Day NINETEEN - 22 March 2013

Today is day nineteen. We had our Forensic Science lecture in the morning about Forensic DNA with Mr Lee. We had 2 straight hours of lecture with mini breaks in between. The lecture was packed as the afternoon was a free slot to allow us to prepare for our IS presentation. In the afternoon, my group members and I discussed for the presentation and each of us look through each other speech. We were still left with collating of the whole thing for the presentation and rehearsing of it. In the evening, we went out for dinner. And AGAIN, we ate the same street food. One of the stall owners was very kind to talk to me while I was waiting for my food to be cooked. He told me that next week they will have to move to the opposite street and that new stall will be coming over. He also says that every week they will have to change their stall position and if I want to eat their food it will be hard. Another stall owner also talked to us, knowing that we are Singaporeans, told us that if they were to go Singapore to sell their food, will it be possible! Jodie and I smiled and said of course and we would want to buy from her if she really sells it in Singapore as Singapore do not have the kind of food they sell here in China! I bet I am going to miss the food in China after I am back in Singapore! As well as the cooling weather here in China! Today ends with my friend, Karize, packing her stuffs where she is trying to squeeze her new shoes and clothing into the luggage. Goodluck to her and Goodnights as tomorrow will be a long day! J

Day 8IGHTEEN - 21 March 2013

Today is eighteenth day in Wuhan. We had our normal IS lecture in the morning. The second part of Tuesday’s lecture. The lecturer talked about the Taoism and Buddhism, the two religions in China. In China, Taoism stands a number of populations where in Singapore only have a few Taoism. One of the Taoism monasteries is the Wudang Mountain that we went the last two week. Buddhism is common in Singapore and hence many of us understand more of it. It was another three hours of lecture. We went to have lunch in the school where we go to the canteen that is at the library. I again tried the noodles (热干面). After lunch, we had a short lecture by Dr Tan on the introduction of Molecular Biology. In the evening, we took a cab to the HuQuan night market (虎泉夜市). We went with Joel, Samuel, Gordon and WeiSeng without YanWen as her leg was swollen to go for shopping. All of us were first time there and went there to look around. The night market was very bright and full of shops selling various things like food, clothing and shoes! I went walking around with the guys to find food while the rest of the girl went shopping for their things! The first snack we bought is the dough. It was said that during the war times, a guy made this dough for the soldiers to eat where it is filling and gives the energy the soldiers they need. I bought the sweet one and it tasted like our Singapore Roti Prata with sugar.

The guys bought the meat one where there was a lot of pepper added to it. We continued walking and went to a shop to eat noodles again! The guys ordered beef noodles which they thought was not spicy! They had a hard time eating it as it was so spicy that they perspire very fast and their face turn red! They went to bought mineral water and sweet dough to neutralize the spicy taste in their mouth. After which we went to see around the market and we see this street that sells BBQ meat. It was nothing special until we see the cages with LIVE rabbit and LIVE chicken as well as some other animals! We were quite disgusted and surprised that in China, they really eat all types of meat!!

Time passes so fast that we had to take the cab back to our hostel as the curfew was 10pm. I was on the cab with Samuel and Gordon that it costs us 31.20 Yuan. We were shocked when the rest of their cab fares were over 50yuan! LUCKY US! The day ended where my friends show all the things they bought at the Night Market and rest after packing them.

Day SE7ENTEEN - 20 March 2013

P.S there is no picture as the internet does not want to load my picture!

Today is the seventeen day in Wuhan. It is also the common test day. I woke up slightly earlier to study a bit more. We took the test at 930am in the morning. I actually finished in about 30minutes as I answered the questions quickly in fearing of the lack of time. I left the classroom with Jodie and Wilson and went back to our hostel. We waited for the rest to go for lunch with Dr Sujit as he will be leaving to go back Singapore in the afternoon. So we went to the steamboat shop again. This time we had Dr Tan, Mr Lee, Ms Mikia and Dr Sujit eating with us. We ordered FOURTEEN plates of meat as we are big eaters. We just continued eating until we finished all of the meat. We were so full that we actually decided not to eat dinner. Dr Sujit left for the airport while the rest of us went back to meet the rest to go for the Biopharm.

It was an hour bus ride to the Biopharm that we slept in the bus. We are all pig that we eat and sleep right after. When we reached the biopharm, we were separated to groups of 12 to 13. Group by group we went in to the factory to explore we actually have to wear a plastic to cover our shoes and an extra layer of lab coat to go in. In the inside of the Biopharm, we see the different departments of making the medicine that is used for drip. We explore from the packaging to the making of the solution. We make a quick tour as the next group has to explore as well. After exploring, we went to the washroom. It was actually an open style that there are no doors at all. We were not used to it that we went one by one with the rest guarding at the outside not allowing the locals to come in first. Also, there were no flush that we have to pour a bucket of water from the side to wash away the urine. It was a scary experience though.

After all of us explore we went back to our hostel with another hour of bus ride. We went to rest a while and set off to the town. We took bus 901 to town. I am okay with the squeezing part, it’s just that the roads were bumpy and I nearly fall in the bus!  Lucky I have KangMing and LiSi on either side of me to help me and catch me in case I fall. We went during the peak period that there was a little jam. We reach in an hour and begin to shop! We went shopping and see many shops like Singapore’s normal shopping mall. The guys buy their present and we went for dinner as we start to feel hungry! We went to eat western at a restaurant. Their service was good and most importantly the food was nice and VALUE for money! In total it cost about 500yuan for 10 people, roughly 50yuan per person which is about 10 Singapore Dollars.

 

It was the best day that we ate meat the whole day! Surprisingly, we forget that we took a test in the morning! At about 9plus pm we went to take the bus to get back to our hostel. Before going back, we bought some Beard PAPA puffs and Dairy Cream’s ice cream. There are also some street shops around where they actually sell pet dogs! The pet dogs were pathetic that there were three dogs locked in a small cage! We quickly walk past as the seller is staring at us and we went to take the bus back to our hostel. The day ends where we bath and rest for the awesome day! J

Day SIXTEEN - 19 March 2013

P.S. There are no pictures as the internet do not want to uplaod my pictures!

Today is day sixteen. We had our IS lecture in the morning. It lasted for 3hours with breaks in between. It was interesting as I like the history of China. However it was quite dry that I nearly fall asleep halfway. In the afternoon, I went to the supermarkets with the student leaders to buy food for the BBQ at night! I wanted to buy sotong sticks but it was not fresh. We bought the meat like chicken wings, lamb and beef skewers as well as the drinks. We met each other at 2 where we go for a sports activity.

 

We come to this place and see the rocks for rock climbing. We then know we had to do rock climbing. We had a warm up game first with the two game planners. After which we were separated into two groups, where we have to think of the team name, team slogan, team logo and team song. My team was Rou-Lee MiJit which is the names of our lecturer. We had a fire for our logo; a NP slogan of ‘there is always something EXTRA’ and a team song of Roly Poly from the Korean-pop where we replaced the lyrics with our team name. We had another game where the other team is doing rock climbing. Our game is by finding the number in sequence using the picture. For example, dad in Chinese has the same sound as eight in Chinese so dad represents the number 8. Some of the pictures are of Chinese culture and some are related to the things around us.

 

After which we swapped with the other team to go for the rock climbing. I was the first girl to go for the rock climbing as I have to demo on how to wear the safety gears. It was adventurous and slippery as there was a lot of mud on the stones that were left behind by the other team. Many of us tried including the lecturers, we cheered for all of them and enjoyed the whole event. We also had a small competition between the two teams of accomplishing three tasks in 150seconds. The first task is to bounce the ball on the drum 8 times, second is the holding of poles and changing it 10 times with only one hand and last is using the pipes to build a pathway for the ball to reach the pail in a few meters away. Although we lost the competition, it was still a great time spending with the friends and lecturers.

 

We would have BBQ at night which my friends and I went to the street shops to buy some snacks as we feared that the BBQ would not have enough food for us. We went back to the same place for BBQ and interact with the local students. They tried to speak English with us, making us feel comfortable by treating us well as a host. They also prepare all the food for us and did not want our help as we are the guest. It was kind of them but many of them were doing it the first time and had no experience.

 

They took a long time to start fire and even use gasoline to start the fire. The gasoline worked for a while but did not burn the charcoal so they tried using dried leaves with paper to burn. The fire was up and they started to cook the food. However, there were ashes flying around as of the papers burned and we were not daring to eat the food. Seeing them doing so much work and did not want us to help, we tried to express our thanks by eating the food although half of it was uncooked. We tried the skewer and chicken wings. It was salty as it is a part of their culture to eat so salty and oily.

 

 In Singapore, we tried BBQ for countless times and always know that there would not be enough food to eat as BBQ is just enjoying the process of it and the bonding times with your friends which is very different in China. Many of us left early as we want to study for the Common test the next morning. We felt bad but we have to choose study over food. J

Day FIVETEEN - 18 March 2013

Today is the fifteen day in Wuhan. It was a free day for us to study for the upcoming common test! Just like what Jodie says in her blog, “Studying for common test”, we stayed in the hostel studying and blogging for the days we have not blogged. Goodluck people in their studying for the first common test! JJJ

Day FOURTEEN - 17 March 2013

Today is day fourteen. We had breakfast in the morning, buffet style. Although it was buffet style the dishes were still the same with bread being the main dish. We have fried banana which most of us like it and porridge. We checked out of the hotel and took an hour bus ride to the Lake of LuSui (陆水湖).

We take a boat and explore the various small islands. During the boat ride, we come across a lot of building and forest.

The first stop is the Lucky Island. We went there to explore. Firstly, we went inside a small place where there are artifacts of the olden days like coins and golden basin. There is also a counter that sells a paper worth 5 Yuan. This paper is no ordinary paper that it has stories of the origin of the surnames. I bought one to study about my special surname CHIAM! My surname actually starts from 2800years ago in the Jin Dynasty which is after the three kingdoms dynasty in the northern area.

After which we climb a number of stairs to reach to the temple. After the Wudang Mountain and Red Cliff trip we climbed for more than 1000 stairs and are getting used to it. We went to the temple to pray. At first we thought it is just normal praying like we do in Singapore however there was a monk who did some chanting and ask us what to do. They even ask for donations. I personally do not mind giving the donations so I put some money into the donation box and was given a slash.

A lady came to me and tells me that I can write my family name on the slash and tied it to the tree to get blessing. A friend of mine, Brandon, said that it was not necessary that I can just hang the slash there. Another friend, Kenneth, he went to write his family name on the slash as he want to get blessing for his family. HOWEVER, he was asked to give money not small amount but 100yuan to enable to write on the slash. Only after that, we know that it was a scam and we should not believe them so easily and give them the money. It was a pity for Kenneth and some other friends who also got scammed. But it’s ok! We went on with our tour and walked down the stairs to go back to our boat. As we walked we saw this machine that two person will sit on it and turn for many rounds just like a roller coaster ride at the theme park, a more scarier one as the machine can turn random rounds forward backward and sideways.

I supposed no one tried it as it just rain and the machine was near the end of the platform that we fear of falling down the slope behind the machine and injured ourselves. We continue to move on to another island called the exotic dragon island (神龙岛).

We went there and the first thing we see is the snake, real snake (python I think!). The snake was resting in the cage. We managed to see the body only as it was under a blanket. The body was huge! I can really imagine how big and long the snake is. Next we went to the small auditorium where we watch a performance there. It was a performance by the Thai people with singing and different dancing. We also watched a male who use leaves to blow a song for us and a singer who we suspect is a male because of the height. As it was raining, we took the boat back to the main island to get back to our hostel. The day ended with a normal dinner! Goodnights! J

p.s. There are no pictures as the internet keeps failing to load them!

Day THIRT33N - 16 March 2013

Today started early as well! And I am so excited for today which is the Red Cliff Tour! We wake up early to take the bus ride for two to three hours. It was of course fewer hours than the Wudang Mountain bus ride. However most of us were too tired and fell asleep in the bus. We also had a new staff joining us although I do not know her name but she was nice to us. J We finally reach the Red Cliff.

It was drizzling that we went under shelter for a while. We were then brought to our hotel for checking in. this time we stayed in a 4-star hotel! It was grand at the lobby that has a statue of GuanYu (关羽) and posters related to the Red Cliff Battle.

We check in and went to our room. It was grand and one of the better ones of hotel that I have seen since I was in Wuhan.

Also, another thing I realize that is the appearance of the hotel or any building there have flags at the roof that look like the building from the Three Kingdoms Period.

Straight after we went in to explore. Kenneth and I know more about the story of Red Cliff Battle and Three Kingdoms that we were talking all about it as we tour around. First we are at the main gate.

Benjamin being a photo bomber!

As we walked along, we did not see a lot of other tourist maybe because of the rainy weather which lucky for me that I bought my dad’s waterproof windbreaker along with me. I was being dry for the whole tour. Also we found a lot of picture curving on the wall of the buildings.

We also saw a lot of small shops and restaurants that named after famous people in the Three Kingdom Period for example one of the beauty who is ZhouYu’s (周瑜) wife, XiaoQiao (小乔). Another example is the shop naming after ZhuGe Liang’s (诸葛亮) hometown, WoLong (卧龙); also a shop naming after PangTong (庞统), who is also as smart as Zhuge Liang.

These small shops sell things that are used by the people during the Three Kingdom Period like sword and crossbows.

There are also a lot of sign boards that explain some of the famous happening in that period like the seven step poem (七步诗) made by one of the CaoCao’s (曹操) son, CaoZhi (曹植); the becoming of three sworn brothers (桃园三结义), LiuBei (刘备), GuanYu (关羽), ZhangFei (张飞) and the drinking and talking of heroes (煮酒论英雄).

There are shops with the older Chinese characters names like the followings

We saw this big metal with spikes in front of a gate and spikes on the gate. These spikes are to be used to block enemy in case of a surprised attack from the enemy.

They are called the Jin City which is one of the strongest fighting formations.

There is this famous story of Zhuge Liang borrowing arrows using straw men in a boat. It is said that ZhouYu need arrows for the battle but there was not enough in their supply hence he make things difficult for Zhuge Liang that to ask him to borrow arrows in three days where Zhuge Liang have no resources. Zhuge Liang came up with this idea of getting the arrows from their enemy CaoCao. Zhuge Liang got straw men to be put on the side of the boat. At a misty day, Zhuge Liang set off with the straw men on the boats. CaoCao saw the boat coming and thought that Zhuge Liang will attack them and hence used arrows to attack back. As the arrows fly over, it got on the straw men. As one side of the straw men got full Zhuge Liang had the boats to turn over and continue collecting the arrows from CaoCao. Therefore in three days, Zhuge Liang got the arrows that ZhouYu wanted. This become a famous story for all of us being Zhuge Liang’s one of the smart strategies. (草船借箭)

Opposite the Jin City, there is this pagoda. This pagoda is said to be the Control Centre of the battle where the information of enemy and the ways of defeating the enemy. It is called the ChiBi Tower (赤壁塔).

We continue walking and went to this restaurant for lunch. The set was exquisite.

After lunch we continued walking and come to the museum. There is this map that was divided to three parts which one belongs to CaoCao (曹操), 魏国, one to LiuBei (刘备), 蜀汉, and the last part to SunQuan (孙权), 东吴.

As we walked further in there were boat and ship models that was used by the different country.

We also see the tomb of a general called ChenWenHe (陈文和)

There is also a very big picture of the Battle of ChiBi (赤壁之战), where CaoCao’s boats were burned in the fire.

After which we came to a room where there is statues of the people in the Three Kingdoms Period. They are like LuiBei, SunQuan, CaoCao, Zhuge Liang, ZhouYu and PangTong

ZhouYu-

 

 CaoCao -

LuiBei -

 

Zhuge Liang -

 

SunQuan -

 

PangTong -

 

We continue walking and see a very big ZhouYu statue. It was said that the statue was built that ZhouYu was the planned the Battle of ChiBi, the battle that they won even CaoCao have two times as many as soldiers compared to them. Also after the battle, ZhouYu had curved the two words Red Cliff (赤壁) on the wall to symbolize the winning of the battle.

We climbed up the slope and come across a pavilion (望江楼). This pavilion is used as a watch tower where soldier see the enemy actions.

We also went to the place (拜风台) where Zhuge Liang prayed for the wind during the battle of ChiBi. In the place there were picture of Zhuge Liang and statue of him with LuiBei, GuanYu and ZhangFei.

We come to the garden where there are many statues of the people in the different times in the Three Kingdom Period (三国塑料圆). One example is the drinking and talking about heroes. Another one is the statue of XiaoQiao and DaQiao where XiaoQiao is getting married. Also, there are the statues of the becoming of three sworn brothers.

There were many poems carvings on the scroll that is displayed.

We came to the JinLuan Mountain. It is said that PangTong when he died he turned into a phoenix and habited in the West Mountain and hence the mountain was name as Golden Phoenix Mountain. The mountain was also a place he lived in before proposing the Interconnected ploy (连环计) to CaoCao and following LuiBei to fight for the kingdom.

In front of the place where he lived, there were many unique trees like the couple tree where two tree come from the same root.

We then came to PangTong’s house. He died at a young age of 36. However when he was alive, he had been a great help for LuiBei and was conferred to the title of Marquis of Jing.

 

The last thing I see in the Red Cliff was the signboards that says the 36ways (三十六计) used in the period. There were used until now where it is useful in everywhere we go.

It marks the end of the Red Cliff Tour. We went back to our hotel to rest and bath. We meet the rest again for dinner at the same restaurant for lunch. After dinner, we were free to go anywhere and we went for shopping for a little while after which we went back hotel to watch television.