Today was a tiring but fruitful day. I woke up at 7.15am to get ready to bathe and go for my APPG interview. As Sebastian still had to finalize his project, we went to the foreign language school first without him. When we arrived, Satish and company when down to sit at the table downstairs while I start up my lap top on the second floor. Mr. Ma and Mr. Chua came shortly after that and Mr. Chua decided to present the table tennis racket to the dean as it was not really a good idea to present it in front of everybody. Satish took a picture of the presentation ceremony. Finally, the time had arrived. It was my turn to present my mini-project to Mr. Ma. When I went into the room, Mr. Ma asked me to connect my lap top to the projector. I am like “wow…are you kidding?!” kind of mindset when I heard it. After some figuring out of my lap top, it was finally able to be connected to the projector and being shown on the screen. I did my presentation as well as I could. Mr. Ma posed a few questions for me whom I think could help if I am doing more enhancements to my mini-project. After my turn, Khoon Feng, Sasi, Satish and Sebastian (who rush down just in time) presented to Mr. Ma too. Every thing look fine and it should not be a problem for us.
We went straight to the bakery to buy a cake as Sasi’s sister is celebrating her birthday today. We sang a birthday song to her through the webcam and her sister was so touched by us. We did some work before setting off to Lu Xiang Guang Chang. Satish so happen to fall on spongebob and a large commotion happen again between Sasi and Satish. We had an enjoyable time before we decided to head towards Lu Xiang Guang Chang to look for a suitable door gift for Tom’s parents. After much consideration and help from the locals, we decided to buy Long Jing Tea and a set of honey for them. In addition, we also bought some snacks for the long journey to his house. After getting all that we need, we set off towards Hu Quan Ye Shi on foot. It took us around one hours plus to reach Hu Quan and on the way, Khoon Feng bought some local snacks for her parents. Upon reaching Hu Quan, Khoon Feng introduced to us all the delicious food that could be found in Hu Quan. I tried their Tang Yuan, French fries and many more. They all taste much better than the food being sold at the roadside stall near the school. With our stomach fully loaded, we went into the streets which look really similar to the Bugis streets in Singapore. We started with buying Tee-Shirts that are sold at only 18 Yuan per piece and bags at reasonable price. We went to almost every shop we could find and from each, we bought something from it. It was really big inside with three lanes but we could only finish two of them. The guys were helping us to carry the items we had buy, really a big thanks to them. After shopping till we drop, we get some satay and walked to the bus stop. After waiting for so long, we started to doubt if there is 907 at that bus stop. The locals told us that the bus only come every half an hour and it had just went off before we came. We waited impatiently and in position to run anytime. Everyone dashed towards the bus when it is within seen. It took sometime before we reach school and when we our feet touch the ground, we had a sense of accomplishment.
We had debriefed at 9.30pm, we were told about keeping ourselves safe especially a few days before we are returning to Singapore. As it was a tired day, we went directly back to bed after the debrief. Today, I learn that it is very important to be travelling as a group in a foreign country as we will be able to look out for one another and help one another. We are glad that Khoon Feng has been eating since she started joining us and she was seen to be more cheerful.
Monday, April 13, 2009
The bus stop
The bus station
Ticket counter
Check the price here...
The front of the bus isfilled with dead bugs...YUCKS
Resting station
In the bus
On the ferry to cross Yang Tze River
engines of the ferry
On the bus to Tom's house
This whole building belongs to Tom's parents
Chicks going to chicken
well in Tom's house
Chickens
bedroom of Tom's parents also the
Resting station
In the bus
On the ferry to cross Yang Tze River
engines of the ferry
On the bus to Tom's house
This whole building belongs to Tom's parents
Chicks going to chicken
well in Tom's house
Chickens
bedroom of Tom's parents also theplace we spend the two nights
solar panel to heat up the temperature of the
solar panel to heat up the temperature of the water used for bath
Kitchen
bathroom
water used for flushing the toliet
The toliet
grow by Tom's mom
Cotton that are being sell
Tom's cousin
Wood
wheat
Classroom
Today, Tom came to our service apartment to meet us before we set off towards his house. As there is no train, we have to take the bus. We took a bus at the bus stop opposite to KFC. It was the first station for bus 907 hence we are able to get a seat. It was a journey of around 50minutes before we reach the bus stop opposite to the bus interchange. There were many people standing in front of the bus station trying to sell “Huang Piao”; tickets that were resold. Those people buy the ticket from the bus station and resold them to tourist at a much higher price. We ignore those people and make our way into the bus station to purchase our ticket. We were lucky that we do not need to wait for the bus for an hour as there is a bus leaving very soon. We rush to purchase the tickets and went to berth 18 to get our ticket checked and get ready to board the bus. The bus finally came and we eagerly board the bus. Slowly more people joined us but the bus was left empty before it departs from the bus station. We finally know the reasons why it is empty; the bus would pick up passenger every now and they are charge depending on the bus driver.
The journey was very long and shaky. Half way through the trip, people will alight and board the bus. The bus was a non-smoking one but nevertheless there is one guy who broke the rules and smoke in the bus. As the bus was an air-conditional one, we were force to breathe in all the second hand smoke. Finally, we reached our destination and we went to buy the tickets for the ferry. We board the ferry and see how the people start the ferry moving. We need to take the ferry to cross over the Yang Tze River as it was much cheaper to travel by water then taking Taxi to cross over using the bridge. After the trip by ferry, we took the bus to Tom’s house. The people here are very friendly as when they know that we are from Singapore, we are offer seat straight away. When we reach Tom’s house, his mom offer us seats, mandarin orange and green tea straight away. We put our bag into Tom’s room while his mom when to get hot water to cook tea for us. We sat down to take a rest before going to his father’s cotton factory to take a look. As the season was over, we did not manage to see the process of making cotton but we manage to see the end product and got a rough idea on how the machines works. After touring the factory, we went to look at the field. It was now fill with flowers that could be made into oil. We walked through the field and we were surrounded by flower and vegetable. On the way, we helped one another in looking out for holes and helped each other when anyone of us slip or lose our footing.
We toured Tom’s primary school and took pictures in the classroom. His father asked us to go for dinner at the nearby restaurant. They ordered a wide spread to welcome us and his mom serve us the food. We were being toast by Tom’s father and his two uncles. I tried one mouth of the wine they drink and it taste very good. It leave a very strong fragrant in our mouth after we drink it. Sebastian and Satish drank a few cups of the wine while the rest of us drank pepsi instead of the wine. The adults took turns to toast us and towards the end of the trip, the five of us toast them for the dinner they serve us. Upon reaching Tom’s house, his mom asked us to take a bath. The bathroom in his house is the same us the bathroom you can get in a five star hotel. We bathe and his mom prepared slippers for us to wear after our bath. We were given the master bedroom of his house to sleep in while the guys sleep in the motel opposite his house. Tom’s parents slept in tom’s room downstairs so that they are able to protect us in case anything will happen to us. We were treated like VIP since we reached his house.
Today, I learnt that Chinese living in Chain really welcome guest a lot. They will try to give their guest the best out of the best they can. This really makes us feel very warm and make us feel like home. We were really grateful toward his parents to treat us so well. Being able to come to the country side is very good for me as I am able to feel the nature and experience how it is to be living near the countryside. Singapore is being surrounded by high rise building and it is not easy to find country side areas. This trip will help me have a greater understanding of the life in countryside and bring back something I learn here back with me to Singapore. We will be going on a day tour to the city area tomorrow, hope we will be able to look and learn more new and interesting thing.
Kitchen
bathroom
water used for flushing the toliet
The toliet
grow by Tom's mom
Cotton that are being sell
Tom's cousin
Wood
wheat
Classroom
Today, Tom came to our service apartment to meet us before we set off towards his house. As there is no train, we have to take the bus. We took a bus at the bus stop opposite to KFC. It was the first station for bus 907 hence we are able to get a seat. It was a journey of around 50minutes before we reach the bus stop opposite to the bus interchange. There were many people standing in front of the bus station trying to sell “Huang Piao”; tickets that were resold. Those people buy the ticket from the bus station and resold them to tourist at a much higher price. We ignore those people and make our way into the bus station to purchase our ticket. We were lucky that we do not need to wait for the bus for an hour as there is a bus leaving very soon. We rush to purchase the tickets and went to berth 18 to get our ticket checked and get ready to board the bus. The bus finally came and we eagerly board the bus. Slowly more people joined us but the bus was left empty before it departs from the bus station. We finally know the reasons why it is empty; the bus would pick up passenger every now and they are charge depending on the bus driver.The journey was very long and shaky. Half way through the trip, people will alight and board the bus. The bus was a non-smoking one but nevertheless there is one guy who broke the rules and smoke in the bus. As the bus was an air-conditional one, we were force to breathe in all the second hand smoke. Finally, we reached our destination and we went to buy the tickets for the ferry. We board the ferry and see how the people start the ferry moving. We need to take the ferry to cross over the Yang Tze River as it was much cheaper to travel by water then taking Taxi to cross over using the bridge. After the trip by ferry, we took the bus to Tom’s house. The people here are very friendly as when they know that we are from Singapore, we are offer seat straight away. When we reach Tom’s house, his mom offer us seats, mandarin orange and green tea straight away. We put our bag into Tom’s room while his mom when to get hot water to cook tea for us. We sat down to take a rest before going to his father’s cotton factory to take a look. As the season was over, we did not manage to see the process of making cotton but we manage to see the end product and got a rough idea on how the machines works. After touring the factory, we went to look at the field. It was now fill with flowers that could be made into oil. We walked through the field and we were surrounded by flower and vegetable. On the way, we helped one another in looking out for holes and helped each other when anyone of us slip or lose our footing.
We toured Tom’s primary school and took pictures in the classroom. His father asked us to go for dinner at the nearby restaurant. They ordered a wide spread to welcome us and his mom serve us the food. We were being toast by Tom’s father and his two uncles. I tried one mouth of the wine they drink and it taste very good. It leave a very strong fragrant in our mouth after we drink it. Sebastian and Satish drank a few cups of the wine while the rest of us drank pepsi instead of the wine. The adults took turns to toast us and towards the end of the trip, the five of us toast them for the dinner they serve us. Upon reaching Tom’s house, his mom asked us to take a bath. The bathroom in his house is the same us the bathroom you can get in a five star hotel. We bathe and his mom prepared slippers for us to wear after our bath. We were given the master bedroom of his house to sleep in while the guys sleep in the motel opposite his house. Tom’s parents slept in tom’s room downstairs so that they are able to protect us in case anything will happen to us. We were treated like VIP since we reached his house.
Today, I learnt that Chinese living in Chain really welcome guest a lot. They will try to give their guest the best out of the best they can. This really makes us feel very warm and make us feel like home. We were really grateful toward his parents to treat us so well. Being able to come to the country side is very good for me as I am able to feel the nature and experience how it is to be living near the countryside. Singapore is being surrounded by high rise building and it is not easy to find country side areas. This trip will help me have a greater understanding of the life in countryside and bring back something I learn here back with me to Singapore. We will be going on a day tour to the city area tomorrow, hope we will be able to look and learn more new and interesting thing.
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