Day 4 - A Flood and free time

Right after my last post on Day 3, I went to use the toilet which later resulted in this massive flood. I just cannot stop the gushing water from the toilet.

Luckily for us, Mr Wong was still up when Pei Jie sought for his help. He arrived with two buckets and had to borrow a mop. All this time, I was the one using the bucket and scooping the water (dirty as it was flushed out from the toilet itself) and poring it into the sink. All this time taking it to be great exercise.

Photo evidence! I said I wanted a memorable trip but this is too much!

See, my room is flooded. The water being reflected here. This is our sleeping area, mind you, See our stuff piled there?

The water level by then was so high that this brush was floating on the water. See, density proves that lighter objects will float indeed.

Gearing up for the water war! Literally!!!! Our Mr Wong is.... (You may fill in the blanks)

See, the mop is used to usher in the large amount of overflowed water back to the bathroom. Just keep going, just keep going Mr Wong. You are the best!!

See, we have our 'china' janitor helping us in cleaning our flooded room. He's really a 同甘共苦(To go through thick and thin together) lecturer indeed. He can even crack jokes.

Awoke to a rather dried floor after the 'Great Flood' incident. Honestly, I was just happy that we were quick enough to stash the luggage away before the water came out.

Went to the classroom. Initially, we namely, Pei Jie, Hui Miang and me wanted to go to the canteen for some hot drinks. But when we arrived, it was already 9 plus and the canteen was closed for the time.

We then went to the provision store whereby I purchased a bottle of mineral water. Payment by the card again... Well, Ok.

We have some nice classrooms...
Mr Wong at our first BPE (Business Process Engineering) at room 705. The first thing into the lesson was that he produced his hand phone which had a television function and passed it around the class. So good, I wanted to have television here too, but I am fine with my laptop.

Mr Wong is really funny, I like his lecture because he could amuse the class.

See, I am so diligent.

Although, I nearly dozed off due to fatigue. Nevertheless, I was reawaken after Mr Wong passed us the quiz we had to answer to prove that we actually retained knowledge. Seriously, challenging my English vocabulary, I also never bother to re-read the notes again and again.

Well, our lesson of BPE in mind map form. To be honest, I prefer to read the long winded ones instead.

Finally, after lessons ended at 1, I tagged along a small group to eat.

Had to pass this large basketball area just to get to the food street. Check out all the guys, actually check out the number of basketball courts sounds better huh?

" 我们去这里吗?" (Do we go here?) Well, follow them to where ever they are going?
Well, we were hungry and so, we went to find some food. We had to cater to our Muslim friends and so, we were selective in our choice of food and kept asking, "这个有没有猪肉?" (Does this contain any pork?)

We finally entered this halal restaurant.

Introducing the Chinese-Malay service staff and boss kneading the dough for our meal.

I learnt that it was all handmade here unlike Singapore whereby we have machines to make the dough and so, I could still taste the dough in my mouth when I ate it. Superb!

Front view of my noodles, 牛肉刀削面. Why don't we ever get this in Singapore? It's awesome.

My noodles look so tantalising and hot so much so that we can actually see the smoke. My dish of 牛肉刀削面 found in the Halal restaurant.

This is the alley. Reminds me of those pictures straight out from the movies.
We love eating fruits. This is the kind 阿姨 (Auntie) whereby we managed to eat some fruits and even took photos with her.

And here, the classic example of us strolling through the back alley. In red, we have Pei Jie and Zee Min behind her.

We did venture deeper into the back alley of the stretch of dormitory behind our hostel. I took this shot of a turn way when we were about to enter the nearby shop.

Through our window shopping around, we entered this shop to see the shoes but ended up playing darts instead. Let's see how Pei Jie will be shooting. For my first shot, the dart went left and so, I scored low as it was cold.

However, before we left the shop, I tossed the dart once more and this time, it was dead close to bull's eye. They were all like, "Wow, fierce."

Passing through here means that we see construction of houses here. Literally brick walled.

We have a little boy model at the age of 1 going, "Dog (狗)" He's even pointing at the stray.

Anyway, we later retraced our steps to go back to the hostel.

Much later, we went to play badminton and we later went to buy food for the other two much better badminton players. By then, my arm was aching a little. Well, this is what I get for not exercising on a regular basis and suddenly tossed into strenuous exercise.

We proceeded to return the two badminton racquets to the management there before we went back to the street to buy the requested items.

And there, Zee Min, Pei Jie, Xian Yu and me went to purchase the thermal flasks from a store there. We finally bought 4 thermal flasks (2 blue, 1 green and 1 yellow) and clothes hanger. We finally bargained down the price to 85. Not bad for students... Bargaining skills....

And after that, we received the university students Charlotte and her room mates. Made plan with them on where to go this Sunday.

Day 3 - First Lesson

Woke up easily as I am a light sleeper and the fact that otside is also noisy was another factor. Anyway, I managed to wake up with a warm bath and so, I ws really refreashed. Waited for my room mates and together, we 3 set off to the canteen for some ot drinks. I tucked in to soya milk.

And later, we arrived at our classroom the earliest despite being held back for the breakfast. Surprise.

Soon, the clsas filed in and we waited patiently for the lecturer. After waiting for quite some time, Mr Wong received the word that there's being a miscommunication leading to the lecture suposed to be conducted from 1 to 5 pm instead.

Naturally, people stearted whining about it. Seeing as thinngs were just as it was, I tagged along a small group to do some grocery shopping and there, we encountered this sight:

Wondering why these people are sitting there? Actually, the main focus of the picture is the quick and eaasy hair cutting station behind. Don't you wonder why these people aren't cold? Oh Well...It turns out that the doctors are on the street to dish out medical advices posed by passrerbys. Why can't we have this FREE service in Singapore? I mean, it would benefit us greatly.
Chinese really can eat everything huh? From normal medical herbs to seahorses. Wait, seahorses? Dear friends and parents, can I try them?

Moving on, the highlight of the grocery shopping is that I lost one of my mittens. I am such a klutz, I seriously am one. It was nice of zee min to help me find. Appreciate her futile efforts as well.

Went window shopping for bags all leather made ones. It's amazing but I resisted my wants...

Finally, went into zee min's room because my room mates(the one with the key) were nowhere to be found. There, she played host very well.

Finally, time for lessons!


The timetable for lessons on and about China. As you can see, it lasts for 3 weeks for 4 hours each time on Wednesday and Thursdays.

Say hi to our lecturer, XiaoLi or Sally. She's really qualified to teach us in a preschool style. She's really funny and engaging.
Well, her lesson is everything with regards to Hubei.
The Four Great Beauties Of China (四大美人) and their beauty phrased into words and idioms that were passed down as stories.
The traditional paintings of Xi Shi, Wang ZhaoJun(From Hubei province), Diaochan and Yang GuiFei. They really are beautiful...

This map shows the 5 overlords (春秋五霸) as well as the area they govern. There's really no way to imagine China to be a warring area in the past.

The Great Wall of China was actually way before Qin Shihuang. The overlords each constructed a segment of the wall to protect their area from the invaders of the North- Mongolians. Qin Shihang only joined them together to form the Wall we all marvel at today. Amazing discovery...
In the era of the Three Kingdoms, 3 states up as shown above - Wei, Wu and Shu.Of course, XiaoLing 老师（as we address her) also showed us the address of some local shopping places for us that we might find useful. The address is still as confusing as ever, There's some with district and all...
Shopping centers? Well, the point is we don't really have to go to Metro or carrefour because we already have them in Singapore?

The map that shows us the rivers of china. They are showing respect for their flag. This incident happened when they were marching forward only to be blocked by a car. When told to at least march sideways, they refuse to. I take it that it will be an insult to their flag.

Their loyalty to the country really is outstanding because Singapore youths will generally dismiss our flag instead of following them. We must educate them into having respect for our flag.

Finally, after lessons, I followed a small group for dinner and exploration.Following the leader at our destination.

Well, I bully the boy. I find that to be the best place to rest ma.

The sign says Singapore's City of Food. Well, we miss Singapore already?Beef noodles priced at 12 yuan. The beef is shredded into such small pieces, what a pity since I can forgo the vegetables inside there. I did fest on them as well (the vegetables), I don't want to fall ill.

Zee Min and me just become models?

The bridge is beautiful. From this angle it sure looks a lot like expressways huh? Human congestion soon.

How can I miss the traffic? It's really the same?

And the bus seats. All in all, this trip cost me like 4 Yuan just for the bus fares alone.

Lastly, I noticed that the bus driver is on the left side of the vehicle and not on the right side like the buses in Singapore. Also, my keyboard's letter 'U' is spoilt now.

Well, night.

Day 2 - Introduction

Lucky number huh? Welcome to my 40 days plus 'home'.

Waking up to the alarm clock was easy because I wasn't able to sleep well in the cold. Waking up a few times and sleeping again. Anyway,when I was finally awake, I was first to take a bath in here:Sorry for the late updates on how the hostel looks like. This toilet just reminds me of my maternal grandmother's old block. I grew up with this version of toilet.

Next, we have the room view:

This is my bed. Well, zzzzz (snores)

Ok. After my bath, I greeted my room mates, Pei Jie and Hui Miang. We were bought breakfast by Joey(one of the university girls). It was of the local mee and an egg snack that was our version of 'popiah'Here it is. Only we ate it before I could take a photo of it. So sorry.

Later on, we met up with Mr Wong to receive some cards that will be used to purchase food in the canteens. I later learnt that the canteens on campus will operate via use of these cards and will not accept payments and also, there's an allocated time slot for the vendors to sell their food.

Meaning for breakfast, the latest timing will be at 8.30 or so.

The canteen we were brought to for lunch.

Since I wasn't that hungry, I settled for some hot drinks instead. Met Mr Loh in the canteen.

Thereafter, we went to look at or potential classrooms. The view on the 5th floor was breathtaking so much so that, we all took pictures.

Main building? Well, it looks rather majestic as it is.Another part of the landscape. See China's flag there flapping in the cold wind.

The main gate near the classroom. Woah, talk about some grandeur.

In the classroom, how on earth do they master the English language? By actually vexing out the teachers. It's a little blur but readable.

Well, Are they cabbages or flowers? I have no clue at all man...

Later, went for a tour around the city to purchase the prepaid cards. Went for a meal in Macdonald's whereby I was left relatively alone after the group I was with left. There, I was observing the kiddies playground.

At the meeting time and place, we learnt we will be delayed for another hour as the prepaid cards were not ready yet. Here, I decided to go back to the hostel but my room mates were not there. After waiting awhile without any luck, I decided to follow Clive, Randolph and Benedict (Thanks for helping). Ended up, we went to the market street whereby the boys managed to grab a bite here and there.

Finally, met up at 6.30 to go for a movie screening.

In the end, there wasn't any movie screening due to technical difficulties with the audio system. We were however amused by the student's union and told to introduce our self.

Hey!! The university girls sat behind us!!

Please be reminded....

And as I am typing this, the temperature's at 5 degrees. Damn cold.

Day 1- Welcome to freezing Wuhan

Went to the airport by 5.30 decked out in the orange T-shirt of the OIP (Overseas Immersion Program) with my family. All this time, they kept warning and cautioning me about Wuhan.

Finally, after waiting for almost an hour, we were told to conduct a group check-in. And there, it was still waiting anyway.

Went through all the strict security checks and ended up with:



There's out first transit plane to Guangzhou.

This is my silhouette after someone helped me take the photo. So artistic.

Boarded the flight and sat in the center seat and managed to get Benedict (sitting near the window seat) for these views:The beautiful view that reminds me of how small and insignificant we are. Likewise, Singapore is a small country that many countries which are larger will have the airplane's view of us. Therefore, we need to defend Singapore with our own might else, we will let history repeat itself.
Those clouds remind me of heaven paradise and all..

Feel like stepping on the clouds huh? So tempting to me.. The food served on the plane!! Looks rather appetizing huh?

Upon arrival to Wuhan,, we learnt that the temperature was at 6 degrees.Well, the transition period after all...Didn't think I could actually tow my own luggage off the conveyor belt at all, but then again, I had to make it...

Thereafter, we met up with the Wuhan University's students who will be helping us and thereafter, met up with Mr Loh Wai Tuck.

After securing our luggage in rooms 116(later to be my room along with another 2 girls) and 117, we went off to a restaurant whereby we split up into tables and Mr Loh joined our female dominated table..

Incidentally, I forgotten about the names of these dishes already. Hey, why remember good food when it will disappear into your stomach as fuel anyway?

Meat!!!! Erm... Pork, I think.

Long Beans. And different from home style, they were really long and seemed almost uncut. Differently difference in length and taste.

Mushrooms were the best dish because it tastes the best.

Finally, we are lodged in our hostel with our room mates. Well, Good night.