Mountain WuDang, RiverBank and etc] and popular food [Dou pi (Lao Tong Cheng), Tang Bao, Ma Hua, Steamed Buns, Lotus Root Soup Stewed with Pork Chops and so on...] that we can find in other cities other than Wuhan. The more we know, the more excited we are!!

Mr Wong hard at work :) Photo was taken during a break.

Group C loves to take photos!! HEE HEE...

Xiaoling listed a number of shopping malls for us to know.

Meng, Fran..

Mr. Wong. This pose was suggested by Fran. HA HA!

Class ended at 5pm. Fire (the 1.88m tall guy) & his friends (Guy, Yellow & Zero) treated us (12 of us) to dinner. We felt so bad and wanted to pay them back but they rejected. We had a chat with them and I realised that they're all very independent. They also taught us how to speak their local language. No matter what, thanks for the treat! After dinner, we took a bus ride (Bus no: 702) which costs only about 2RMB to a Shopping Mall. The bus was squeezy but we managed to squeeze our way up! A different experience.

Guy, Fran & I bought tickets to enter the Haunted House! The experience was an scary & exciting one! I had a fun time in there. We also played the basketball.

HAUNTED HOUSE~~ Again, we're not supposed to take photos but we knew it after we took them.

The shopping mall closed very early as compared to Singapore. It was around 9.30pm and the whole shopping mall was very quiet! And all the lights were switched off already so we had to find our way out to gather with the others.

After which, all of us took cabs back. The driver does not know the way to WUST back gate. =.= So we turn one big round before we could reach the hostel.

Group photo! Guys, thanks for bringing us out today! (Not all of them who went are in the photo.)

Anyway, today's weather is much warmer. I'm already getting used to the weather here.

My internet connection is not working but yesterday it was still working fine. SIGH, I HAVE NO MOOD RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF THAT. I don’t know what went wrong but I just hope that it will be fine by tomorrow night! :(

GOOD NIGHT PEOPLE! I'M SO SLEEPY ALREADY! :/

2009-03-05T00:20:00.000+08:00

04/03/09 (Day 02)

I woke up at 8am because the weather was very cold throughout the night so I didn't sleep properly. I kept waking up in the night. The heater is not working even though we have adjusted it to 30 Degrees Celsius. All of us are still freezing. We were supposed to get prepared by 11.30am to go for our lunch in the school canteen.

The canteen in the campus. We had our first lunch here. The payment system was unique as each of the WUST students has a card to make payment but I think the queuing system is not well managed.

We're hungry and the weather for the day was even more cold as compared to yesterday! It was approximately 4 Degrees Celsius.

Each of us ordered a dish and shared among one another to go with the rice. The price was affordable. After lunch, all of us gathered at the entrance of the girls' dormitory at 12.30pm. We had a short tour in the school. Fire was the one who led us around.

The main entrance of WUST is on the bottom right of the photo, can you see??

The main block in the school.

We're all taking a break in the classroom and at the same time trying to immerse ourselves into the study environment.

武汉科技大学 (WuHan University of Science and Technology). The main entrance...

'Profound' english. The students are trying to be funny? Nope, I think this is quite creative.

Hui Miang & I :)

Ci Min was the outstanding one! Ha ha!

Waiting for our sim cards to be done. The staffs took such a long time to register it and so on. Meanwhile, we went to the departmental store which is nearby. I wanted to get boots but they were quite expensive so in the end I never buy anything.

After which, we went to macdonalds and ordered french fries. On the way back to the hostel, it was drizzling. COLD! It was very thrilling to walk under the rain during winter!! (=

Then, Fire & Nicholas brought us to buy power cables and some other stuffs. They were indeed very patient! Thank you guys! (:

Went for dinner with MeiYun, Ci Min and Franice at 5 plus pm.

The four of us ordered ja jang noodles (part of Korean's cuisine). 4 RMB per bowl. It was a huge bowl. I couldn't finish the noodles. It was considered a roadside stall near WUST.. There were many other kinds of food & drinks around that area! After dinner, all of us gathered at 6.30pm. A movie will be played in one of the lecture theatres at 7pm. But upon reaching the theatre, the movie couldn't be played as there were errors. So, the girl from the students' union called Journey, briefed us about what activities they have prepared for us for the 6 weeks. They were mainly: Basketball competition, Singing competition and Photo Taking competition. Because the movie can't be played, all of us took the opportunity to know one another by self-introducing ourselves. I felt a bit nervous having to do self-introduction in front of so many students. At intervals, a short singing session was conducted. Most of them sang well! *applause* Thus this movie session became an interaction session for all of us!

NP students and some WUST students studying logistics management. They were also very friendly and some being humorous!! :]

Sorry,we're too bored! =P

I was freezing for the entire day. I can't stop trembling and can't talk properly because my mouth was feeling numbed! Hopefully as days go by, the temperature will increase gradually.

Good night people! I'm going to turn in as we are having IS lessons at 9am!

2009-03-04T23:58:00.003+08:00

03/03/09 (DAY 01)

Upon reaching Changi Airport, it was around 5 plus am. It was very early! We had to report at the airport at 5.30am. I was feeling very excited!
A photo taken with my parents. They were the ones who sent me off. My mum seems kind of worried.
Departure time of CZ 352: 0800

My J2 classmates. Only seven of us came together.

My parents were waiting for me to check in my luggage. We took some time to check in all the luggages as there were many students from other courses going with us. There were LSCT students and EE students. LSCT were supposed to stay in the same university with us. Whereas for EE students, they were allocated to another university which is also in WuHan.

In the process of checking in.... I was the second one to check in! =P

Photo taken with Mr Lim and Mr chia. They came to send us off.

Mengzhen, Nadiyah, Hashanah & Winson (:And of course not forgetting our Trip leader, Mr. Wong!

Ci Min, Me, Meiyun & Seok...

GROUP PHOTO!

A group photo with our parents.

On the way to the gate that we're supposed to board the airplane.

Stephanie & I :]

We are taking China Southern Airline.

On the plane. Ready to take off?

Ren Min Bi (10 cent, 50 cents, 1 dollar, another version of 1 dollar)

Stephanie's eeyore (named 'Peepoo' =.=).

The meal on the airplane. Rice with fish. The taste was okay but I didn't had much appetite.

ZZZZZZZZZ

Nice view out there! (:

We were feeling bored :/

Upon arrival at BAI YUN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (GUANGZHOU)...

Transit sticker. We had to transit from bai yun airport to wuhan.

Where's most of our luggages??

Everyone is queuing up to check in their luggages at the airport.

Saw this in the toilet cubicle. Why so rush?? Ha ha!

The 7-eleven in guangzhou airport is huge!

Waiting for time to pass so that we can board the next airplane to wuhan. Our meeting time at the spot where Ci min was standing was 2.30pm. She's in high spirit!

I'm feeling the same way as Ci Min! At the same time, all of us were quite tired because of shortage of sleep. ):

Do you want a ride? 20 RMB for a ride! I remembered there was once where stepanie and I were rushing to the washroom as we were about to board the plane. Then there was this airport staff who was on the buggy ride, he asked us not to run and asked whether we want to have a ride or not? Ha ha, that was kind of funny as we have already reached the washroom entrance!

My group : Hui Miang, Mengzhen, Ci Min, Randolph..

Upon arrival of Wuhan airport...

The weather was very cold! We're all freezing. Temperature was approximately 6-7 Degrees Celsius.

Students from WUST students' union waiting for our arrivals. They are a group of amicable people! :)
The first person who approached me was the girl in blue or dark pink jacket! I couldn't remember because both of them looked very alike! But both of them look very cute.

Most of them initiated to help us carry the luggages. Ha ha.

We, wearing thick layers of winter clothings. I think we looked like dumpling?

Mr Wong. Soon Fatt also came to the airport to fetch all of us. He was briefing us about some things to take note of.

WUST's hostel condition

Upon arriving the hostel, the students leaders also helped us to carry our luggages (People like Fire, Journey and others). So nice of them.

After all of us put our luggages, we walked to restaurant to have our dinner. The student leaders (Fire(chairman), Nicholas(sorry, I couldn't remember his position), Jason(secretary) & Kidd (his too) joined us for dinner in the 1st place. After which, Kidd shifted to another table as there was limited space.) Most of us had self-introductions and we also communicated with one another in English & Mandarin. Then after dinner, they brought us to a nearby supermarket to get some stuffs such as mineral waters, breads and etc.

The toilet.

Water Heater.

As mentioned by the student leaders from WUST, we're much more fortunate as compared to them because we have heaters in the room!

My bed :]

Anyway, before going to sleep, we cleaned the toilet as it was quite dirty. I was in charged of washing the floor...

It didn't snow but still very cold! I was a bit disappointed~

The end of day 01! (=

2009-03-03T00:50:00.000+08:00

Today is the day! (-:

Counting Down: 00 days!

2009-03-02T16:02:00.002+08:00

Mission accomplished

YAY! I have just finished packing my luggage! Yup, this is my mission. :) In the first place I thought need to pack very long but in the end it only took me a while to do so. I think my luggage is quite light? It should be less than 20 kg. Time flies, we're departing off tomorrow! Most probably I won't be able to fall sleep tonight because I'm too excited! HA HA.

Weather forecast for Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
Overnight Temperature: -0°C
Cloudy with a slight chance of flurries. 0 to 1 cm of snow.

Tuesday Morning Temperature: 0°C
Cloudy with a chance of flurries or showers. 1 to 2 cm of snow.

Tuesday Afternoon Temperature: 1°C
Cloudy with flurries or showers likely. 2 to 5 mm of rain.

Tuesday Evening Temperature: -1°C
Cloudy with clear periods with a few flurries or showers. 4 to 8 cm of snow.

I want and hope to see SNOW! =D Let it snow...

Anyway, my parents will be sending me off tomorrow morning. It's like so early! *YAWNS*

Hey people, have an early and good rest tonight okay? See you guys real soon!

Counting Down: 01 Days!!

2009-03-01T18:55:00.000+08:00

Moody day. ):

Counting Down: 02 Days

2009-02-28T23:57:00.003+08:00

Luggage Packing

The winter jacket that I will be hand carrying.
The clothes that I'm going to bring. There's so much to pack and I'm so lazy to do so. I've just checked the weather forecast in Wuhan. It seems to be freezing so I might bring along my gloves.
The light pink winter coat that I lent Ci Min.

Luggage tags that I bought today: NOT YOUR BAG (for my bagpack)! PUT IT BACK, IT'S MINE (for my luggage)! :D

My luggage. I think it might be too small to fit in all the things that I'm gonna bring?

Thank goodness that each of us is limited to 30kg of luggage! (:

Counting Down: 03 Days

2009-02-27T14:04:00.004+08:00

Last Pre-Trip Briefing

Yesterday a final pre-trip briefing was conducted by Mr. Wong at blk 46-01-13. Some of them had their exams thus they arrived later. Meanwhile, those who arrived earlier will download the software that is needed for the lessons which will be conducted in WuHan.

Basically, each of us received a file with all the details in it, from Mr. Wong. He briefly went through most of the things and also distributed the OIP SoE shirts to us. It's ORANGE IN COLOUR! Not my favourite colour! :/

After which, my group had a short discussion on the item that we're going to present.

In the night, I happened to see Ci Min & Hui Miang onlined. Thus, we had a short discussion via MSN. Through this dicussion, I also managed to get to know Hui Miang better because we had a short chat. :]

But the idea is not confirmed yet as we are still brainstorming for better ones. Sigh. Brainstorming in process... I need more inspirations!

Such a coincidence, I caught Mr. Lim taking photos of us!

Most of them were busy with the downloading of the software. In the process of downloading it, some met problems. We are lucky that we have two experts with us for the day!
Xin Hui is ready to leave? :P
Stephanie and Seok are still having problems with their laptop. *Sigh in dismay*
A group photo with OIP peers & lecturers who are in charged.
[Photo was taken from Winson's blog. A group photo with my groupmates is still with Stephanie. Will update it as soon as I received the photo!]

I hope it will snow in WuHan!
But I won't expect too much as I think chances are will be quite low.

Anticipating. . . (-:

Counting Down: 05 Days

2009-02-25T20:03:00.002+08:00

More updates available

Hey people, I'm back to update! My exams are over! I'm feeling so excited now!! :D
Alright, past few days Mr. Wong have been sending us quite a number of emails with regard to the weather forecast in Wuhan. Heard that it'll be cold over there and there's a possibility that it will snow! But I think chances are, will be pretty low.
Basically, I just need to buy some daily necessities and maybe a long-sleeved shirt because I already have winter clothings. Hope to get a new pair of shoes too!

Just now I checked my bank account and have confirmed that, the amount of money for the trip has been reimbursed. Great!

By the way, please take note that on the 3rd of March, we're supposed to be at the airport before 5.30am and not 6.30am. [:

Counting Down: 06 Days

2009-02-24T18:59:00.001+08:00

More updates will be posted up after my last paper, which is tomorrow! I can't wait for my exams to end. (=

Counting Down: 07 Days! Ain't you excited?!

2009-02-22T12:56:00.001+08:00

Updates

The departure date & time whereby the 21 of us will depart to Wu Han have been confirmed.

Details of the flight:

CZ352 03MAR 08:00-11:50

CZ3346 03MAR 15:35-17:00

NOTE: We have to report at the Changi Airport (Terminal 1) before 06:30am. So early!!

Average temperature in Wuhan for March: 10.1°C [Max: 28.2°C, min: -3.4°C]
Average temperature in Wuhan for April: 16.8°C [Max: 33.5°C, min: 7.0°C]

Today's weather forecast in Wuhan: Light rain 7°C

Below listed are websites that I have visited:

If you guys want to know more about the climate in Wuhan, you can check them out!

Counting Down: 09 DAYS! (:

2009-02-18T11:00:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I heard from my grandmother saying that the currency rate has dropped from 4.5+ to 4.47?!?! Oh my god, the rate is decreasing so rapidly. Sigh, I haven't change any china currencies yet. I wondered whether my mum has or not.
Time is running out.

Counting Down: 13 Days

2009-02-16T20:30:00.001+08:00

Good News

I can understand why most of the time I'm looking forward to check the e-mails. I have just received an e-mail from Mr. Wong saying that we're able to apply for the special additional baggage allowance. It was indeed a very good news for me! :D
If the travel agency approves, it will meant that I'm able to bring more stuffs to Wuhan! And I need not worry that my luggage will exceed the weight limit. That would definitely be great!
Thanks to Mr. Wong & other lecturers who are always putting in efforts to make this trip a better one.

Anyway, I've already sent a copy of my student card to Mr. Wong. Hope the travel agency will approve the application! Looking forward to more updates from the lecturers. :-)

Counting Down: 15 Days

"Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by tears once in a while, so that we can see life with a clearer view again." Alex Tan

2009-02-15T17:37:00.001+08:00

"Don't be fooled by the calenders. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of." Charles Richards

Hey people, exams are approaching. Make full use of your time to study!
GOOD LUCK TO ALL! :-)

Counting Down: 16 Days

2009-02-11T21:00:00.000+08:00

For today's meet-up, after submission of the visa application forms, all of us sat in our respective groups. Had a short brainstorming session about what cultural item our group is going to present. A good start-off!

Anyway, I've just completed my individual learning plan! [:

My blog will be undergoing renovation soon. And I have yet to put a tagboard!

Counting Down: 20 Days

2009-02-10T22:16:00.001+08:00

Visa Application

URGENT! Most of our visa application forms were rejected! Sigh, which means tomorrow I have to go back to school to fill up the forms again. By right, there's no lessons for tomorrow.

Counting down: 21 days

2009-02-08T22:50:00.001+08:00

Pre-Trip Meeting

Yesterday a main briefing session was held at LT5A at 9.00am. I was quite surprised to see so many people at the briefing room. Didn't know that so many people are going to Wuhan.

After which, we proceeded to room 05-03-0004 for the specific MDE briefing. We submitted our passport for Visa application. The briefing ended at around 12pm. In this briefing, I also managed to know who are my group members. (:

There'll be another meet-up on the 26th of february, a thursday, which is right after my last day of exam (25th feb).

I'm looking forward to the trip! =)

Counting down: 23 Days

2009-02-04T20:03:00.001+08:00

Updates with regard to the OIP:

Paid an exact amount of $730 on last thursday. Hopefully this amount of $$$ will be reimbursed to us asap!

I wondered when the next briefing will be conducted?

Counting down: 27 days

2009-01-23T22:25:00.001+08:00

The purpose of life is a life of purpose.- Robert Byrne

Counting down : 39 days (:

2009-01-18T20:03:00.001+08:00

Hey guys, I have created this blog just a minute ago. It's solely for the Overseas Immersion Programme (OIP) Trip to Wu Han, which is part of China. I'm actually anticipating! Hope I'll enjoy to the fullest! =D

Duration of stay: 6 weeks (3rd of March 09 - 12th of April 09(tentative))

Counting down: 44 more days to the trip :)