day 41

I’m going home!
A day filled with mixed feelings for all who were leaving and also those who are staying. Some cried and some were moody. Well, after staying six weeks in Wuhan, there are somehow some feelings towards that place, whether is it the people there or is the environment. I’ll sure miss Wuhan, but also on the other hand I miss my home too.

Everyone saying goodbye to their china friends(was a pretty sad scene)

Reflection:
Cheers to...No more “smoky” environment, jerky bus rides, dirty toilets or toilets without water, rubbish everywhere on the floor, seeing people spit anywhere, honking unnecessarily, cutting lanes and queues, and black cabs! However, sad to say, I’ll miss the delicious backstreet food, cheap shopping thrills, the cooling environment, the local students, cheap salon, and most importantly all the FUN we had there. ):

day 40

Our last day in Wuhan and tomorrow we’ll be flying back to Singapore already. I can’t believe I will actually miss the time I had here even though so many unpleasant things happened. We did some last minute packing and ensure that we pack all our things in, for the weighting of luggage at noon. It is pretty stress to ensure that our luggage is not overweight.

We went Guang GU(after the weighting) to “Yes, I do” salon to do our free treatment because we dyed our hair there the previous time. And guess how we go there... by “bread van” (black cab)(面包车)! After that we did some last minute shopping to see what else we need to get for our friends and not forgetting to drink the “COCO” bubble tea with pudding for the very last time before we leave. ): I am so going to miss the time I had there.
As the day of returning home to Singapore gets closer, I’m starting to worry that I’ll miss some of the things in Wuhan. Although Wuhan may not be as “perfect” as Singapore, this six weeks I had experience a whole new life of what the local experience as a China citizen. Although my camera spoilt and laptop crash, I still manage to get over it and have fun because of all the exciting places that the locals and my friends had brought me to. I’m sure there are still many places to explore but however our time here is limited. :(

our hostel block

backgate

backstreet pan fried dumpling store:

backstreet xiao long pau store:

backstreet bubble tea store: backstreet rou chuan store:
backstreet jia rou bing store:
Backstreet (our common snacking place) Reflection:
Although it was not my first time taking “illegal” public transport to another location in China, however it is my first time taking this “bread van”. It was a very interesting experience as the driver has a very interesting way of driving and sending his customers. At first he drove us to some deserted area and stopped for awhile, for that moment we thought he was going to kidnap us or something. We planned our escape road when he left us for quite some time in that area. Later on then we found out that he went to fetch his son from school in that deserted lane. His son was very cute! I think he was the cutest child I had seen so far in China. We continued with our journey to our shopping destination. The funny thing is that he drove through some swamp area. It was very muddy and bumpy, and he said it was a short cut as it was after work hours and all the main roads will be packed with cars. That’s his short cut. If he drives like this in Singapore, he is so going to get his license stripped off! Ha-ha!

day 39

Second last shopping! No more good bargains back in Singapore, therefore we must get all that we want and need here. Went Wal-Mart to check out the stock for the different favors of Pokey which are unavailable in Singapore. We bought so much food that it seems like we are going to set up a "mama" shop in Singapore.

After the shopping and "marketing" we went to KFC for dinner. There is this two guys kept on staring at our friend. It makes us feel very uncomfortable and from what we learnt in IS, we are taught not to stare at people in china, as it is considered as rude!

After which we went to their karaoke lounge “HAPPY Space”/"Huan Le Kong Jian KTV" with the local students. It was around 8pm when we called and ask if the local students want to join us and to our surprise, they are having lessons. NIGHT LESSONS ON SUNDAY?! Wow! We will never have any lessons at night if we are full time students and not to mention it is a SUNDAY! According to them, they said it was a makeup class because on Monday it was a public holiday and therefore the teacher scheduled the lesson on Sunday. Well, but still it’s a Sunday! After they end, they came to join us at the “shopping mall” KTV. It was my first time going and to my surprise, it was way much better than I can imagine. The interior layout was beautifully laid and the each room is given its own style. Even the electronic gadgets are very high tech, such as it is fully touch screen. Totally COOL!

Our two China friends:

Aren't the gadgets cool?! (:

Corridor (like the design)

In our Room 826

reception area:

Reflection:

I never have Sunday lessons from schools and it totally surprised me when I heard that the China students have night lessons on Sunday. Even though it is a makeup class, I wonder why can't their teacher have it during some free period on a weekday? Well, I can't imagine what will the respond be if we have class on Sunday in Singapore.

Another thing that surprised me was to see such impressive layout in the KTV and not to mention the high technology gadgets they have there. And from what I heard from my friends who went to Singapore KTV, they said the one in China is way better. (: Surprising huh?

day 38

Ate at Golden Han’s cafe at only $38 RMB for a buffet style lunch, so cheap! Converting to SD, it will cost less than S$10. You can never find such good deals in Singapore. The food consists of Mexican, Italian food. Sausages, bacons, turkey and even cow tongue were served within intervals of 15 minutes. The service there was as good as those in Singapore’s restaurant and therefore I’m very pleased to eat there. Sadly, we found out about this place so late if not we would have eaten there more frequent.

At the theme park:

We came across this wooden push cart selling pets on the way to the theme park. The conditions of the way the man keep the pets are really poor conditions. The fishes are sold in small containers in which you can see that there isn’t much oxygen for them to breathe, and there are also ducklings for sales too. They are being squeezed together in a small carton container. I am really wondering how long can these animals can live. It is really a sad sight to see.

On the bus back to our hostel, this man was bus sick and vomited. Unfortunately, my friend was at the window seat next to his. And she was trapped there when she had to get down the bus. The man refused to get out of his seat and so two choices for my friend to get out. One is to cross over the man and step on his vomit to get out or the other which is to climb across the chair at the back to get out. In the end she climbed out across the chair at the back to get out. We were all grossed out even when we went back our hostel.

day 37

We split into two groups, Mei Xiu and I went to the hair salon again to dye our hair while the rest headed to “shopping mall” to do their nails and shop at wal-mart. We heard that it is a lot cheaper to dye hair there then compared to Singapore. After that we headed for the farewell dinner with local students at one of the restaurant at Jian she 二. The food there was the best out of all the restaurants which we had eaten so far!

Reflection:
The cab uncle was very nice; he tried his best to send us to the restaurant as he knew we were late already. The road was very congested at that time as everyone is going back from work. He tried to drive as fast as possible and squeeze in any space available on the road. I’m very thankful that we met this nice taxi driver if not we’ll be late.
We had a wonderful dinner with the local students. Well, we tried to apply what we had learnt during IS lessons about China’s culture and etiquette during the dinner. We waited till the teachers start to eat then we start. As host, we teach our guests some Singapore style of toasting...”Yaaammm Seng!”

day 36

Shopping at Fu Bu Xiang again! We just loved to shop at the streets as you can get cheap deals from there. Nothing beats the streets where you can bargain. The only disadvantage is that it is very crowded and after an hour or so you will start to feel annoyed and giddy due to the heavy flow of human traffic.

Reflection:
After several weeks here I had mastered the art of bargaining. Normally the price quote by the shop owners are “anyhow quote price”. If you really interested in the item, they will tell you the “sincerity” or “chen xin” price. This is because they are competing with other shops as majority of the shops are selling almost the same stuffs.

day 35

We went to the new Wuhan University of science and technology campus at at Wuchang District,(武昌区) also known as Wuhan HuangJiaHu Campus(黄家湖校区). It was a 1½ hour ride from our current campus at Qing Shan to that new WUST campus. When we reached there, we were welcome by a large group of local students. Even the digital display was displaying welcome words. After that we were each assigned a local student of the campus as a partner and they will be in-charge of telling and guiding us around the campus. I was assigned to this girl whose Chinese name I had forgotten but her English name was Theresa. She is one year younger than me and it’s her first year in the campus too and she’s from the sector of foreign language. She is very nice and thanks to her I had an enjoyable time there in the new campus.

We went to life science section of the school too... WARNING!the below content my be distrubing. See at your own risk!

Reflection:
They local students are really friendly and really welcoming. So far, the local students are all very hospitable and helpful. They are so friendly that sometimes I felt a bit uncomfortable because I feel that they are a bit too over friendly. Well, from here I noticed that in China, majority of the strangers will not be friendly to you but if you know that person he or she will treat you very well.