14 Apr 2009 End of wuhan trip, welcome singapore!

Before the day of flying off, our friend Alex, in the middle.
My team and friends was happy to board the plane.

Our plane to guang zhou.



Up above the sky!! Speed was about 700 plus km/h

taking a big turn for the plane to face the runway.

landing soon in guangzhou for a transit.

Landed at guang zhou

Guess who? Cuaght in the act. Wahaha




Reached at Changi airport!!!

So Sorry but no pictures for the fight from guang zhou to singapore changi airport as it is late and dark nothing could capture in the dark, and i felt tired from the fight.

Alright. it was the last day in wuhan, yes i was happy that i was given the opportunity to have this trip, thanks to ngee ann poly and wuhan science and technology university.Thinking back, half of our class sign up for this trip ended with only 7 of us going. I ended consistent on going as i know that it will benifit me from seeing what is going on on the outside world rather then staying in a small island, singapore.

6 weeks, This trip allow me to know more people and their way of leaving. A good example will be the toilet. Flushing down toilet paper would choke the whole system. Spiting and smoking anywhere is common, remembering the first time when we are having a transit from guangzhou to wuhan. People just split and smoke in the airport or i can say anywhere.

The china to english translation was also funny in china. Many sign are spell or the word meaning are not giving the correct sign. Rules are not being bother in china. Roads are very dangerous, thinking back, our tour bus drive in the opposite direction on the road and making a 3 point turn to the opposite direction on the EXPRESSWAY! when the bus driver miss the petrol station.

Lastly on this trip, i would like to thank my team member, Tan Xin Rong, Chew Jia He and Zhi Hui. I felt that our team is very Zai*!!(steady), Everything went very smoothly and teamwork is always there throughout the trip. We spent about 15- 20min buying and eating our last Macdonald PORK burger at guang zhou airport and check in before time.

Lastly, i would like to thanks all both Mr MA , Mr CHUA and all fellow ECE students. We have created a bonding and teamwork. This allow trip us to know more about one another.

THANK YOU

13 Apr 2009

It was 2nd last day in wuhan, woke up early and set off with jeremy to guang ba lu. The place was recommended by a store attendant from hankou. In order to know the place better, the night before i went to Google Earth and check the exact location.It was located very near the computer city.

We took bus 901 and finally reached the place around 10am. Upon reaching the place we went to buy our breakfast. It was roti prata stuffs with other food ingredients. The place was a street, along it was shops which sells many clothings. After going in every stores, we brought nothing as it was priced more expensive then other places.

In the noon, we make our way to lu xiang. We went there because jeremy wanted to buy a shirt. The price of it was 240, which he though was expensive and did not purchase it, instead he went to buy keychains. As time went by, we need to be back school to buy foods and drinks for the closing ceremony for us and the china students. Rush back to school and went to the nearby supermarket to shop. Along with us are siew bo, Ben, jia hui and cris.

Went back to the hostel to put all the foods and drink, we proceeded to the main gate to take our whole ECE group photos. After taking photos, My team, group 2 with ben and jeremy went back to hostel to take the foods and took the small school shutter bus, it was our first time taking it and it cost 1 yuan. we went there early as help was needed to arrange the place. Balloons were blown, chairs, table and foods were arrange.

Soon, everyone was there including the china students, speech from the Dean, mr ma and the host which was sebast and hwee ping were given. Dance shows, song singing, games were played.
Soon it was 7 .30pm. which was the Firework show!!

The firework show was great and dangerous. The big box of firework was placed in front about only 30 meter from me. I think many people enjoy it as i heard that they seldom play with it.


conclusion:

Places of interest are there for us to find out with our curiosity. Interaction can help you understand and know more about anything in their country.

Oh man, guess what? It was a free and easy day today and i slept till 1pm. Nicky and others were out to buy liquor for tonight drinking sessions. My team did not intend to go out anyway. If you guys know me, i cant stay in the hostel for the whole day, as i have a mindset thinking that staying at home or hostel will not let me spend my time well.

The weather is changing and soon it was raining.Anyway i call nicky group as i wanted my lunch, i do not want to eat fried rice or noodle, told them i wanted macdonald pork burger and macspicy. Went back to slack on my bed using the computer. Soon nicky group call me up and told me that the macdonald was not available, it was due to the fact that they are having a repair service and the whole store is down at that moment. It was so unlucky i thought. I decided not to eat then.

The whole weather was bad. Raining cats and dogs, i end up having both my lunch and dinner at the nearest canteen. The day ended with no activity, just having our own time at the hostel.
In the night, we have our drinking session and i stay till 3am. Went for sleep,i need to wake up early tmr to go out to explore guang ba lu with jeremy.


conclusion:

WASTED 1 DAY in WUHAN!!
Plan your time wisely, set alarm clock and plans so to allow oneself spending their time wisely.

=(

Went to computer city yesterday, took bus 907 which was our first time taking that cause normaly we would take bus 901. The bus journey was longer then 901. When reached we felt tired from all the turns and standing as the bus took the bumpy roads.

Once reached we went to different shopping mall. It was cramp, unorganized and frustrating. Due to most shops are small, whenever we pass by each stores, the sale person would pester or recommend product that they are selling which you dont it at all.

We spent most of our time exploring, In that place, they sell alot of fake electonics goods which the packaging are almost look alike as the authentic ones. In order to buy authentic goods and prevent from any scram, you have to asked if the product is genuine and checked for logos .

Research are encourage to be done in the net to check the current market price and how to checked the differents of the fake and the authentic packaging before heading down to the mall

At the end of the trip, i went back empty handed as i found that i need nothing from there.

Today was a fun and tiring day, We went to the cultural village located at our school nearly. Wake up early at 7 plus and went there. It was an outdoor activities, adventure seeker thingy.
For the morning session before other school ngee ann group came, he had a few ice breaking gamer such as squirrel and tree game. Sound boring isn't it?

As other group of ngee ann student came, he are divided into 4 groups. And were given newpaper to make ourselves into this Tank tire. It was a team bonding game for everyone to use their brains on how it can be made into a tire and allow us to move forward. In order to play this game,everyone in team are suppose to be in the wheel of chain, in order to move forward,
co-ordinate are needed to make sure the newspaper does not tear, once the newpaper are tear, team members are to repair it before they proceed to move forward.

As for the afternoon session, we went to play much more exciting station, first we was to climb up to about 4 story high and we are suppose to jump over to another side , after jumping we are suppose to jump off. It was a challenge to me as i fear of height.

the second station was the thrust fall, team member are to support 1 team member as he/she is falling with the hands and legs being tied. High amount of trust are needed in this game.

Last of all was the rock climbing event. Many guys tried as it was a challenge. It was around 6 story high. I did try but did not succeed in climbing up the top as my back hit the side of the wall. Abrasion on my back at the end of the event. But i was happy as it was my first time climbing up so high.

Conclusion:

I learned new stuffs today, And knowing that bonding and teamwork are needed to carry out in most event.

Yes, it was an free and easy day today again, slept till 12pm and was using the computer till about 2pm when we headed for lunch at canteen 1. I ate the winter melon, pork soup with rice. it was a new found dish and it way nicer then fried rice or fried noodle which are available almost everyway.

We headed back to our hostel, felt bored, we decided to have basketball games. had a few games with the locals, they were good at it. Play till about 6 plus and headed for dinner.

A day ended like this, felt relaxed.

Oh!! Isn't free and easy day suppose to allow me to have a nice good sleep? Alarm rang, roomate asking me to get up at 9.30 AM!!! That was early alright? Was told that my team are going out with jeremy and 2 other china students to shop at Hankou. The weather was not good, it was raining and was cold!!

In the end after much lagging and waiting for others, we left our hostel at 11.30pm. Was wondering why i had to wake up so early, i could have slept for another 1 hour. Oh well!
Anyway, peng hoe join us too, we took bus 901 from our school to Computer town and waited for the china students, they were having lesson earilier on. From computer town, we took another bus, 608 to Hankou. The Bus pass by Yellow crane tower, cross Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge and reached Hankou.

We reached there around 2.30pm and had our lunch cum breakfast at Macdonald. I order a meal and addition burger, guess what? the extra burger is a PORK burger. Shiok feeling and taste. Went for our shopping, many of us brought our stuffs, as well as the two china girl students.

As for dinner, we went for steak house as we request. Cause everyday, it was either fried rice, fried noodles, vegetable rice which was sold in our school and outside the roadside stores. The steak house was very luxurious, look like a high class restaurant. The food they served was good.
After eating, the time was 10.40pm. We took taxi back as the bus service ended at 9.30pm

Reflection: Countries that have different seasons, the people have different kind of clothings. They look very stylish from the way of dress unlike singapore, we wore amostly slippers, berms and tshirt throughout the year. The most we put on a sweater or a hoody if the weather is cold.

Today lesson starts at 9am, Our test paper were given back to us, i score 62/100 marks, not very good result though, i remember before the test i was sleeping in my hostel and didnt revise much.haha!. Many of them score very well, i have calculated and i think i am lacking from most classmate about 4 % of the whole module marks as the weightage of the test was 20% . Well , today afternoon class was cancel and we have 3 days free and easy for the preparation of our final theory test which have a weightage of 30%.

After eating my lunch i went back hostel and sleep. Slept till 2pm, when china postman gave me a call to pick up my parcel from the school main door. It was 180 rolls of film weighting 7.5 kg. oh god, that is heavy. Went back to my hostel again and slept till around 6-7pm.

Reflection: You reap what you sow; you get back what you give to others. If lots of effort is put in your studies. Eventually, you will get good grades.

IS lesson for the whole day today. Morning session was by prof.An, he continue his lesson on Chinese Traditional Thoughts where is cover the topics on Buddhism Sakyamuni and Taoism. The lesson allow us to know more about the china people belief and how it give each a pure heart with no desire in a people heart, where one could understand the way of life.

It shows that Taoists believe that everything have it opposite which is why, the symbol of the Taoist have black and white. Wudang mountain which was shown on the slides were known for the many Taoist monasteries to be found there, monasteries which became known as an academic centre for the research, teaching and practice of meditation, Chinese martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, Taoist agriculture practices and related arts. It was the place we went a week ago.

Buddhism was a great event in the development of Chinese culture and of Buddhism itself.Of all Chinese philosophy and exercising an enduring influence on the popular religion and on the mind and character of the Chinese people. Till today, many buddhist status could be found around china, it shows that Buddhism is widely spread. Journey to the West is one of the popular novel that show episodes relating to the adventure of Xuan Zang on his pilgrimage to the Western Region.

In the noon, we have another IS lesson on Chinese feng shui by teacher Christopher, he speak very good English, Traditional Chinese Wedding customs were taught and how different preparation bring good luck. Wedding date, items, table manners, do and dont were being taught. To have a greater depth of understanding, feng shui which have conist of 5 different element were being taught. Colours represent each element, in homes, it is better to match the correct colour in certain direction, place correct item in some places. Example, it is encourage not to put mirror in front of the bed, as they bring the energy of the feng shui element of water, and a strong feng shui water element in the bedroom attracts/creates the energy of sorrow.

It is also bad for any sharp angle pointing at you while you sleep, example, the building design,furniture, such as a chest of drawers, or from a sharp wall corner - be sure to neutralize all the sharp energy feng shui sha chi in your bedroom.

Many other feng shui saying was believed to help improve your life. More reading and knowlege can be learn after today IS lesson but to find out more research can be found in books and in the net.

Another classroom for learning, communication through earphone.

Interesting!!!

My roomate. He seem so interested on the topic.

wahaha.

April fool!! Haha, Went early for IS lesson today, the lessons was teach by the yuan zhang, prof An, the director from the school of international education. He teaches about the Chinese Traditional Thoughts, he cover the part of history of china and influential intellectual movements as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism and Mohism were founded,which are partly in response to the changing political world.

This gives me much better understanding about china, how their belief teaches and how it reflects a person. In his presentation, the mother mong stories allow me to understand how teaching, giving good environment to the young generation could affect their way of thinking. Mother Mong also taught her son to be a man of virtue.

The meaning of "jun zi", gentleman was being taught which also means perfect man. It is one who “combines the qualities of saint, scholar, and gentleman”. The opposite of "jun zi" is xiao ren which means means he/she is petty in mind and heart, narrowly self-interested, greedy, superficial, or materialistic.

Today lesson allow me to learn the way of life and allow me to improve myself in personality.

After out lunch in the noon, we went back to our hostel to have some rest, then, someone knock on our doors, it was the service apartment cleaning service.. Wooh!! which means clean bedsheet and washing toilet service.. they comes every Wednesday. Some pictures were taken.. Wahaha

Soon it was afternoon lesson, went for class and do our summary for the IS and improvement on the APPG project, no teacher were present for the 2 hour plus. i believe they know that we will behave and do our work. About reaching to the end of the lesson, Mr ma came in and see our work on the our APPG Lab work.

After Lesson, I went for basketball and table tennis session with classmates. Had a great time with them today

Lesson with prof .An

Key Maker? Hehe, i have the keys to your rooms!!

Surprise!! Stephen unaware of the cleaning service.

We thought you were out. Opps!! haha

After yesterday incident, i felt very week today. Class started at 9am but i reached around 10 plus. Wanted more rest, but if i do, work just kept piling up. Today was the last lesson for APPG, and the last chapter was taught. This is not over yet, there is still APPG interview , mini project and theory test 2 left, the weightage for these 3 could kill. Need to buck up all those left over work and fully understand the module.

For lunch i think i ate the least, Order $0.20RmB rice, steam egg $1RMB with cabbage 0.80RMB. The portion was very little but still i cant finish at all, just do not have the appetite.
As for dinner, went out to eat fried rice and again could not finish at all, the food that i finish was the tang yuan(Ah balling) sold by the roadside store. Simple dishes taste real good.

IS for tomorrow morning got to wake up early. Will be rushing APPG project and revise for all topic these few days. Hope everything would just turn out fine.

=)

sick dave

alright.Just came back from the hospital located just outside the school. The story goes like this. Was feeling alright this morning but when it comes to noon, got stomachache and i went to the legend toilet, look.. the smell of the toilet in the school was dam thick. Even before you reached, the smell was being sense by your nose which was it was located serveral classroom away.

After class ended at around 5pm. i started to feel unwell. Rush my way back to the hostel and dump myself on the bed. The sleep was not comfortable at all, in between, i rush to the toilet to vomit. This lasted 7 to 8 times. As most of my friends went out to play table tennis, i was alone with my the another friend. He did ask me if i am ok, but i cant be bother to reply him as i felt terribly sick.

Soon most of the guys came back and found out i had food poisoning, They called the teacher and i was brought to the hospital. Took 3 jab and one was on my ass. Spent about 3 hours there as 5 bottle of gulose was being drip into me.

The reason for food poisoning was due to yesterday BBQ. It was an interaction event for both china student and us. I suspect that i have eaten uncook food there and i think i am stupid enough to poison myself by cooking uncook food for myself

I wish to thanks my team, jiahe, xin rong, zhi hui and lastly jeremy from another team for accompany throughout. And lastly thanks to my teacher in charge, mr chua and mr ma for helping out. Felt so good with them around.

=)

Had an good rest once again due to a free and easy day. Went out with the china student in the noon to buy our BBQ stuffs as today we had an BBQ interaction event. Spent time getting ready the stuffs and bring it to the cultural village beside the school for BBQ. Let the pics do the talking...

It was raining in the morning, oh gosh! We are going to Han Kou Jiang Tan Park and in the noon was a free and easy day! why was it going to rain? The bus was half an hour late and we had to seek shelter from the security post at the main gate.

After an 1hour plus of traveling, the weather did not change for the better.The tour guide change the plan of visiting the park, and allow us to do our free and easy shopping at Han Kou Shopping District.

We explore the places there and found out that in Macdonalds they are selling PORK burger. It was an WOW impression even though my sister told me before. On that moment i went to the counter and order for everyone a PORK burger. Me myself ate two, it tasted great!!

After about 3 hours of shopping, we went back to Macdonalds again, this time i order a beef burger extra value meal which was not sold in Singapore, in additional i orger the PORK burger again. Opps!! haha, i think i am addicted to it. Wahahaa

As we are walking back to the travel bus, we pass by an convenient store. That shop was selling small bottles with 2 fishes in each bottle. It may seem cute to some people. However, at first i thought it was cute too, later then i was told, it was a toy for children, and the fish would die sooner or later.

Back to the bus, which means end of shopping at Hankou. Shopping was not enough, so i requested to the tour guide if the bus could send us to the shopping area below the yellow crane tower as it was located just opposite Hankou.

As promised,On the bus the tour guide asked if those who wants to go yellow crane tower shopping area could go, if not they could go back to school. It was our own choices.On the journey to yellow crane tower.It was told that our trip was the last day with the tour guides. Thinking back. It was very enjoyable and fun. I would really miss them.

The time spent at yellow crane tower shopping district was fun, almost everyone went was a fruitful trip as the stuffs were cheaper then hankou. They got what they want and have chances to eat nice foods at HU BU XIANG.

After dinner, we were all tired, as the weather was cold due to the rain . We took cab as a team back school. As usual, i initiate a talk with the cab driver. He told me many things about wuhan, and was told that our school area was a village area where many drivers would not wants to go as they fear for their safety in the past. Till now some taxi driver would not wants to go. He says that now wuhan improve alot and was one of the top 10 area most develop district in china.

Today was the visit to Yangtze Optical Fiber and Cable Company Ltd. (YOFC) which was established in May, 1988. We travel for about 20min to reach the plant as it was located near our school.

Upon reaching, the guide, Mr qian introduce the company history and how fiber-optic cable was being made from the factory. Mr. Chua, our teacher, who is one of the in charge for the whole Wuhan trip was helpful to become an English translator throughout the trip around the factory.

An optical fiber is a glass or plastic fiber that carries light along its length. Which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths than other forms of communications. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss, and they are also immune to electromagnetic interference. Fiber optic was being cut at the length of 250km and was tested for quality, if the fiber optic could withhold 9Newton. Company could also request for shorter length of the optical fiber.

The trip ended at around 12pm. We have break for about 4 hours before our APPG theory test. During these 4 hours, we spent eating our lunch and spent about 2 hours sleeping in the hostel. I didn’t study much before i went for the test at 4pm. Opps!! haha.

Anyway, i hope the test would turn out fine. Went for eat the fried huge chicken drumstick, which was sold at canteen 3 as an effort to help me release my stress. Weather today was dam cold, as we breathe, smoke was coming out.... soooo cold.. Ran all the way back to hostel.

As for dinner, i ate pig intestine noodle from the roadside stores outside our school, as we are waiting for the food to be cook. BOOM!! There is fireworks in the air, the location of the fireworks were so near to us. it is about the distance of 7 car length. It was freaking dangerous I thought at that moment. I wouldn’t want to go back Singapore missing any body parts. Phew!!

Woah!! Studying for the test on the bus??

i will take this studying method in consideration. hmm.

wahaha

Mr.Chua as an English translator

The brown thing that was wrapping around the optical cable was a bullet proof material.

Ms Lisa, our china teacher in charge.

Dave Photo Essay.

Photo Essay

People and faces

Everyone have their own facial expression.

Bringing out their style and their ways of expressing oneself.

please be patience to allow the photo to be loaded.

dave.