Day 41- Last day in Wuhan, Back to Singapore

Hi everyone, I had reached Singapore at around 10pm.

In the morning, everyone had mixed feelings. We were happy that our 41 days trip in Wuhan had successfully ended, excited that we are going home. However, on the other side, we were gloomy that our strong bonded friendship with our local student leaders had come to an end of face-to-face interaction till they come to Singapore in another one and a half years time.

Waking up early in the morning to get ourselves ready, making sure that all our luggages were packed properly for the last moment, we decided to go to Duoluojie for our last breakfast in Wuhan.

Milk tea!

Our room- 217.

From our hostel door. The usual road we start in our day.

A path in 堕落街. See you again.

The last cheap breakfast for 9.50rmb.

After which, we brought down our heavy luggages down the stairs to assemble at the ground floor of our hostel. It was a hectic process but everyone of us did not mind lending a helping hand to our friends. Our student leaders- XiongFeng, MeiZe, DongXiang, GongShan and XiaoGang came to send us off till outside the school gate where the bus stopped. They even volunteered to help us carry our luggages up to the bus. Standing at the basketball outside the back gate of WUST, talking happily for the last moment within ourselves, smiling widely to show appreciation to what the five of them had done for us, hugging each other for the very last time, we boarded the bus at around 8.30am. We decided not to shed any tears in front of everyone to reduce the reluctance of biding farewell to one another. It was pity that they could not send us to the airport as not only because they were having classes at 8am, but that there were not enough seats for them to board on the second bus.

Our last photo :(

Reaching the Wuhan airport early, we got to check-in first without any disturbance of crowd. Upon hearing that 1kg of overweight will cost us 110rmb, every 21 of us started to weigh our luggages on the check-in counters that were not open and repacked our stuffs to prevent our luggages from exceeding 30kg. We did it as fast as we could and managed to check-in everything in the fastest time. There was a sudden change in temperature as we walked into the airport, but all of us did not murmured anything as it was the last time we will experience this natural coldness of air in Wuhan for the trip. Hearing that our flight from Wuhan to Guangzhou is delayed by almost an hour the previous night, we made good use of the time to have our lunch in the airport and take all the last minute photos we needed for our IS video.

Lunch in Wuhan airport. The only restuarant found.

Due to the delay of flight, having the need to rush in Guangzhou airport when collecting our luggages, checking in again and then going through the custom once more, we finally landed in Singapore 2 hours later than the expected time of 8.45pm.
When we touched down to Singapore, all other Ngee Ann Poly students from various division in the plane started shouting and cheering with joy.
Seeing families and friends waving frantically at the gate, we knew we were finally back home :D

Reflection:

BYE CHINA, BYE FRIENDS, WE'LL BE BACK SOON. 再见了!

As we go on
We remember
All the times we Had together
And as our lives change
Come Whatever
We will still be
Friends Forever

'XiongFeng, MeiZe, GongShan, DongXiang, XiaoGang!'

During the 42 days in Wuhan, I had really learnt alot. Regardless of accommodating, tolerating the acts of others, overcoming conflicts among us, improving myself, planning our daily lives, settling our meals, washing of clothes and planning of study time ourselves, estimating our money usage per day, having the responsibility to take care of ourselves, we had obtain a fruitful experience of making new friends in the group. From being strangers to friends that could talk when we walked past each other rooms or even on the streets. We all had a great time :)

Day 40- Second last day

Hi everyone, the temperature today is about 13degree and the weather is cloudy.

Woke up early in the morning and met TeeLi, Fathullah and Jean for our IS video project. We went off filming and taking pictures of what we needed so that it would ease our life when we complete the video in Singapore. We did our project till about 12.15pm. After which, I had fried rice for lunch at Duoluojie. Chinese sausage, mushroom and egg, where the combination only cost me 3.5rmb. At 1plus pm, we were asked as a group to go down to the entrance of our hostel to weigh our luggage to gauge how much it weighs and that refrain it from exceeding 30kg. However, to much avail, some of us had exceeded the amount and decided to go back to our rooms to repack again.
After that, we went back to SourceMe 发源地 again for the last hair wash, treatment, blow and style in Wuhan.

店长

My hairstylist which helped to design my hairstyle. 六号老师

Intentionally, we decided to head out for our last shopping spree in Wuhan after it. However, upon hearing that our local student leaders wanted to meet us at 8pm in the night, we canceled our plans, ate our dinner at the fast food restaurant and then head back to the hostel. Surprisingly, what we saw was that our student leaders had ordered a cake and even brought tibits and drinks to meet us. Secretly with their planning, they told us to follow them and we reached a motel. They had booked a room for us to gather for the last one time we were in Wuhan so that we could have all the fun we want without contributing noise pollution in our hostel.

The motel we went to which cost the local student leaders 178rmb.

At the motel lobby. 8 of us without LingLi.

'WE ARE FRIENDS FOREVER 2010.'

Making a wish. I hope that all 14 of us will stay together forever.

The automatic mahjong table that washes all the tiles at the pressing of a button. This is how high-tech the motel can be with its entertainment.

Reflection:
I'm touched by the mini farewell our student leaders had arranged. Although we missed out our last and only shopping spree in Wuhan, I felt that nothing can beat the joy and fun we had together tonight. It will be a memorable day and a day I will always remember. My friends in Wuhan and I hope to contact all of them even though we are a distance away from each other and wait for their arrival to Singapore a year and a half or so later. They had thought for us in whatever they done, and we had in return, did the same thing too. WE ARE FRIENDS FOREVER, NO MATTER WHAT BARRIERS WE ENCOUNTER.

Day 39- IS project discussion

Hi everyone, today's temperature is about 11 degree and it rained for almost a day. The weather is slightly cold.

I woke up early today despite it was a free and easy day to meet TeeLi, Jean and Fathullah for the discussion of our IS video project. We spent hours brainstorming, thinking of the plot for our video till around 4plus in the afternoon. At first, we planned to start filming parts that we needed here, however, the rain just went on and off which eliminated our plans. Hence, we decided to started on the indoor scenes first.

I followed Ron, WeiQin, DongXiang, MeiZe and XiaoGang to have their dinner at Duoluojie. It is a place that sells something like Singapore's economical rice. However, the only difference is that the food items are taken by yourselves, price of the food is counted according to its weight of your food item and that there is a free flow of rice and porridge.

Self-service getting of desired food item.

Self-service of free flow of rice and porridge placed at the counter.

Isn't it worth while to eat here?

Together with SoonLing and WeiQin, we took 黑-T to 'Shopping Mall'. Headed to WalMart to get some stuffs and then to KFC for my last 老北京鸡肉卷餐 in Wuhan. Today was a short day and we headed back to the hostel to start packing our things for tomorrow's luggage weighing.

Reflection:
While we were at WalMart, WeiQin received the news that something happened to Cynthia. Her wallet was pickpocket, but luckily she was alert and manage to get it back after chasing the thief. No misfortune had happened. It was a shocking news as today was already going to be the end of our Wuhan trip. This incident made me reflect that we ought to be alert as and when we were outside of school and that we must take care of each other, walking together as a whole instead so as to reduce chances of incident.

We must ourselves defend Singapore.
We must defend ourselves.
We are proud to defend Singapore ourselves, no one else is responsible for our security and well-being.

Day 38- Free and Easy

Hi everyone,

For the last few days in Wuhan, it will be a free and easy day. Today, our local students waited for us at our hostel at 10am sharp. However, some of us were not ready by then. Hence, they waited for us patiently. Some of us went to Duoluojie to get a light, yet late breakfast as the bus ride from school to Simenkou (四门口) was about 40mins. Finally, we experienced taking a double-deck bus in Wuhan and the bus fare was cheaper, which cost us 1.50rmb only.

户部巷 was a food street at Simenkou (四门口). There were a variety of all food in China and we had a great time trying it out. It looks similar to 士林夜市 (shilin) in Taiwan.

Scallops and Oysters. 4 for only 10rmb.

Fried ice-cream.

Pancakes with fillings. 3 for 5rmb.

While waiting for MeiZe to find LingLi.

After which, we decided to venture in the streets there and then for a new experience, we took a speed boat for 5rmb instead of a public bus to 江汉路.

Tickets to the speed boat ride.

Way to the entrance for boarding.

Seats inside the speed boat.

We went to Happy 站台 for a while and then board 588 to 徐东路 for a dinner buffet with our student leaders. It cost us 30rmb per person, but with a student card, there was a discount of 8rmb. Thus, we tried using the student card from Ngee Ann and it was accepted. Having to appreciate what our student leaders had done for us, the 9 of us decided to fork out money and share the price of treating them. The food was great and it also consisted of BBQ grilled food that were served to your table whenever it was out. The good customer service had satisfied us. In the midst of eating, there was also a beer-drinking competition held and I heard that it was held everyday as a form of entertainment and joy for all the people inside the restaurant.

Chinese characters writing. From my past trips to China, I've noticed that aged men like to write these characters on streets.

Golden Hans, buffet restuarant at affordable price for us Singaporeans.

Welcome, 欢迎光临.


Bus ride, our way back to the hostel.