There's never a right time to say goodbye...

On the first day that we arrived, everyone wanted to go back home...
On the last day, everyone simply wanted to stay there...
For that place was filled with memories...
We all had the time of our lives...

We got to know the local students,
We stayed in a hostel that never met our expectations,
We withstood the freezing temperatures,
We studied and led our lives as an adult,
We scaled mountains and stood under waterfalls,
We saw flowers that bloomed only two weeks every year,
We visited various industries and factories in Wuhan,
We lived in a Cruise ship and a Resort,
We travelled in taxis and buses like any other typical local,
We ate in back alleys, shops and restaurants,
We played badminton and basketball,
We shopped like crazy,
We bonded with each other...

All of these in 6 weeks...
Never did we realise that 1 day, this would all come to an end..
But it did.

We headed off to the Airport on April 12th. Sad smiles, tears and emotions were running high. Everyone wished that Time would slow down. It never did. It was time to leave.

Even though I was happy that I would be back in Singapore in a few hours, one part of me didn't want me to go back. All those freedom and happiness that I experienced in Wuhan could never be experienced in Singapore. It was like as if I led a whole new life in Wuhan but it had to come to an abrupt end. The memories I have gotten over there are just so precious. Lucky I have them in the form of photos and stuff. But you know, there's never a right time to say goodbye. Deep down we know that 1 day, we would catch up with each other's lives again in one way or another. So what's the point of saying goodbye right?

Before I end this post, I would like to thank Mr. Chong for being such a great teacher in Wuhan. Not only did you care for us, you were there for us when we needed you. Even though we made you angry at some instances, we still know that you had our best interests at heart. I greatly appreciate the fact that you were the one who was chosen to bring us to Wuhan. Thank you for all the things you have done for us. And of course, a big thank you to Ngee Ann Poly for letting me go for this trip. You promised each student that we would be sent to at least one overseas trip and you kept to your promise. I had the time of my live there and i would never forget it. Thank you.

No one could erase the memories that I had. It would be etched in my mind for a long time to come. And that's a promise.

The End.

All good things must come to an end...

Shop shop shop...
Never in my entire life had I shopped like crazy...
Or even shop like a girl for that matter...
But who cares?
It's China baby...
Everything is cheap...
Everything is just too good to resist...
Everything is worth every single cent of my money...
Loaded ourselves with things that we need, we don't really need & things that we definitely do not need but just bought for the fun of it...

Headed back to school in the evening for the farewell party we have arranged for the local students. It was a form of thanks from us to them for being such great hospitable and caring people who were there for us when we needed them. It's because of them that my whole perspective of China locals changed. I never knew China locals could be so gracious, caring and outgoing and they helped me change my thinking. Kudos to all of them.

Music, food and dance. That's what makes a great party. And those were the things to brightened up our party. It was like as if the party would never end. But it had to. Like what Mr.Wong said...

All good things must come to an end...
And so it did...

Celebration time already? DEFINITELY...

PRESENTATION DAY!

Goodness. The day we have all been waiting for. Everyone presented their project and with that crossed out from our lists, we had FREEDOM!

No more project, report, slides and deadline! Whooopeee...

Celebrated Alan's birthday in VIP Style in a VIP Pool Room. Played pool till 3am and headed off to karaoke till 6am...

Nothing could beat our mood...
Everyone was on cloud nine...
But deep down, we know our trip is coming to an end...

Too much to keep up with? DEFINITELY...

Project Project Project...
Report Report Report...
Slides Slides Slides...
Deadline Deadline Deadline...

These were the words that repeatedly banged around our minds...
Everyone stayed in the dormitory today to get their project up to their expectations. The atmosphere was just so tensed that I felt weird about it. Not even on Common Test day did I feel that everything was so stressed up. At least we had something to lighten up the mood...

A CHAT WITH THE LOCAL STUDENTS!

It was quite interactive i should say. Each and every of our students were engaged with the local studetns and all of them seem very interested in our way of life in Singapore. I had a little chat with these 2 guys who seemed very eager to know more about me. We talked alot on the politics, culture, living conditions, and way of life in Singapore and China. That was defnitely enlightening. One part that really interest me was the China is not as modernised as it seems to be. There are still many differences that lie between the 'urban' locals and the 'rural' locals. This isn't the case in Singapore as everyone knows. After a two and half hours of talking, we celebrated Shan Mei's
birthday with a bang and also, welcomed Alan's birthday with a even bigger bang.

Once everything was over, we immersed ourselves into the project stuff without any bang. Expected. You would be shocked to realise that I only slept at 6am just to get my project presentation and report in perfect order. In two hours time, it would be time for my presentation...

To be continued...

One step is all it takes...

Sense of achievement...
Sense of pride...
Sense of glory...
One step is all it takes...
To have all of these...

Once again, our morning was disrupted by rude knockings on our room door. It was 6am. Poor us. We have all been waking up early these past few days. We dragged ourselves to the bus and it dragged us all the way to WUST Zhongnan branch. We were brought to this place specially designated for high/low element courses such as rock climbing, flying fox and so forth. A man from the school introduced himself and spilt us into groups, including the EE and ECE students. It was nice to know that we have the chance to interact with them.

Once spilt into groups, we were tasked to come up with a group name, logo, slogan and cheer for the group. and so we brainstormed on what name we could have for our group. Out of nowhere, someone suggested using 'perm' as the name as one of the guys had permed his hair few days back. Weird. Best part? Everyone agreed to use that name. However, after awhile, we changed it to 'Afro' which means the Afro hairstyle that was popular in the 1980's. More weird. Nevertheless, we all had a good laugh coming up with the group cheer and everything.

Next,we had a game. We were given 33 newspapers and was asked to create a 'army-tank conveyor-belt like wheels' that could fit all of us inside and race with it. Half an hour was spent creating it and we managed to create a strong and long chain of newspapers that could support all of us. And it did. We raced and my group came in second. Impressive indeed. Kudos to Afro!

Lunch was eaten in the school canteen that served nice fried rice. Time was spent bonding with the other NP students.

After lunch, we had our first low-element course. It was called confidence fall if i am not wrong. Basically, we had to support a person while he/she drops backwards from a height of 1.5m with his/her hands and legs tied. Interesting isn't it? It was all about responsibility, confidence, trust and overcoming our fears. That is definitely a game that i would recommend everyone to play. It's a very great way to bond and at the same time, trust each other more and build confidence within ourselves. For all those low-esteem people out there? This is a great game for you to play.

Once that was conquered, we had a high-element course next. We had to climb a 8m ladder, walk onto a plank and jump to another plank that had a 1.2m gap in between. Boy it was easy. Not to all of them though. Some of them couldn't make it. Even so, I saw the determination in them as they tried their very best to jump over to the next plank. If given the chance, I think they would probably do it the second time and give their best shot to do whatever it takes to cross it. Kudos to everyone!

Lastly, we had our last high-element course. Rock-climbing. Something i hated ever since last time. Still, i had this sudden urge to go and satisfy my thirst for new challenges. And so, i climbed. It was easy at first but as i climbed up, it got more difficult with my fingers, hands and legs aching. After climbing three-quarters of the wall, i got stuck. There was no way that i could climb it. I tried everything at my disposal to move up. But to no avail. In the end, there was no time so i had to go back down. Who cares even if i didn't make it to the top? I tried my level best and i perservered. That's all that matters.

One valuable lesson I have learnt: Things may be easy at first. But, it wont last long. Obstacles and challenges will surface. Overcome them with every willpower that you have got and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so? Try, retry and try again. Every failure is a step to success.

The day ended with a beautiful view in the sky. The sun didn't want to set and the moon was all set too appear in the sky. Outcome? Both the sun and moon were in the sky at the same time with clouds complimenting it. A view that I could never get back in Singapore.

Looks like Nature has too much to offer...

Sparkling water...
Beautiful rocks...
Sound of water falling from great heights...
All these add up to a wonderful waterfall that none of us could forget...

We left for the Luling Resort early in the morning on Satuday. A four hour ride there. Why on earth China is so big?? Urghhh.

We reached there around 12 plus and we checked in into our resort. Once again, the resort was better than expected. Nice bed, good bathroom, great heater. Perfect.

We were brought to the 'Beauty Valley' that was made up of rocks, river and trees in every direction. It was such a perfect place to be peaceful & be alone. Tonnes of pictures were taken of course. I still do nt understand why Singapore do not have such beautiful places. Seriously. The atmosphere was so relaxed and the air was so pure that i wish i could have been there longer. I even stood near the waterfall and just let the water spray on me. It was like swimming while standing.

We were then brought back the resort to have dinner. After dinner, we went to this karaoke session in the resort. We had stunt performances done by the people there. He stood on knife that was so sharp that could could chop bamboos. He stepped, jumped and walked on broken glass. He made music using a leaf. Mind-boggling isn't it? I stood and watched the performance with my mouth wide open. Next? Sleeping time. Zzzzzz...

Next day, we woke up at 7 and prepared to climb Luling Mountain. I seriously didn't know that we were going to climb mountain. I only knew it the night before so i wasn't really prepared for it. Nevertheless, we climbed. It wasn't much of a big climb though; Wu Dang mountain was worse. We stopped here and there to see things such as Buddha statue and so forth. This mountain wasn't as interesting as Wu Dang Mountain, so i did not take much pictures in that place.

After much time and effort, we descended down and had lunch. Once lunch was done, we had this cave tour. Once again, it was boring. All we had to do was walk in the dark and look at stones that were supposed to resemble something but to me, it did not. Weird. Funny how people can say rocks look like this and that when it's just a normal rock. They even said the stalactites looked like a bunch of bananas. =/

Next stop? WUST. On my comfy bed typing this...

5 more days to Singapore. Could hardly wait...

The differences...

Shopping, shopping and more shopping...
Seems like the only thing we know what to do right now after our common test...

We went to this place (forgot the name...) where it supposedly sold cheap stuff. Well there was indeed cheap stuff but it did not satisfy my taste or worth my money. After some walking, some of us decided to head to the 'Computer City'. We decided to take a cab. And so, the battle begin. Many did not want to hire us. They said something and just drove off. We were definitely irritated. After 15 minutes of waiting, a cab hired us. At last. We then asked the driver on why most the taxis we hailed did not pick us. He explained that on every consecutive days, only certain taxis are allowed to cross the big bridge to go to Computer City. That is to say, even-numbered number plate taxis are allowed to cross the bridge whereas odd-numbers are not allowed to. The next day however, the odd-numbered number plate taxis are allowed to ferry passengers across the bridge whereas even-numbered ones are not allowed to. That definitely interest me alot because we do not hear such things in Singapore except for the weekend cars and so forth. I guess this law was passed so that there would not be traffic congestion every day. There are probably over millions of cars in Wuhan alone that this measure has to be done. This is a very effective measure i should say. Hopefully Singapore does not emulate this law though. I will have my fingers crossed.

While in the taxi, i had a good look around as we drove on. And i noticed something. Something very obvious.

The rich
The poor

And these two block of flats were right beside each other. The block of flat(top) looks just like the ones we can find in Singapore. However, the block of flat(below) looks just like the ones we could have seen in Singapore 50 years ago probably. So what does this imply? There is a major gap between the rich and the poor. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. Sad isn't it? It's lucky that Singapore does not have such cases. Looks like China has a long way to go before it is called a developed country.