The last entry.

The OIP trip has sadly come to its end. at the start of the week, i had started to think back about all the moments that have happened through the past month, both the highs and the lows. when i look back at the start, i realize how much i have grown as a person and how i have made so many fantastic friends. The memories that i have made as well as the lessons i have learnt will stay with me for a lifetime. this experience was invaluable.

with each passing day before i left, the experience seemed to become so surreal. i couldnt believe that i had already spent a month in china. the daily routine of waking up and seeing my friends in the house, walking up the hill to class and going out after class seemed so normal. and now that it is over, now then i realize that i had to leave. i was quite amazed at how much i had managed to integrate myself into the society there. but it wasnt easy at first. but with my friends by my side, it was an extremely enjoyable experience. 

i will never forget the amazing people that i have met there and all the wonderful experiences i had. the memories and life lessons experienced there will stay with me for a life time. this trip has allowed me to grow as a person in many ways and has made me become more mature. 

i also made many friends in the oip group. people such as jodie, lisi and hui ting, just to name a few. they are all people who i most likely would have never became friends with had i not gone for the trip. they are all good people and im sure these friendships will continue to blossom long after the trip has ended.

now that im back in singapore, it feels like the first day when i got to wuhan. a foreign place once again. and i always said to myself when i was there, i know that once i leave, i will miss the place, but when im actually there, i will miss home. and right now, i am feeling this effect. i miss the memories that happened there. even through there wasnt the usual comforts of home such as fast internet and easy access to technology, it was a much needed break. i feel that some times its good to go off the grid for a while. technology has made people colder towards each other. and during the trip, all we had was each other. it made us all tighter as a group and closer. another comfort of home that was missing in wuhan was clean constant running water. and by not having many of these comforts, it has humbled many of us and thought us to treasure all these easily accessible things.

all in all, despite this entry not being my most smooth flowing entry, i have learnt many things and met many new people. i will never forget this experience and it saddens me to know that it is over. but the memories will live on in ever single one of us who went for the trip and im sure we have all grown to be better people. thank you ngee ann for letting me go for this trip. i will never forget it. 

Blog entry for the 4th week

Day 24(27^th march)

Today I did something I thought I would have never done before. I sent a letter to a friend when I was overseas. The china postal service and the Singapore postal service is extremely different. In Singapore, all the staff in the office are willing to help you and they know almost all of the rates. Whereas in the china post office, they just have a big board with all the rates for the various places and different types of mail. When you ask them for help, they just refer you to the board and you just have to figure it out yourself. But it was a good experience. And I hope that my letter makes it to my intended destination. I wonder how long it will take to get to Singapore though.

Day 26(29^th march)

Today we set off for the three gorges trip. I was told that we would be staying on a cruise for three days. I was looking forward to it. But before we could get to the ship, was a 5 hour drive. I hope that the boat will be nice as at this current point in time, I really need a morale booster as the stress of the fast pace schedule and the amount of projects are really getting to me. Before we got to the boat, there were many setbacks. There was a massive amount of miscommunication and only when we were almost at the boat, the lecturers informed us that there were no towels, water or toilet paper that would be provided on the boat. Upon hearing all these, all of us had lost hope for the boat being nice. We were all also quite unhappy about needing to buy another set of toiletries due to miscommunication and we would not be reimbursed. When we got to the dock, we were all already extremely tired and just wanted to get some rest. We got on the boat and went to our rooms. The rooms were just as we expected. We didn’t expect to be pampered and get a 5 star cruise type treatment, but the rooms were really quite bad. There wasn’t hot water to bathe for a long period of time, the toilet at first didn’t have water, the toilet bowl doesn’t flush hard enough to get rid of the waste and the bed was quite hard. Also breakfast is at an extremely ridiculous timing of 6:30-7 am. If you miss the period, there isn’t any food to eat. I hope that the sites tomorrow will be nice at least. Despite all this, at least I have my friends here to accompany me and to make the journey less painful and sometimes somewhat enjoyable. I am thankful for them.

Day 27(30^th march)

I learnt a very valuable lesson today in china. I know that china isn’t the only country that exploits child labour, but in my opinion, china is the most obvious about doing it. Asaph was harassed today by a small child. When we were at the exit of one of the entrances to the attraction, a small kid approached him and the kid wouldn’t leave him alone. The kid would follow Asaph everywhere he went and kept bugging him to buy something. We all knew it was a scam as who wouldn’t feel guilt from ignoring and not buying something from that small rundown looking young boy? We all told asaph to either buy something or just outright ignore the boy. After the boy chased Asaph for 20 minutes, someone finally took action, wei sheng just helped asaph out and bought something on asaph’s behalf, and finally the boy left. The person who says what needs to be done will never be as successful as the person who does what need not be said. We all knew that asaph should have bought something to get the kid off his tail, but no one did until wei sheng came and bought something. I learnt that we should all just do what need not be said as sometimes the person in need of the help may not be able to do what has been said. I feel guilt for not helping him even though I knew I should have done it. It was a great learning experience.

Day 28(31^st march)

We ended the 3 day boat trip today. As we were driving back through the countryside, I was thinking about something. How do the people that live so far away from mainstream civilization get education? There aren’t any schools near them. I know that the concept of not getting education is not something new or unusual in countries like china, but when I actually see it in person, it just seems so odd. I think that it is just because I have been living in a first world country for all my life and education has always been the norm. And as we drove back on the highway and passed all the farmers, the sight of them living in poverty really made me appreciate my living conditions and what I have in Singapore a lot more. I feel extremely fortunate to have power, computers and etc as when I see them, they don’t have most of them and would most likely never. So I am very thankful to have those things and it really made me appreciate life a lot more.

Day 17 ( 20th march), 18(21st march), 19 (22nd march), 20 (23rd march) and 21 ( 24th march)

Day 17 (20^th march)

We had our common test today. I thought it went alright. It was a manageable paper. After the common test we went for a biopharm trip. I wasn’t sure if biopharm meant the production of pharmaceuticals or whether it was crops and produce that were genetically engineered. Upon arrival, I finally got my answer. They were producing pharmaceuticals. But around the area, they were also growing crops around the area. At the biopharm, they produce antimicrobials and anti-inflammatory drugs. It was intreseting to view all the processes that go into purifying the needed components that go into making the drugs. This trip was extremely invaluable to me as it was very extremely relavent to my field of study and I could potentially be working in a place like that when I graduate from university.

Day 18(21^st march)

Today, we learnt about the three main types of religions in china. Being mainly Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Personally, I am an atheist, so I don’t believe in gods or any religion. But it was interesting to see how different some of their practices are and yet also how similar and closely intertwined their practises and beliefs are. Their origin was also another interesting topic and it just goes to show how time can change people beliefs.

I came to a conclusion today during the lesson that the learning style of the china students and Singaporean students are totally different and is extremely difficult to adapt to a different style of teaching. I cant go hours on end in a lesson without a break as I find it hard to concentrate because I get tired or sleepy or just plainly lose interest. And I don’t seem to be the only one experiencing this problem. Many of my classmates seem to feel this way too and it is extremely evident during class time.

Day 19 (22^nd march)

We managed to finish both the tutorial and lecture in the morning today. Thank god because we really needed the time to prepare for the Chinese culture presentation that is going to occur very soon. I feel that the schedule for this oip trip was a bit to jam packed, or at least for the second half. There isn’t that much time in the second half of the trip and yet there is twice the amount of workload with 2 projects and a report due. And to top it all off, we still have to study for the common test. I wish that it was more spread out or at least have one less presentation or let us do the report when we get back to Singapore. Whats worst is that one of the presentations is just the day before the common test and I think it will be hard to prepare for both the presentation and the common test at the same time. But there isn’t anything I can do about it so I shall just brace myself and work as hard as I can for the next three weeks.

Day 20 (23^rd march)

We went to see 4 places today. Yellow Crain tower, east lake, hubei provincial museum and yangtze river.  What I took away from these various sites today was that china is extremely rich in history and culture. There were also many architectural marvels throughout history. It was extremely enjoyable. When we all got to the last place, which was Yangtze river, we were all tired and there wasn’t much to see so we all started to take some really crazy photos and just did many crazy things. But it was a good chance to spend some quality time with friends just to relax and unwind after a hectic first 2 weeks

Day 21 (24^th march)

In the morning today, we went strawberry picking with some of the local students. It was amazing. I had never been strawberry picking before and it was the first time I had seen a real strawberry still on its vine. The only issue I had was that the path to the farm was extremely muddy and slippery. It made my shoes all muddy and horrible. But other than that, it was an enjoyable experience. Sadly, not much interaction between the local students and us had occurred as everyone was too focused on the strawberries. It was amazing to be able to pick the strawberry right off the vine and eat it then and there. The strawberries in china aren’t like the ones I am used to seeing in the supermarkets in Singapore. The strawberries there are rather deformed and oddly shaped. But they were still extremely sweet. Some of us bought some but strangely, by the time we had got back to the dorms, some of the strawberries had gone bad. And it was hardly even an hour after picking them.

Once we got back to the school, there was a party waiting for us. We quickly cleaned up and headed off to the party that was on the third floor of their gym building. The party started off rather dead but by the end of it everyone was enjoying themselves. There were a lot of fun games and performances. We all got a chance to play some games with the local students as well as got a chance to talk to them about our education. It was a very memorable time and I will never forget this party.

Day 15 (18th march) and 16 (19th march)

Day 15

Nothing much happened today. Managed to get some extra sleep because there wasn’t class today and I could sleep in. but most of the day was spent just studying for the upcoming test on Wednesday. I find it quite lousy how the university is forcing us to go for bonding activities when the next day we have a test. But we don’t have a choice so I just have to make use of today to do all the major studying as tomorrow I won’t have much time to study

Day 16

Today we had a Chinese cultural talk buy the dean of the foreign language school about Chinese culture. The lecture was on china’s history. It was rather interesting to learn about the various dynasties of china and their reign over china. It was also interesting to learn about the various weird practices and leading style of the various emperors of the various dynasties.

After class, we went for some games. We had a rock climbing event, a card number game and also what they call ‘ 150 second challenge’. It basically comprised of 3 different games which consisted of a different number of people. But before any of the games started, we were split into two different teams. The first thing we had to do in our teams was to create a flag, a cheer and also a tag line. My group was named rou-lee mijit. We couldn’t think of a new catch phrase so we just used the ngee ann poly’s catch phrase which is ‘always something xtra’. The mascot for our flag was a campfire looking like guy with hands and logs for feet. Once we had done all these, the teams went their own ways to their various activites.

The first game my team played was the card game. There were about 28 cards. On each card, there was a picture or some hint. This hit or picture was to help you guess what number the card was. The objective of the game was just to get all of the cards in sequence. There are 10, 30 second, rounds. And inbetween the rounds, we were given 5 minutes to discuss as a team. My team and I managed to get all of the cards in sequence with one round still to spare.

The next even was rock climbing. Kenneth was almost about to pee his pants when he found out he had to climb the wall as he is extremely scared of heights. I on the other hand, was extremely excited as I love rock climbing. But the rock wall that they had let us climbed was extremely difficult as there were parts where there were very little rocks to hang on to or the rocks weren’t screwed into the wall tightly enough, which caused them to rotate. It was also extremely slippery as it had rained before we had come. But I am proud of Kenneth. He managed to overcome his fear and climb the wall.

After the rock climbing was the 150 second challenge. It consisted of three different challenges. The first being a game involving 16 people. 16 people would hold a string that was attached to a drum. Then we would have to bounce a ball on the drum, while only holding the string, for 8 times. The next challenge involved 10 people. There were ten sticks in a ring. The ten people would pick up one end of the stick, with the other end on the ground, then hold it straight with only the palm of you hand. Then everyone would transfer their sticks from one person to another by walking quickly to the next stick. after that, was a ball transferring challenge by using pieces of cut pipe. That was the challenge that slowed us down. but winning and losing didnt matter.

I felt that these various activities had really brought the oip group closer together. It was worth all the time it took up and also all the effort we used for these various activities. 

After the bonding session, we had a barbecue with some of the local students of the university. Everyone in the oip group had donated 10 yuan to buy some ingredients for the barbecue. when the barbeque first got off, there were a lot of hiccups. first off, the students didnt know where to get the charcoal from or where to start the fire. For most of them, it was their first time ever having a barbecue. so they didnt know how to start a fire or how to cook on the barbecue. most of the food came out raw but it didnt matter. what mattered was them. they all seemed to enjoy themselves and were all having a good time. and we got a chance to interact with them. but most of them werent the most interested in interacting with us as they all seemed to want to interact with mr lee. in the end, it was a rather enjoyable experience and the interacting and bonding we had gained today was invaluable.

Day 12 (15th march), 13( 16th march) and 14 (17th march)

Day 12

Today, we had our creative presentation for forensic science. My group comprised of Kenneth, Johanna, Kang Ming, Brandon and of course, me. I think it went well. We all did what we were supposed to do and it went smoothly in my opinion. Other than that, nothing much happened after that. After the presentation, my group and I just went back to the dorms to pack for tomorrow where we will be going to red cliff. My friends tell me that the weather forecast says it’s going to rain. I hope that doesn’t happen because it would make the trip very uncomfortable and we won’t be able to enjoy the sites as it would be too cold and wet.

Day 13

We are going to set off to go to red cliff today. It was a long and boring two and a half hour bus ride to our destination. Upon arrival at red cliff, it started raining. It was freezing cold. But the place was stunning, everything from the road to the gates to the magnificent buildings. It felt like we were back in the renaissance days, but in china and not in Europe. The buildings were like castles and was simply breath taking.

We were first brought to our place of residence for the night. It was a 4 star hotel. The whole place was immaculate. The rooms were amazing. However, we were not given much time to admire the rooms as we had to leave in ten minutes.

We then proceeded to walk through the various sites, in order to get to our lunch area. There were many amazing builds and sites to see while walking through and there were also many stories that had happened at red cliff. But as we walked through the place, the rain started to get heavier and we all had to rush to get to the lunch area.

one thing that i had found rather funny was how dispite the amount of history and amazing sites there were, the only thing johanna was interested in was the lamps

The food at the place was surprisingly better than what we usually got, which was salty, oily and spicy food. There was also slightly more meat then what we usually got. One thing that I’ve noticed is that people in china tend to eat a lot more carbohydrates then most other countries and they don’t get much protein. This causes my friends and I to get hungrier more often and also eat more at every meal. And with the amount of salt in the food that they serve us, it can’t be good for our health.

Once lunch was complete, we had to run to the opposite building to buy rain coats and umbrellas. Due to the rain, everyone didn’t have a very enjoyable time as it was difficult to take photos and it was also cold and wet. The worst combination of feelings ever.  However, we still managed to see some of the sites. When we were done, the guide brought us back to the hotel where we had some free time to relax and shop. Kenneth, Wilson, Brandon, Kang Ming, Jody and I went to the gift shop that was next to the hotel, which oddly enough, not many people saw. We all bought some snacks as gifts for our families and friends.

After shopping, we went back to relax in our room. When dinner time approached, we took a bus to go back to the same restaurant as lunch. The food was rather similar as lunch, but in most of the dishes, the only thing that had changed was the main ingredient. But the cooking style and taste was the same.

 After dinner we were supposed to watch a battle simulation near the hotel, but due to the rain, it was called off.

Day 14

Today we went to go see some of the small islands around the red cliff. we visited 2 islands. one of which was a snake shrine. at this snake shrine, we were brought to see an extremely disturbing show which contain head banging, some form of EXTREMELY DISTURBING LADYBOY DANCING AND SINGING. 

Day 10 ( 13th march) and 11 ( 14th march)

Day 10

Two main things happened today. first off we went to then coke factory. and second and most fun thing, we went into town for the first time.

Lets start off with the coke factory. it took us an hour to get there and an hour to get back. the time we had spent there was longer then the time we had spent there. the trip wasnt very useful as we didnt learn much. for the majority of the time, the coke people just showed us a video that contained some of the facts of coke and the history of the drink. it was pretty pointless as it was like any other video that you can find on youtube and it seemed more like a commercial then anything else. then they brought us out and let us see what was going around in the factory. they didnt explain anything and just let us look into the factory through a glass wall. after looking at some of the processes, they then proceeded to bring us to a room that contained some novelties and some of the past things that happened involving the coke company. And that concluded our tour of the factory. I was hoping that there may have been a gift bag or something, but no. i wasnt too bugged about that but i was pretty puzzled as they didnt even have some form of a gift store or anything, even though they displayed all of the nice coke tumblers and umbrellas and such. I personally felt that it was pretty much a waste of time, as nothing much was said or done.

after the very disappointing trip, we then proceeded to head back to the campus. upon arrival, my classmates and i managed to convince mr vincent to bring us to town ahead of everyone else. i was so excited as it would be the first time we would catch a glimps of what the town was like and find out what there was to do in wuhan. also, since we were there, we finally all managed to get what we had all been craving for, western food. we managed to get macdonals and starbucks. however, the bunch of us noticed something. the menus in most of the places, when compared to singapore or most any other country, is extremely limited. when ordering macdonals, they only had 3 different types of burgers. even at starbucks the types of coffee available was extremely limited. we only got a short period of time to explore the area so we didnt see much, however, we soon be back again the next day

Day 11

My classmates and i went into town again today. and this time, it wasnt just my classmates and i. everyone who wanted to go could go. but due to my classmates and i have the privillage of going before everyone else, we had to help the lecturers ensure that people got off at the right bus stop as the bus that we needed to take was usually extremely crowded. so we had to split into two groups when boarding the bus. some of us would go on one bus, and the rest on another. we all managed to get there safely. this time, we had more time to explore the area. the city area comprized of many shopping malls around a central area. we had already explored one of the shopping malls the previous day, so we decided to go to another mall. when walking around, the malls seem rather dead. there werent that many people shopping and we all knew why. the shops in wuhan were extremely overpriced and extremely limited in range, when compared to other places. the branded goods sold at a significantly higher rate then normal and there were a lot of weird brands that copied the branded stuff. however, even the copies werent cheap. so in the end, many of us were quite disappointed and didnt come back with much spoils. 

Day 8 (11th march) and 9 (12th march)

Day 8

We had the first chinese culture class. we were taught by one of the local lecturers of the university. they way that the lecturers teach are quite different from our local lectures teach. the students also learn in a whole different way too. the lecturers seem to continuously teach for hours on end without stopping. the students are also quite different from us. they seem to be constantly focused in class and dont seem to need brakes as the teachers never seem to give any.

Day 9

nothing much happened today. however, we have made a shocking discovery. my classmate and friend, Kenneth, has not been flushing the toilet. we come to this conclusion when i was washing my cloths in the toilet. the toilet sometimes smelt bad. it smelt like like as if someone didnt flush the toilet. as i was washing my cloths, i asked why the toilet always smelt so bad. Kenneth then suddenly said it was because he had just used it. then i asked if he had flushed. his answer made me burst into laughter. " is there a flush?" At least from now on, the toilet wont smell as bad anymore. I  cant believe that he had been not flushing for the past week.

Day 5 (8th march), 6 (9th march) and 7 (10th march)

Day 5

Nothing much had happened. I attended lectures today and we got our first project for forensic science. Tomorrow we will be going to the wudang mountain and i am extremely excited. we will all have to pack lightly as we will have to carry everything ourselves. i am not looking forward to the long bus ride but i am extremely excited to view the beautiful scenery and to take the cable car up to the top of the mountain.

Day 6

We left today for the wudang mountain. the day started early in order to be on time. we took the bus for 5 hours. when we reached, we had lunch. at lunch, my friends and i had come to a realization. the food in china, is extremely salty and also very oily. every dish is this way. the chinese people also dont seem to eat very much meat.

An extremely salty fish dish

After lunch, we then proceeded to visit some of the sites in the area. We had to take the bus up the mountain to get to the various sites. the road was extremely curvy and there were many turns. The first stop for the day was the crown palace slope. it is also known as the fuzhen palace. it was built by the ming emperor yongle. Some famous films were shot there such at the karate kid and also the monkey king.

The filming of the karate kid featuring jackie chan and jaden smith

The beautiful walkway up to the temple.

Entrance to the temple

1

One of the walls inside the temple. the red strings tied to the walls signify good fortune if the person is able to attach their string to the beam without it flying away

The next place that we visited was the Zi xiao hall. It is said that there are three entrances. the left right and center entrance. the center entrance is only for the emperor and the other two are for ranked officials, etc. however, if you do not hold a rank, you were not allowed to even set foot on the steps to enter the hall.

A snake and turtle in the river below the bridge leading to the hall.

The bridge that leads to the entrance of the hall.

A place for the  people to burn offerings and incents for the gods

The construction of these temples simply amazes me as it constantly makes me wonder how it was possible to build all of these beautiful structures without and modern machinery, and also with such precision. after all of this, we checked into a 3 star hotel that was rather nice. there was internet and everything. the view was breathtaking.

The hotel that we stayed in

A panoramic view from the hotel.

Day 7

 This is the last day at the wudang mountain. we started the day off by visiting the south cliff palace. It was extremely cold. we had to climb up to the top of the cliff. it is the place where the taoist people went to practice austerities during the tang and song dynasties. there used to be many buildings on the cliff however a huge fire long ago had burned down the majority of them.

A building overlooking the cliff next to the south cliff

A lake at the bottom of the cliff.

The main temple at the top of south cliff

One of the smaller temples that contains a turtle god.

The place that used to contain many of the buildings. all thats left after the fire is just the trees and a single walkway

The beautiful walkway leading up to the staircase that will bring you up to the top of the mountain

The views from the mountain was simply breathtaking. After the south cliff, we proceeded to take the bus to another location where we rode a cable car up to the top of a mountain.

we walked up the mountain to its peak. the air was extremely thin which made the climb even harder then normal.

this trip to the wudang mountain was extremely breathtaking and also very very worth all of the effort to get to all the places.