DAY 1: We departed from Singapore to Shang Hai via flight SQ 832. After reaching Shanghai Pudong Airport, we met up with our tour guide, 黄导 at the pick up area and we left to have our first dinner in Shanghai. During our bus trip to the restaurant, 黄导 explain some of their Chinese history and culture. On our way there, we were mesmerized by the buildings as they were lighted up by the building lights. There was even a building that had a rainbow-ed lightings. At the restaurant, I was able to taste the famous 小笼包 for the first time and tasted some of the dishes which was similar to my home-cooked dish. We realized that we were the only ones in the restaurant. 黄导 explained to us that restaurants usually closed at 8pm. After dinner, we headed to our hotel and rested in preparation for the next day. I was surprised that I was not too homesick on the first day and it was a pleasure to be sleeping with one of my close friends.
DAY 2: We went to tour around the places of interest in Shanghai. The first place we went was Chenghuangmiao. The Chenghuangmiao is a temple located within the old walled city of Shanghai. We were given a few hours to shop in Chenghuangmiao. I bought most of my gifts from there as they were relatively cheaper than those we can find in Singapore. We had a great time bargaining prices with our mighty bargainer, Yiki. She could slash the prices to half and below. How cool is that! Following that, we went to the picturesque Bund. The Bund, extending for 1.5km on the shore of the Huangpu River, is an emblem of Shang Hai. A total of 52 tall buildings of various heights tower over the river along the western side of the Bund, displaying modern world architecture. We took a lot of group photos there. Next, we drove past the French Concession, which was directly opposite the Bund. It was a tall and big westernized building. However, we were not allowed to visit it. After which, we headed to Book City. It was a seven-storied book store, with millions of books ranging from Chinese language to foreign language. There were hundreds of albums ranging from Kpop to Epop. I bought one of the EXO album there and it was cheaper by $14 than the one in Singapore. Next we went to the Nanjing Road Pedestrain street. The Nanjing Road is the main and one of the world's busiest shopping street. We were also given some time to shop at Nanjing Road. However, we realised that the shops in Nanjing Road were not street stalls like those in Chenghuangmiao. They are well-known brands such as H&M and Forever 21 etc. Therefore we did not buy a lot of things as they were not really affordable for us and it was more expensive than what we can buy in Singapore. Today was a shopping spree for us and to buy things at a relatively cheaper price is awesome!
DAY 3: We woke up earlier in order to make it to our partnering school, Shanghai Nanyang High School in time at 8.30am. However, due to some delays and traffic jam, we only reached the school at 9am. Despite being 30 minutes late, the Teacher In Charge of the exchange program , Mr Lu did not show us the annoyed or impatient face instead he warmly welcomed us to the school and brought us to the conference room. He told us to wait for a short while as our buddies were still having their lessons. Once the school bell rang, our buddies entered the conference room within minutes, smiling and ready to introduce themselves. After some interaction with our buddies, they had to go back for their lessons so they reluctantly waved good bye to us and left. Shortly afterwards, the vice principal of the school addressed us. Mr Lu showed us some videos concerning Shang Hai to deepen our knowledge about China. He even served us some biscuits and drinks and brought us on a mini school tour. Mr Lu showed us their new school ground which was still in construction. After returning to the conference room, a physics teacher came. He gave us a small task: to build the highest tower with only one piece of A4 paper without glue and staplers. The tower must be able to hold ping pong ball on top. My friend and I won the highest tower award. Soon, the students' lesson ended. Students rushed into the conference room and it was total chaos. However they were fast in settling down and gave us demonstrations on how to make 香包. Through this activity, we were able to interact and bond closer with our buddies. About one hour later, we had to leave the school. We unwillingly boarded the bus and left for lunch at a famous restaurant called Hai Di Lao. Hai Di Lao is renowned for its excellent and hospitable service. When we arrived, the waiters asked if we needed more seats and helped us put our bags at the table next to us which could be used to host more customers. At the toilet, the waiter also pumped soap for us on our palms and also served us a clean towel to wipe our hands and face. This service is one of a kind and we rarely encounter with this kind of service in Singapore. After filling our stomachs, we paid a visit to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. There were many model-like buildings of every building in China in the exhibition hall including the Huangpu river. The tour guide introduced us the history of how Shanghai modernized and urbanized. This visit to the exhibition tells me how fast Shang Hai is developing and I felt that as Singaporeans we cannot lose out to china or even feel superior even though we are a developed country. It also deepened my knowledge on the history of China.
DAY 4: This is the last day we're visiting our partnering school. We were brought to the same conference room like yesterday. We were instructed to put down our bags and go to the parade square to watch the daily morning workout the students had to do. We were fascinated at how they managed to run to their respective places promptly in an orderly manner. They quickly spaced themselves out and began their exercise. After much encouragement from the teachers, we went to try out their exercise too. After performing our 立化情to them, we attended an English lesson with the students. We realised that the students were very attentive and they answered the teacher's questions without hesitation when they were called. They were given an English name to enhance the lesson to be in an all English communication. In Singapore, we could not help but used singlish in every lesson. We should learn from them. During the lesson, a guy sitting in front of us turned around and told us that they went through this lesson beforehand. Upon hearing this, I had mixed feelings. Although I understand that they wanted to show us their best side, I sort of felt cheated and could not help but think this is a setup. 所谓“天下没有不散之筵席”。Soon, it was time we left. We waved good bye to our buddies for the last time and left reluctantly. After that, we went to one of china top universities, the Fudan University. We waited for some time before our seniors studying in Fudan University arrived. She brought us around the school for a tour. She explained to us about the school's different facilities and buildings. Along the way we saw many bicycles parked outside every area we go. This is because Fudan doesn't provide shuttle bus services in the school campus. Thus, they have to use bicycle as their mode of transport. Our senior, Boon Kee told us that if we were ever to study there, we have to let our bicycle become rusty so that no one would steal. We also met a previous Dunman High senior. Fudan University's facilities are not very new and modern but Fudan is still able to maintain as one of the top universities in China. This indicates that the result of every student is not because of the facilities the school provided but the determination and effort put into their studies. The senior said that the students in Fudan University, especially those that are China citizens are all very hardworking. They can be seen studying once the classroom opens at 6 even when lessons start at 8. The seniors said that in order to not fall behind too much, they have to be extra hardworking than the china citizens. I realized that if Singapore continued slacking in our studies, China would surely catch up. By then, our jobs for Singaporeans would be replaced by China citizens and we will lack behind. Thus, we have to start and discipline ourselves since young in order to prepare ourselves for the competition in future.
DAY 5: This is our last day in shanghai. After taking our luggage up on the bus, we proceeded on a 3 hour bus journey towards Hang Zhou. Once we reached Hang Zhou, we were asked to observe the roads on the bus. 黄导said that we will be able to spot many red coloured electric bikes on the roads as they are out for rent at cheap prices to the public. This is a Eco-friendly mode of public transportation. He also told us that Hang Zhou has instilled traffic rules so the traffic is not as messy as that in Shang Hai. We went for lunch then after that we departed for Zhejiang University. A student representative from Zhejiang University welcomed us and led us to a room where other teachers and the principal of the University deliver a speech about the university. Then we had a tour around the university on the bus. I was awed that even though the university is only partially available for use right now, it was much bigger than Singapore's NUS maybe thrice bigger. The University has many brand new facilities. For example, there were many running tracks and even a three storey high canteen. After leaving the university, we headed to Qinghefang Ancient Streets. We were given one hour to wander the streets by ourselves. The shops were like the ones in Chenghuangmiao but they were older. Afterwards, we had our dinner at a restaurant where we were able to taste Hang Zhou delicacies which is noodles. The noodles were making me drip my saliva. I had two bowl of noodles which was not enough as there wasn't ample noodles for everyone. After dinner we had to say good bye to our current tour guide, 黄导 as another tour guide will take over him for our tour in Hang Zhou. We were greatly thankful for his guidance these few days as we were able to gain a lot of knowledge about China through him. Although we did not showed too much respect to him on the first day by sleeping or talking on the bus while he was taking, he bear with us and slowly guided us through the whole shanghai trip. For this, I am deeply grateful. I would never forget his guidance.
DAY 6: Today we were able to depart from the hotel at 9.30am which meant that we could wake up at 8am. When we heard this, we were elated. Firstly we went to the Yuefei Mausoleum. The tour guide gave us a detailed explanation about the temple and lead us through the entire temple. The temple were full of Yuefei's contributions, handwritings, tomb and how he was framed and killed etc. The tomb of his son and the tomb of his capable assistant was beside his tomb. What amazed me was that there are 4 statues kneeling down in front of the tomb of Yuefei. The tour guide told us that they were the ones who framed Yuefei. There was a sign above them that read "请勿吐痰". This shows that the Chinese really hated the 4 traitors. Previously, they must have spat on them to show the hatred and detest for them. The statues were even thrown into the West Lake before and later hauled and caged to prevent history from repeating itself. We visited the West Lake. We board a ferry to view the West Lake scenery. On the ferry, we were told that the West Lake is extremely muddy. There was once a guy fell into the lake and never resurfaced again. As the ferry moved on, we could see the Leifeng Pagoda. We were also able to see the Broken Bridge from the ferry. The Broken Bridge is not broken. It was just named 断桥as there was a family named 断 that lived under the bridge last time. After alighting the ferry, we strolled around a park. We visited the Leifeng Pagoda and had to climb a lot of stairs to reach the top. From the peak, we were able to wow at the scenic West Lake. We were given one hour to explore Leifeng Pagoda and even buy souvenir. Next we went to another part of the Qinghefang Ancient Street to shop. This part of Qinghefang is newer and we can shop for more teenage stuff. After a haul, we proceeded to have our dinner. After dinner, we set off to watch the long awaited show, “西湖之夜”。It was magnificent and we enjoyed it very much. It was a awesome sight seeing day that I can't remember to forget.
DAY 7: Today is our last day in China. Time sure flys by quickly when we are having fun. We boarded the bus with our luggages back to Shanghai. After reaching shanghai, we visited the Qibao Ancient Town. The tour guide told us that this street will be extremely crowded so, to prevent us from getting lost, we are not allowed to wander around by ourselves. It was extremely squeezy and we had to squeeze our way through to an old bridge. We were able to view the old architectures and trees from the bridge. As we are short of time, we could not cross over to the other side of the bridge. After that, we left for Tianzifang. However, the items sold at Tianzifang are quite expensive. After shopping, we went to Shanghai Pudong Airport, which marks the imminent end of the trip in China. We said goodbye to our Tour Guide. We are also very thankful for his guidance this 3 days in Hangzhou and Shanghai. We unwillingly boarded the plane back to Singapore. Although the trip has ended, I am certain that all of us have a lot of memories we had create and remember forever.
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