30th Sept - Day 17

IS lecture for today is cancelled as the locals are on holiday for their national day which falls on 1st Oct 2010 which is tmr. Had Ms Thoo’s lecture in the morning, completing 2 chapters. The lecture wasn’t very hard to understand with the help of Ms Thoo’s examples and she made dry chapter theory interesting.

We had the whole afternoon to ourselves but of course we made full use of it to start our assignments and projects and to do some housework!

The school became very quiet after many students left the school to return to their hometown to celebrate the national day with their family members. They bought train tickets to travel all the way back. It’s not like Singapore where at most 1½hrs journey we can reach home from school. Shortest distance can even be 15min! They have to take long distance transport home as China is really very very very big! Teenagers from all over china come to Wuhan to study.

As Singapore kids, we have the luxury that Singapore is not very big and transportation around is very convenient with the fact that the population in Singapore is not much compared to china. Even if its rush hour, catching the next bus wouldn’t be a problem, but here in Wuhan, even after waiting for 2-3 buses, you still aren’t able to squeeze up the bus!This is how fortunate we Singaporeans are even though the weather is more or less always the same. Here in Wuhan is aircon temperature. Not long after would be winter.

You’ll never get to experience the change in season in Singapore.

29th Sept - Day 16

Ms Thoo lesson in the morning as usual and to our favour her lesson though its dry but easy to catch the idea and understand them. Her way of teaching is really not bad! I like!

And guess what, just nice that Ms Thoo ended the lesson early and the two little kids came to our hostel alone and look for us! MingHui saw them outside and brought them in. got orange juice for them again and had to say bye bye to them to go for lunch and IS lesson. They don’t even want to leave at first!

IS was a disaster again. The lecture was postponed and we were not informed and we actually waited for the teacher for 1 hr before we are told that it’s postponed! Discussed about the LcL Project group distribution and left to rest at our hostel. We arranged to meet again at 4:30 to go to Carrefour together to get stuffs and have dinner together with Mr Satha and Ms Thoo.

Our mission at the mall is to get Minghui a jacket and a jeans as she’s freezing the past few days sure to her lack of the items and only has shorts, leggings and super thin shirts. Can’t stand it so made her buy. With Ms Thoo’s help we managed to complete the mission!!!

Went to the restaurant that Royston introduced but eh services is terrible. They serve the food super super duper slow and some dish cant even be served! In the end we ate from 6:30pm – 9pm. Super waste time. In the end I made them give a compensation and they did! I WON! In china really you have to be able to over speak them to get what you ought to have. If you’re timid, you will sure be bullied and never get what is ought to be yours.

Took the van back hostel again and I am the one getting the vans. The drivers all think I’m local again. Ok! So be it I’m LOCAL!. Haix…. Nevermind. Being thought as a local wont get bullied de! YAY!!!

Ok. Going to wash clothes now! Wash wash wash wash wash…..

28th Sept - Day 15

Morning lesson IS and sorry to say that the teacher’s voice made me want to fall asleep. But the materials prepared and discussed were very enriching and I learnt alot of their culture and traditional practices eg not to wrap gifts in white, preferable red or gold so as not to give the idea that it’s for the dead.

Afternoon lesson is back to Ms Thoo again and I love her way of teaching as she goes straight to the point and doesn’t waste any redundant time and we are dismissed early from lesson! The little kids (we met at the basketball court yesterday) came over and we played with them. They are super cute.

Let’s talk about dinner too! We arranged to meet Yasha to go for steamboat together but it was raining so heavily that I got to go to the super-mart to get umbrellas for everyone to share. The quality of the umbrellas are not too bad $4 singapore dollar! The steamboat was a good recommendation as the food were not too bad as it’s not very salty nor very oily. The soup base is real good (the spicy one) and their food is cheap – 3 sticks of ingredient for 1Yuan = 20cents Singapore dollar. Affordable and good and filling. Yasha went of early and we settled the bill and got back to hostel. Everyone is so super tired that the minute we reach back to the hostel we are dead asleep on the bed already.

Drinks that we like most in Wuhan-China

Its just like our Jia Jia Liang Cha in Singapore just that it's less sweet.

Drink that has vitamins good for our skin. Produced by Minute Maid!. You Cant find them in Singapore!!!!

Every morning breakfast one cup each. Hot chocolate! in a cup!


Only mineral water that doesnt have chlorine taste. But it made some of my friends "HIGH" and i dont know why?!

27th Oct - Day 14

Today morning is Mr Satha’s lesson. He completed teaching us how to use MS Project and we are given assignment to complete by next Mon. I still don’t know what to add in to the list of construction works for my assignment! Help! Hope I can complete on time and do a good job.

Edith (our Psychology IS lecturer from china) thought us the religions in china and it was very enriching in getting to know the religions that are very well respected in china and those that are not. She even arranged for us to meet the local students for an interaction time together to get to know more about their country and the religions and traditional practices.

Went to Carrefour early with Pamela, Alyssa and Gladys to reserve Ajisen and went to shop shop a little while waiting for those who went to play basketball earlier to reach and meet us for dinner together. We said meet at 7pm in the end they are late la.Got home late but very happy cause I got my tummy filled :D

24th-26th Sept - 3D2N Three Gorges Tour

As usual for all outings, we have to set off early in the morning as the bus ride to our destination is not very near our university. The meeting time was suppose to be 10am but suddenly while we were preparing, Ms Thoo called at 9:25am and say that the bus is here to pick us up and ask us to hurry. I haven’t even comb my hair properly and I have to rush down le. Was combing my hair and biting a packet of swiss roll in my mouth, super unglam. Lucky that no one is taking photos! Haha! The bus ride was about 4hrs to hotel where we will stay for 2 nights and it’s located in one of the local university and the facilities again are not bad compared to that we have in our hostel. Its free and easy before dinner and after dinner and that’s all for the day.

Second day was the day where we are to set off from the hotel to the ferry terminal to hop on to the ferry for a ride to the Three Gorges. The bus ride was about 1hr plus from the hotel but we still set of early as the ferry sets of early and takes 4hr to reach the destination. We were however fortunate as we got to take this very luxurious ferry for the 4hrs and all of us were so happy. We went through the experiences of passing through the dam and the wind, although is very strong but was very nice and we all enjoyed ourselves at the top most deck of the ferry and we even played in the cold! Cool huh?! Ordered coffee and nuts to pass time and got to listen to the pretty on-ferry guide explaining the use of the dam and the construction of it. The sceneries are super nice.

On the ferry, there is a section of song and dance and audiences are invited to join in a small game after the performance. As the area for the performance has many locals, they smoked and all of us didn’t go down except Mr Satha (So Brave!) He was invited to join the interactive section and although he doesn’t really understand what the rules of the game is but he was very cooperative and he enjoyed the interaction. I managed to take pictures of him before my camera battery died off.
When we reached our destination of the Three Gorges tour, we took the tour bus to have our lunch and set off for the 3 stations of visit. First stop is to see the model of the Three Gorges and to take a look at the beautiful sceneries around it.

They planted so many beautiful plants around and it made me cant resist to take photos of them. Second stop is to get a taste of the height of the dam. Its height is about 185km and the plane we are standing on is of the same height as it is. Third stop is where artist drew a whole picture of the long Three Gorges and it’s on display. However photo-taking is not allowed. There after when the trip ended it was about 4pm. We reached back to the restaurant near our hotel for dinner at about 5pm and headed back to the hotel to rest thereafter. Had lots of fun with my team mates for this trip and they are really fun and nice. We enjoyed the company of each other a lot.




Third day, we set off to take a look at a waterfall. When we reached, there were no one there and we are the only group at the area. This made the site seeing very peaceful as it’s just our team. We went through behind the waterfall and if you did not buy the raincoat, you’ll definitely get wet as the waterfall is very strong and even your shoes would get wet! Crossing the little rivers by rocks, and hills to hills by a long suspending bridge. Getting close to the nature is so good and relaxing.










On the way back to hostel which is suppose to be 4hrs, we experienced 2 traffic jams on the way which made our trip 5hrs in total. The only accident that I saw was a whole lorry of cabbage got turned over and the cabbages were all over the road that caused the traffic jam. I manage to get a shot of the scene! During the long waiting, I also say 2-3 lorries transporting large amounts of cotton flower! So super cool. Take a look at the photo!

23rd Sept - Day 10

Second day of Mid Autumn Holiday, the housekeeper for the classroom didn’t come to school in the morning and cant get him to open the classroom for us. Mr Satha was disappointed as he has topics to complete. So we have to watch the first year orientation ceremony and can only wait to have lunch together before we can decide what to do next.

Their first year students have to go to school 2 weeks before school start for army-like training and only today their orientation actually start. Their opening ceremony is for them to march in the field and salute to their principle. Ok, honestly saying, their marching cant be compared to actual army guys, especially the male students. They are super slack. But taking a look at the amount of students they have, its 2-3times of Ngee Ann total number of students la. Not easy to train them.

We went back to the restaurant for lunch as Ms Thoo say that the porridge we packed for her yesterday was nice. (oh and I forgot to say that Ms Thoo wasn’t feeling well for the past few days) We ordered fish again but this time round all three of us (Alyssa, Gladys and me) got choked and poked by the fish bone!. So we say the next time no more fish! Hahaha!!!!

Got back to school and the housekeeper is there! Got him to open the classroom and we had a 1 hour lesson. No one have to mood to study la. We all want to go Carrefour to get our stuff for tomorrow’s trip to 3 Gorges as its 3D2N on local cruise.
We ate tapanyaki at the mall and we say that it’s the preparation for the cruise trip! Haha… cause we heard that the cruise meals are not really good. I got a jacket too as the weather is getting cooler and the one I brought is very thin.

Its time for me to packed my bag now.

pretty flowers to brighten up the day!

China Custon Crack My Luggage!!!!!

Just to show you the crack in my luggage!

22nd Sept - Day 9

Its Mid Autumn Festival today. The school is on holiday for 3 days and we can’t use the classroom today! So we decided to go to Han Kou in the hope to take a look as it’s a whole day off. But as it’s the first day of holiday for their locals, they were all frantically taking buses and cab. Alyssa even arranged to meet her grandma at Han Kou and we can’t even get there! In the end Abbie called one of the previous batch senior and he came to met us. Alyssa grandma insist to see her today so she said she will come to our school instead, we got Xiao Zhang to direct her and he was kind enough to even help bring her to us when she reached from the bus stop! While waiting for grandma, we went to Hai Bo’s martial school that he opened and take a look and he and the guys actually played martial and it was the funniest thing of the day knowing our school guys are all jokers.





We went to a restaurant near the martial school and the food there is delicious especially the fish! Alyssa Grandma finally reached and she bought us 4kg of chestnuts. Oh…. We all cant finish it. Haha….

We wanted to go shopping but we realized its raining too long and if we continue to walk in the rain we will definitely get sick and so we decided to bring grandma to our hostel to take a look. She wanted to buy 20 packets of crackers for each of us la. But Alyssa SOS me and I tried very hard and manage to persuade her to only buy 5 packets. (or else we all cant finish) She left at about 3:30pm and we all stayed home and so nothing much already la!

Sorry for late update - intemission!

Sorry... due to the long journal that i realise i have pre-typed in words and the pictures that i wish to show all of you. the post for the last three days would be late. sorry. Wuhan - Hubei Wudang Shan update will be up soon! Promise!

Missed!

21st Sept - Day 8

Ok as usual lesson again! But our dear Mr Satha was good enough to push back the timing to 10am so that we can get enough sleep as we reach back late to hostel yesterday (as stated), we learnt to draw more activity on arc and also started how to draw Activity on Node (A.O.N) something much complicated as thereafter we are asked to identify the critical path after setting the A.O.N and plotting in the backward pass and forward pass to help identify the critical path. Not very easy as there could be many possible critical paths from first view but only one (which is the one which adds up to be equal to the ending duration) is correct. So quite tedious.

Mr Satha was very “High” today and ended lesson on time and suggested to go for our Halal lunch with our Halal classmate and thereafter go to Carrefour together. And Mr Satha treated all 19 of us for the bus ride over to the mall.Shall skip the shopping part. Shopping is very typical la. Nothing special. But when we got back to hostel and started to wash the pile of clothes which is like a little hill due to our 3D2N trip, the wind outside started to blow super big. The weather in Wuhan is really unpredictable. The night would be a freezing night. I hope that tmr would not be too cold but cooling and the sun will still be as bright as we really have many many clothes to dry and wash!

got to go continue the washing!

nights and missing all of you!!!

Happy Birthday Bro!!!

Happy Birthday Samuel!!!!

Happy 16th

Hope that your preparation for 'O' level is still well!!!

JIAYOU!!!

18th - 20th Sept Wudang Shan Trip!

Woke up early in the morning to prepare set of for our WuDang Mountain Expedition.

First Day was practically traveling and checking-in to our first hotel. So happy that we’re staying in a hotel! The facilities is better than what we have at our hostel la. We had ice breaking games at the space near the hotel but unfortunately due some rough pulling, Alyssa fell and hurt her knee cap. Despite the fall, the helped all of us bond even deeper as all showed their concern to her and in the end we played game together in our room. Alyssa even say that it’s worth it as not only that she saved her camera, she made us bond even more than just playing ice-breaking games.


Second day, woke up even earlier, 5am in the morning as we are going to climb the WuDang Mountain which heard to consist of 3000 steps. We sat the bus up for 45min and start the climb. We all started fine but half way through I got a heavy head, probably due to the pressure and the mist and my low blood pressure, I have to stop climbing before I puke. And Alyssa (who I stated earlier injured her knee) felt like puking, so we both stopped and one of the tour guide accompanied us. While waiting for the rest to complete the climb (which estimated to be a 4hr up climb and 2 hr down climb) Alyssa really vomited. Luckily she was alright.


We saw many old uncles carrying lots of cartons of drinks up the hill to the sellers. They are really pitiful and they earn really little from it. Me and Alyssa even tipped one of them (although we didn’t get any service from him) S$2 Sing. On the way up and down, there are also those olden times sedan where 2 person would carry the person. We were told that even though they charge like S$100 Sing for a ride but in the end 50% goes to the government and 50% is to be shared between two of them again. This made them earn very little at the end of the day.

While on waiting, the tour guide who is with us (Xiao Guo) she told us that the monks and priests from the temple up the mountain would usually climb up and down the 300steps everyday as their morning routine and with many years of practice they would seem to be flying instead of flying. They actually found the tactic of climbing the flight of stairs with little effort.

Up on the mountain…. Heard from our teacher – Ms Thoo, Abbie’s asthma attacked and the inhaler we bought they didn’t know how to use (she forgot to free her prescribed on from Singapore) but thank god that after a rest she was able to recover. It was greatful that some of our friends when down the peak to inform one of the tour guide while some asked around for doctors and help on the inhaler. It actually showed the love and concern we have towards each other. In the end, everyone came down the mountain safely and we proceeded into the city to check-in to our second hotel which is in the city which is definitely even much better that the one up the hill.


Third day, woke up slightly later as we are not in rush to get back to the hostel. Went to visit the famous Zhu Ge Liang Study Place (Gu Long Zhong). Its also know as his second home. He started staying at the place since 17 to study for 10 years and got a wife when he was 27. His wife is also a clever lady whose name is Huang Yue Ying. It was said that when Zhu Ge Liang was 27 (age to get married) his teacher who is Huang Yue Ying’s father tested Zhu Ge Liang by publicizing that his daughter is a super ugly lady. He asked Zhu Ge Liang if he is willing to marry her as although she is ugly but her intelligence is compatible to that of Zhu Ge Liang. Zhu Ge Liang agreed and said that knowledge and character is more important the appearance. It is only on the night of the marriage that Zhu Ge Liang realize that Huang Yue Ying is not ugly at all but super pretty.





We also went to the place where the three warriors – Zhang Fei, Lui Bei and Guan Yu invited Zhu Ge Liang to go down the hill to help them. They actually have three trees outside which are used by the three of them to tied their horses too. One of the three is very near while the other two is further. The one nearest belongs to Liu Bei. This actually means that Liu Bei is keen on inviting Zhu Ge Liang out while the other two think that it’s not worth it. This is because Zhu Ge Liang at that time gave the, many challenges to complete before he agrees to go down the hill to help them.










The actual place where Zhu Ge Liang stayed was demolished at during the Ming Dynasty as the Ming King was told that the fengshui at that place is very good (in front water – well, behind hill) and so he demolished it to pre-built his grave. But due to some reason (which I forgot :P) the grave was demolished too.
Bought Zhu Ge Liang Medal, one for me and one for my brother to wish us both pass our exams with flying colours.

Oh forgot to mention, ZiGui’s camera almost got lost! Before we left the hotel, ZiGui realize that her camera wasn’t with her. But while we were at the Zhu Ge Liang Place, The hotel called and said that they found it! Thank God!
There after we sat another 4-5hr bus journey back to our hostel and went to have massage to relief the pain from the climb. The massage was not too bad. Just that they did not arrange according to what is promised. But overall they service was not too bad. I enjoyed it! :D it cost me S$12 Sing – It’s worth it actually for 45min-1hr massage).

Andrew caught a fever. Hope that he’ll get well soon. Or Gladys will be sad. Hahah!!!