Day 42 - Back home
The day we have been waiting for has finally arrived. Only slept a few hours the night before and woke up at 8am for area cleaning, at the same time doing last minute packing. When it was all cleared, we bid goodbyes to our rooms and carry our luggages up the bus. Took around 2hrs bus journey from our campus to wuhan tianhe airport. Once reached, we proceed to check in our luggages. The airport was packed with ngee ann students, mainly from 3 schools; mde, lsct and ee. Since the departure time is still hours away, our mde division went to have meal at KFC. At about 1.20pm, we board the plane that heads to guangzhou.
Everyone with barang barang ready to go
Arrived at wuhan tianhe international airport
Domestic departures as we are heading to guangzhou first
Facilities wasn't that bad afterall...
A lot of people waiting to check in
Arrived at guangzhou airport at around 3pm. As the next flight to Singapore is 6.40pm, we have to spend several hours at guangzhou airport. Instead of walking around, we decided to slack at one corner. Some of us slept while some played cards. At about 5.30pm, we went to check in. Went pass the temperature scanner and the personnel over there found out that I was having a fever. She said that I would not be allowed to went in if my fever persists. I starts getting anxious as all my other friends had went in. If I missed this flight, I would have to wait till tommorrow evening. Mr Loh accompanied me to buy drinks and I started drinking and wiping my face with the cold water to cool myself down. Thankfully, I managed to pass through eventually.
The plane finally landed at Singapore at about 1040pm. Everyone of us onboard was so happy that we clapped and cheered. We have officially arrived at our homeland! The feeling of happiness and excitement is indescribable. At the arrival gate, everyone hugged with families and there were teaful joys everywhere.
Singapore: This is where we belong!
Reflection:
After this trip, it made us loved Singapore even more. This is truly our homeland. Along the expressway in Singapore, I realised that Singapore is very clean and the smell of air is where we belong. Although the memories in wuhan would still be remembered, but personally for me I would still prefer Singapore as this is the place where we grown up and with the love of families and friends.
Day 41
Visit to Guanggu street for one last time. Supposed to go hankou shopping area today, but that place is too far from our campus. Hence we just made a simple trip down to guanggu. Went to have Ajisen ramen again. After that, shopping time. We had to save and treasure our time as this is also the last time shopping in wuhan. Hence, we bought whatever we can. After shopping, we loitered outside the mall to capture photos to keep it as memories. Time is about 7pm and we decided to go back our hostel area to have dinner at the roadstalls. After dinner, some of us went to buy fireworks to play, but as there is no available places to lit it. All the MDE students walked around the WUST campus in the midnight, and it was pretty scary. And last but not least, we celebrated chin kuang's birthday in the open air night. The silent night in WUST was disturbed by our whole MDE group. But who cares, it's our last night here!
Guanggu street....
Reflection:
Finally tommorrow is the day we returned to Singapore. After this trip, we are prepared to meet new challenges. I am sure everyone of us has benefited from the trip. We shall enjoy the one week holiday before school reopen, at the same time trying to adapt back to Singapore's life. Wuhan will certainly live in our memories and never be forget.
Day 40
Made a trip down to
wuchang's jie fang street(解放路) for shopping. This place has been recommended a lot of times, so we decided to explore and see if there is any suitable stuffs to purchase. As usual, we ordered a van again to drive us there. The ride for the whole van is 80yuan, so we each share the cost. Once reached there, we proceed to 首义园小吃街 to have our breakfast. The foods were pretty tasty, but not very cheap though. Went to continue our shopping journey after eating. Arrived at the shopping street and we started our shopping 'quest'. I bought only a jeans from
Baleno shop.
Many old buildings are being demolished for new
highrise.
not much people in the morning...
branded stores everywhere...
whole stretch of shopping stores
As we have a farewell dinner at our campus in the evening, we have to be back by 6pm. Therefore we have to shorten our shopping time unfortunately. We travelled back to school by hiring a van again. However, the van brought us to a wrong campus and he seemed unsure of the directions too. This made us quite concerned. Luckily he managed to drove us back, which took about 45mins. Once reached, we immediately rushed to the restaurant as we are already late. All the Ngee Ann lecturers, local IS teachers and local students were invited to the dinner. Everyone went busy snapping photos with one another after dinner.
A lot of dishes ordered, and almost every table couldn't finish it...
Group 1 photo
with the local students too. They are really nice students
Reflection:
The farewell dinner showed the strong bonding we had with the local people. They took the initiative to prepare this dinner for us, and the students even designed cards for us, which made us very touched. I feel that such enthusiasm is important for everyone. It simply reflects how the local people interact with the foreigners
Day 39
Had
BPE assignment 3 presentation today. We have officially concluded
BPE module! Time really flies and most of us were very excited about the return to Singapore on Monday. After the classes has ended, we hang around the foreign language school to snap a few photos as that would be the last time we are stepping our foot there. Went back to the hostel to do IS group video afterwards. We only managed to find some songs and pictures to be included in the video. After that, we went for dinner at roadside stalls again. That could be the last time we will having meals at the
roadstalls again. I really missed the cheap pricing of the foods.
my group
presentating...
Foreign Language School. You will be missed.
Shophouses stalls beside our hostel. It has great foods and drinks.
Group 1 photo
'Chiong-ing' for our group video.
Reflection:
Today marks the last weekdays that we had in wuhan. Next monday we shall be going back to Singapore. Although the facilities wasn't that good, but we still miss the classrooms and especially our hostel, which has been our loyal shelter for 6 weeks. The foods here too. Even though I find it oily and salty, but the price is simply too cheap to resist.
Day 38
Supposed to have BPE assignment 3 presentation today, but there was no classrooms available and hence class was cancelled. Therefore, we made a trip down to Chicony Plaza and other shopping areas along wu lu road(武珞路). The items sold there were all branded stuffs and was not cheap at all, so we just explored around the mall and proceed to have lunch at Ajisen Ramen restaurant. Each of us paid around 50yuan for the meal and it was satisfying enough. After eating, we decided to split up into guys and girls section again as both group shop for different things. Our guys group went to check out some streets store selling men clothings, although it's pretty cheap, but none managed to suit our taste. Hence, we went to the IT mall to shop for electronic devices instead.
chicony plaza, one of the most grand shopping mall in wuhan...
the style is similar to takashimaya in singapore, and price isnt cheap...
they have a food court as well
Ajisen Ramen restaurant
Singapore's local bread shop in China
IT malls. This is just one of it. There is whole stretch of it ahead...
Another shopping mall. This mall also sell branded stuffs.
Our shopping spree ended at about 8pm. Share cab back to our hostel. Along the way, the cab driver recommeded some shopping areas for us, like the wuchang district and hankou. He knew a lot of history as well, like Sun Zhong Shan and other historical figures. It's such a worthy ride.
Reflection:
After so many days of shopping, I discovered that almost every of the shop assistants will approach you to see if you need assistance when you entered their shop. Although it is kind of irritating and evil to shoo them away, we must realised that they really took the passion to do their job. In singapore, some of the sales assistant just merely stood there, while some even show disgusted faces when we have to make them refold everything. That's the difference I discovered among the customer services.
Day 37
Camped at the hostel all the time today. We had been shopping and shopping non-stop these few days, so it will be a good idea to slack in the hostel to avoid crowded areas. Finished up our BPE assignment 3 using Flexsim, as the presentation is due tommorrow. That will be the last presentation and we will hereby conclude our BPE module. After finishing it up, some of them went to guang gu street again, while I decided to continue slacking at the hostel.
Day 36
Made a trip to guanggu street once again. Well, that's the only shopping place nearest to our school. Instead of taking cab or bus today, we chartered a mini-van to took us there. In China, this kind of van is similar to taxi. Edy happened to knew the driver so he called him to fetch us from our school. A group of 10 of us squeeze into the small van, but it only cost us 30 yuan for the ride, so it's considered cheap enough. Upon reaching there, it's time to find foods for lunch again. This time we ate at a small noodle restaurant. I ordered a chicken noodle and it was pretty tasty. Once finished, we wasted no time to start our shopping session again. Dined out at macdonalds for dinner again before taking the mini-van back to hostel.
10 of us squeeze into a mini-van. Luckily it was only a short journey.
Here we are at guanggu again...
This section inside Grand Ocean has a variety of food stalls
Reflection:
I experienced both good and bad customer service today. For the good one, was the van driver. Everytime we called him for a ride, he would be on time and bring us to the destination without much delay. He seems kind and offered only small amount of fee for the ride. Now for the bad one, was the person selling computer accessories. He has a bad attitude in serving customers. Because he was already keeping his goods when closing his store, we went to approach him to view thumbdrive. He seemed impatience and keep bargaining with us. We still bought from him though, but I swear if I encountered such situation again I would not hesistate to walk off. Both situation also do happen in Singapore, but to encounter the bad one in overseas would be a bad experience.
Day 35
It was yet another day of fun. Our MDE division chartered a bus to take a trip to Zhongshan theme park and Jiang Han Street for shopping. First of all, we have to thank the tour guide who took us for the weekend tour. He helped us in chartering the bus and also introducing places for us to shop around today. We reached zhongshan park at about 9am plus and it was already packed with people. Some of us took the rides like roller coaster and pirate ship, while I decided not to play as I find that the rides were not cheap. It is by pay-per-ride system, not by paying at the entrance where you can enjoy unlimited rides.
MDE peeps
the map of zhongshan theme park
This looks fun...
But this looks more thrilling...
Buy your tickets here to enter the rides.
Anybody dare to try out this? =P
After the fun, we decided to fork out 1.5yuan per person to take the monorail train to jiang han street. This place is also bu xing jie where we will have our shopping. We bought the tickets which comes in a plastic token coin. We need to use this to pass through the gates to take the monorail. The train travels at the same speed as Singapore's MRT. Because we only travelled 1 stop, the ride took only about 3mins.
Ticketing system where you purchase your tickets.
coin-shaped token ticket.
The train has arrived
Reached bu xing jie at about 2pm. Decided to have lunch first as we are quite hungry. We tried out the fast food restaurant called '真功夫'. Instead of selling westernise foods, this restaurant sells chinese meals which cames with rice and dishes. I ordered a braised pork ribs rice which cost 24yuan. However, I don't find it really tasty for me. After eating, it's shopping time. Bought a pair of adidas shoes, wallet and shirt for myself =)
chinese fast food
Bu xing jie is crowded with people again.
After shopping, we took a ferry back to qing shan area. The journey took about 15mins and we can get to admire the beautiful night scenery of wuhan city. Had dinner at a nearby bustling street stalls before taking back the bus back to hostel.
Reflection:
I find that the theme park is actually not very safe. I discovered several rusty parts on the rides and the environment was pretty chaotic with not much orders. Worse still, the paying system is pay-per-ride styles, which made it pretty costly for everybody. For me, I would still prefer those theme parks with one time payment at the entrance.
Day 34
Today was also known as a lazy Sunday. Woke up at around 11pm and went out to have lunch. Some of the peeps decided to went mouse street again, while I decided to slack in hostel with the rest who are not going. Throughout the whole afternoon, I watched movie on my laptop and took a nap. Woke up and realized that it was already evening time. I walked out to have dinner with peeps and that's so much for this Sunday. Reached back at the hostel to realized that our internet connection has been cut off. Our room is not only the victims, as soon we found out that the whole stretch of our corridor's internet were gone. I heard that because we paid for the internet service for only 4 weeks, hence the supply were gone. In the end, they paid for the service for another 2 weeks so we can have internet again.
Day 33
Unlike the past few weekends where we had our tour, this weekend is a free session for us. Hence we decided to take bus 907 to zhuo dao quan (卓刀泉) street area to shop. The bus ride took around 45mins and we alighted at a wrong stop. In the end, we had to walk back to the actual area. Went to have lunch at one of the steakhouse. The foods were not bad though, and price is quite cheap too. After the meal, we decided to shop around the area to see if there is any items that suit our taste. We first went to 'mouse street'(老鼠街). However, all the items there are for girls, so we decided to split up into guys and girls. Girls shall continue to shop there and we guys group made a trip further down the street to the computer town. The computer town consist of several IT malls located side by side, residing in the busy street of zhuo dao quan. We went into the mall to have a look at the products and pricing. Not much difference as compared to Singapore. Hence, we left empty-handed.
waiting for bus at the bus stop.
Bell service if you want to call the waiters to come.
Our meals.
This is street for shopping but it's mainly for girls...
KFC delivery, but by bicycle. Environmentally-friendly huh?
Chinese calligraphy on the floor tiles. Ever seen it before?
Look at the words. So neat and beautifully written.
IT malls selling all the electronic products.
We meet up with the girls back at the place where we had lunch. Went to the night market area to walk around before taking a cab back to our hostel. Suprisingly, the cab fare is cheaper than the price we took from guang gu street back to our hostel.
Reflection:
After so many days in China, I realised that the traffic conditions on the road is still not safe and organised. Vehicles were horning non-stop and commuters just cross the roads as they wish. During peak hours, we can see roads jamming all the ways, and drivers showing sign of impatience faces. Compared to Singapore, crossing roads and giving ways is really tough. I feel that China should improve more on their traffic conditions to produce a better image for foreigners.
