Day 34 – Farewell Wuhan, Hello Singapore! – 武汉再见，新加坡你好!

Day 34

Today is the last day and it’s time for me to return to Singapore. I can hardly believe that I had survived in Wuhan for 34 days without my family members with me. I miss them very much!! Today is another day whereby I will be in and out of planes most of the time. I am already missing my dormitory room, the food in 堕落街, the stall owners and the friendly local students!!

How time flies! 34 days in Wuhan has made me a more independent and responsible person! I miss you, Wuhan! But my home is Singapore where my loved ones are.

At last, I am home.

The end of my stories in Wuhan J

Day 33 – Last night – 最后一晚

Day 33

Today is the second last day. I do not want to leave this place. This place is so awesome! I am so going to miss all the food, the stall owners and the friendly people that I have met!! 33 days here and I can’t believe it’s time to go back.

I still remember that when we first arrived and went to buy food from 堕落街, I was complaining about the way the stall owners handle the food and how some food are exposed to the air. In addition, there are smokers everywhere and they always spit onto the ground. The weather then was so hot that I even said “Who on earth said that the weather here will be cold?”

As days passed, I began to love this place. I love the food and the friendly people here! I don’t mind eating the food from 堕落街 everyday. The food here is cheap and yummy! I like 汤包 or more commonly known in Singapore as 小笼包, 夹肉馍,煎饺, chicken stick, clams, 香港蛋仔 and of course MILK TEA!

Farewell Wuhan! I will miss you!

More exciting stories are yet to come:)

Get ready for Day 34 post:)

1 more day before I return home:)

Day 32 – Farewell Dinner– 离别晚宴

Day 32

Well, today is another fun and sad day again!!! I woke up at 9.30am after having 7.5 hours of sleep last night. After I woke up, I went to watch 宫心计 and play some online games. At 11.15am, we went to packet lunch from 堕落街 and I ate a kind of mixed vegetables rice (shared with Jas Min – the serving size is too big), 鸡汁鲜肉包 and drank豆浆. It was yummy!

At about 12 +pm, we went to 销品茂 at 徐东大街 (the big shopping mall). Once we reached, we split into 2 groups: those doing nail manicure and those not doing. Those not doing are: Kimberley, Letty, Sarah, Faith, Pei Wen, Althea and me. So we went shopping. Well, I was window-shopping most of the time until… we went to this underpass and at this stall, I bought 2 small DIY paintings at RMB 35! I actually didn’t want to buy but somehow I got tempted and it seems fun to paint so I ended up buying. HahaJ

At about 5pm, we met up with the rest and their nails were awesome! Jas Min spent RMB 110 on her nails!! But the boss or the nail artists there provided good service. Anyway, we then met up with the MDE students and the local students who brought us around for the past few weeks half an hour later to go to the dining restaurant as we do not know the way.

At 6.30pm due to some delay,etc, we reached the dining restaurant: Golden Hans. We will be having buffet dinner! We ate and ate and the tables were soon stacked up with plates! 1.5 hours later, we were done and spent time taking photos and having fun!!! We also conducted a mini-appreciation ceremony! Below are some photosJ

For Betty!

For Star!

For Maggie!

For Yuan Yuan!

The cards for the local students! (all decorated by our talented artist: JAS MIN!)

The restaurant!

Kimberley, Hana and Sarah!

The singer

All the mess after eating!

We then took photos outside the mall and had a lot of fun! At last, at 10pm, we decided to return. We were thinking whether to take bus or cab when we saw the overcrowded bus. We immediately decided to take cab. So we walked down the street and at last, managed to hail a cab and 5 of us squeezed into it. The taxi driver was kind of friendly when he realized that we are not locals and chatted with us a little bit.

When we reached our dormitory building, we got tempted by the food in 堕落街 and so we went to buy the chicken stick and lychee milk tea. By the time I showered and blogging, it was already 12am. How time flies!

Reflections:

It’s sad that we will be leaving this place in 2 days’ time and that today is the last day that we are seeing the local students. I really can’t thank them enough for all that they have done and I really hope that when they come to Singapore next year for exchange programme, I can be there to bring them around Singapore! Thanks Betty, Star and Yuan YuanJ

Photos of the day:

Me with the local students: With Star (top), With Betty and Yuan Yuan (bottom) J

More exciting stories are yet to come:)

Get ready for Day 33 post:)

2 more days before I return home:)

Day 31 – Common Test – 统一测验

Day 31

Today is the day to sit for our common test!! Well, I envy the MDE students! I heard that they do not have to sit for common test! So unfair! Anyway, the test was 1.5 hours long and we started at 9.30am and ended at 11am. After the test, we returned the school canteen card and Mr Imran told us about packing our luggage, etc.

At 11.45am, we returned to our rooms and shortly after that, we went to 堕落街 to packet lunch. I ate 皮蛋瘦肉粥 and 豆浆. The豆浆 was awesome! I should have drank the warm豆浆 and not the cold one!! After lunch, I packed a bit of my luggage and I realized that I can stuff in my brother’s doramon! Yipee! I have been worrying for days since I bought it that I could not stuff it in. Well, I do not have to worry about it anymore.

At about 1+ pm, I went online to FaceBook, Viwawa.com to play games and watched 2 episodes of 宫心计! I really want to finish it before going back. Now that I have already watched half of the drama, I believe I can finish the whole drama in 2 days since I won’t have time to watch on Sunday.

Oh. I forgot to mention that while I was online the whole afternoon, Geena, Yan Fang and Kimberley went to the hair salon. We wanted to go to 建设7路 but by then it was already 5.30pm and they were still not back. So we called them and they said that they will need 1 more hour.

At 5.45pm, we went to 堕落街 again to packet dinner. I ate a chicken stick and 腊肠+鸡蛋夹肉馍. After about 1.5 hours later, they came back. Geena looks more mature with her new hairstyle, Yan Fang looks more childlike and Kimberley looks normal.

Shortly after that, we went to建设7路. 11 of us went so we took 3 cabs. Well, there was nothing much there for me to buy so it was kind of a wasted trip. Anyway, at about 9.50pm, we returned and went to 堕落街 to buy some food. I bought Mango Milk Tea and it was superb! I should have tried it long time ago!!!

So that’s what I did for today!

Reflections:

Well, the light bulb in the toilet is still not fixed and now the light in the room (we have 2 lights in the room: 1 in the middle and 1 at the wall), the one in the middle fused!!! We are now currently surviving on 1 light!! Thank god we are leaving in 3 days, if not… This just showed how inefficient China is!!!

P.S. No photos todayJ

To my brother, aunts and grandmother who are now currently in Hong Kong for a 6D5N vacation which starts today: Have fun and Take careJ

More exciting stories are yet to come:)

Get ready for Day 32 post:)

3 more days before I return home:)

Day 30 – Revision – 温习

Day 30

I had the best sleep last night! I slept a total of about 10 hours since I woke up at 12.45pm today! Wahaha.. Can’t believe it, right?? Well, shortly after I woke up, I went online for a while before going out to packet lunch with Jas Min at about 1+pm.

At about 2pm after having lunch which was 小笼包+ 哈密瓜奶茶, I officially started my revision for common test. I took short breaks in between and about 3 hours later, I could not stand it anymore so I went to watch 宫心计 episode 13 and then played Sushido on Viwawa.com (introduced by my brother). Oh my god! The game was so fun! I should have started playing it a long time ago!!! But since I am new to this game, I lost most of the matches, hahaJ

Soon, after Geena had showered, we will be going out to packet dinner!! After dinner, I will continue my revision and then maybe at about 9 + to 10pm, I will go online again, hahaJ That’s all for today! Wish me luck for my Common Test tomorrow!

Reflections:

Well, nothing much to say except for the weather. It is raining again and I totally hate it. Even Singapore doesn’t rain for that long and on consecutive days. Hope that it will not rain tomorrow because after common test, we are going shopping again!! As to where, well I am not sure about it. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.

P.S. No photo todayJ

More exciting stories are yet to come:)

Get ready for Day 31 post:)

4 more days before I return home:)

Day 29 – Cultural Exchange Performance – 文化交流

Day 29

Well, 5 more days to going home! I can’t waitJ Anyway, today is an important day for us – Cultural Exchange Performance! We were supposed to meet at the classroom at 10am but most people arrived at 10+am.

We were in the classroom for almost the whole day, only leaving to packet lunch. After rehearsing, compiling the video and finalizing the script and formation for the whole afternoon today, it was time to go for the performance at 7pm.

The venue was at one of the lecture theatres. This lecture theatre can seat about 200 people and the audience today was the University Years 1 and 2 students. BUT the bad thing was that the stage was small and could hardly fit all of us but we just had to make do with it.

It was not bad! I think that we did better during the actual performance as compared to the rehearsals and the timing was about 16 minutes as ours was musical + skit + dance = 3 in 1! At about 9.30pm, it ended and we went back to the classroom to take our stuff and had group photos! Everyone did a good job today for putting up the awesome performance!!!

Reflections:

Well, after this performance, I felt that we were more bonded than ever. Everyone put in efforts, time and contributed to this awesome performance! Without anyone of us, this performance would not be successful!! Thanks everyone for the hard work, efforts and time spent on preparing for this performanceJ

Photo of the day:

My dinner + supper: 鸡蛋和火腿肠夹肉馍 (my second time eating this!)J

More exciting stories are yet to come:)

Get ready for Day 30 post:)

5 more days before I return home:)

Day 28 – 4 weeks in Wuhan – 在武汉四周

Day 28

It’s been 4 weeks! Can you believe it? I am going home 6 days later! Oh my god! Anyway, so what did I do today? Well, I was woken up by the deliveryman’s call this morning at 9.40am to collect my order: a pink purse at the main gate. Before he hung up, he said “Be fast!” So I rushed to the bathroom to clean up and straighten my hair before going out with Geena and Yan Fang as Yan Fang also received the call to collect her order: 2 wallets shortly after I received mine.

Within 10 minutes, we reached the main gate and signed on our products. Then we checked to make sure they were the right ones before returning to our rooms. Well, the delivery was fast! The boss or the in charge just texted me yesterday at 11+ am to say that he just sent out my purse. This morning, I received it although he told me it would take 3 or 4 days before I received it.

I paid a total of RMB 45, including RMB 20 for the delivery fees. If I am not wrong, the purse was delivered from 广州 (Guang Zhou). No wonder it was so expensive! Despite that, I am glad that the purse arrived today as Common test is on Thursday so how do we get our items when the test is in progress?

The pink purse that I ordered for my aunt

After getting the purse, Geena went over to Yan Fang’s room to prepare for the presentation later at 1pm while I went online to FaceBook to upload photos, etc. At 12pm, Sarah, Melissa, etc went out to packet lunch for us. ThanksJ I ate Xiao Long Bao as my lunch. 1 hour later, it’s presentation time!

At around 2.30pm, all groups had presented and we discussed a little bit about the cultural exchange performance. Half an hour later, we went back to our rooms and went online before heading to the classroom at 4pm to learn the dance, etc.

From 4+pm till about 7pm, we were learning the dance steps and practicing over and over again. At last, it’s time for dinner and we went to 堕落街 to packet dinner back to eat. I bought ham fried rice, Geena bought ham kway teow and Jas Min bought ham and egg kway teow. After that, we went to buy 香港蛋仔. While waiting, 3 kids popped out and started smiling at us. They asked where we came from and even wanted to take photos with us. They looked really excited to see us and we think that it’s because they seldom or never see foreigners before. They look like brothers but they are just good friends.

They are so cute! The one in red shirt is six and a half years old only!

After that, we went back and it’s already 8.15pm. I took a shower and then had dinner but the ham fried rice tasted so badly that I could not take it. I ate a few mouthfuls and then gave up. With that, I shall go watch 宫心计 and then prepare for the cultural exchange performance.

Reflections:

It’s my first time shopping online and I don’t think I will ever try it again. It’s so troublesome and you can only depend on the photos to see how the items look like, etc. I prefer shopping physically as I can touch the product, feel and see how the product really looks like. But still, it is not a bad experience J

Photo of the day:

Me with the kid who seems to like Geena a lot J

More exciting stories are yet to come:)

Get ready for Day 29 post:)

6 more days before I return home:)

Day 27 – Mount Wudang– 武当山

Day 27

It’s been a tiring day all of us who climbed Mount Wudang! Can you believe that we climbed a total of 9km?? It took us about 5 hours to complete this journey! Right now, my leg muscles ache and I could hardly walk. In addition, I think I am going to have stairs phobia, hahaJ

So let me briefly summarize our 2 days at Mount Wudang.

Saturday

We departed to another city of Hubei Province at about 7.10am. We reached the dining place for lunch, which is located at the base of the Mount Wudang about 5 + hours later. So on the bus ride, most of us slept. Especially, Geena, Jas Min and I. Jas Min woke up after sleeping for 3 hours, which was at 3am. Geena fell asleep for only 1 hour + at 5 + am and as for me, I was awake the whole night. Unbelievable, right? This was because we were settling the orders for TaoBao online shopping and after that, I was watching 宫心计, hahaJ

Back to the topic. So after lunch, we took the sight-seeing bus to 3 places of tourist attractions at Mount Wudang. They are: 太子坡、紫霄殿and南岩宫. The mountain road was zigzag and on several occasions, the bus almost collided with another bus going downwards. This is not suitable for those with motion sickness.

太子坡

紫霄殿

南岩宫

武当山

The beautiful Sunset!

At 7.15pm, we reached the hotel: 万豪商务酒店. We had dinner first before going back to our rooms at about 8pm. The room was not bad! BUT there are rooms with DESKTOPS and we are not in one of those roomsL It’s twin-sharing again so I shared the room with Jas Min. At 8.15pm, we went to the nearby supermarket to buy some biscuits, etc for our climb and our bus ride back to Wuhan the next day.

Our room number

TOILET BOWL!

Sunday

At 6am, we received the morning wake up call. 45 minutes later, we had our breakfast and at 7.15am, we departed to the base of Mount Wudang to take the sight-seeing bus to 南岩宫. When we reached, we started our climb. It was very foggy. The time was 8.30am.

Saw this at the base of Mount Wudang

Along the way, there are many stairs, going upwards and downwards. Well, as it was going downwards first, some of us were at the front. But, as the climb progressed, we were starting to get tired and our pace slowed down. At last, we reached a palace (I can’t remember the name) and it was only half of the climb! We took a rest there before continuing.

Took this while climbing up

One-third of the climb left and it started to drizzle. As we continued, the rain started to pour. As Sarah had extra poncho, she lent it to me. Thanks Sarah for the Poncho! The higher we climbed, the fog started to get heavier and the wind was getting stronger.

By the time we climbed up to the golden summit (the peak), most of us were drenched and my fingers were numb and cold and wet. I could hardly press the shutter of my camera when I wanted to take photos. Due to the rain, the fog was heavy and the scenery was not as beautiful as it should be without the heavy fog. We spent some time there taking photos and there is this stall that sells the Fortune Lock or Safety Lock. I bought one to bless my family and I locked it at one of the metal chains along the pavement.

At the golden summit

Top: Front of the lock

Bottom: Back of the lock

Written: My family and my name in Chinese (First row: 吴家 刘家 Second row: 吴桦芬 and Last row: today's date : 10/10/2010)

After I had locked it

At 11.30am, we started to climb down. 40 to 50 minutes after our climb, a few people came forward to ask me how far they were to the golden summit. At last, at 1.20pm, we reached the place where we started. Actually, not we as I was alone for most of the climb. We then went to the dining place for lunch to wait for the others and to get some warmth, hahaJ

At 3pm, we took the sight-seeing bus to the base of Mount Wudang and then departed to Wuhan at 4.20pm. We stopped for a toilet break at about 6+pm and that’s when we decided to have MacDonald’s delivery to our dormitory as our dinner. After deciding what we wanted, we continued our ride and reached the dormitory at 9.30pm.

The MacDonald’s dinner arrived at around 10 + pm and to me, it was more like a supper than a dinner. With that, I shall end my post.

Reflections:

I am glad that I survived this climb! Thanks those who have encouraged me to go on and I am amazed at how I have managed to do that – 9km climb with only little rest and break. Thanks to光良 as listening to his songs while climbing up kind of motivated me to continue. Thanks to Jas Min for the suggestion of listening to songs while climbing. Thanks to my body and my leg muscles that carried me up Mount Wudang!

Photo of the day:

Me at Mount Wudang! (Thanks Geena for the photo!)

More exciting stories are yet to come:)

Get ready for Day 28 post:)

7 more days before I return home:)

Day 25 – 9 more days – 还有9 天

Day 25

We had a quiz this morning and I think it was okay. So after the quiz, Mr Imran told us briefly about the Wudang Mountain Trip tomorrow and then we were free for the rest of the day. After that, we went to tell the in charge that the light bulb in our bathroom fused but the in charge was not around so we left a message for her.

We then went to the provision shop to buy some biscuits and instant milk tea before going back to our room. What did we do next? Well, Geena went over to Yan Fang’s room to discuss the presentation, Jas Min was online, not sure what she was doing and as for me, I was watching 宫心计. I started watching last night at about 12am because I was bored. I am now currently watching 宫心计 episode 5. I intend to finish it before returning to Singapore, should be able to, I hope, hahaJ

At about 1.15pm, Yan Fang, Geena, Sarah and I went to the shopping mall at 徐东大街 again. I wanted to buy the Plants VS Zombies Characters for my brother so I went there again. We reached there at about 1.40pm as we took cab. The ride was about 10 minutes.

Once we reached, we went to level 3 to look at the shoes that Geena and Sarah wanted to buy. We were there for quite some time as Sarah was having a hard time at deciding the type of shoes she wanted. After that, we went to look at small sling bag that Geena wanted to buy for her cousin. And so we went to quite a few shops before we went to level 4 to look for my Plants VS Zombies Characters.

So did I buy them? NOOO!! The characters were sold out and the boss said that they would arrive 2 days later. Aw man! That’s sad! Maybe I will go and see if 建设 7 路 have shops selling these or not someday. At about 4pm, we left and the 3 of them bought stuff except me but still it was great to just window-shop and give them advices, hahaJ

Right now, I have showered (using torchlight again…) and I think that’s all for today. I shall continue watching my drama! By the way, there will be no post tomorrow as I will be away at Wudang Mountain J Don’t worry, I will be back on Sunday!

Reflections:

Nothing much to say about today actually but still I must say something, hahaJ Hmm. Let’s see. 9 more days and I will be returning to Singapore. I don’t want to go back but then I miss my family members!! Oh man! I have such contradicting thoughts! No matter what, I have to go back and I will miss Wuhan badly!!!

P.S. No photos today J

More exciting stories are yet to come:)

Get ready for Day 27 post:)

9 more days before I return home:)