Today, it is going to short post as there is nothing much happening. We woke up early in the morning for our IS lesson. I was extremely tired due to the three gorgeous trip. We packed our stuff and went to our usual classroom. Today, the lecturer will teach us more about the Chinese history. Most of the history related to the dynasty and the teaching of Confucius. The number of slides was outstanding. The total number of slides was 178 slides if I remembered correctly. Here are some photos of the IS lesson.
Reflection: Today, I learnt a lot of china’s dynasty. China is one of the countries that have a long history. By learning their history, we were able to learn from their mistakes and how to prevent such mistakes occurring in our country. Based on IS lesson, we learnt that there is one dynasty that burn a lot of books and killed a lot of scholar. I felt that this system slow down the progress of the country as education is a part of our country progression. Without proper education system, we can’t advance and progressing at slower pace compared to other country. In conclusion, education should be maintained in every single country.
Today, we are going to the three gorgeous and we woke up pretty early. It was 5 AM in the morning and I only slept for one hour. We packed up our stuff as we going to stay there for two nights. After we assemble up at the meeting place, we went in to our bus and began our journey. The journey time took around five hours plus and I was sleeping most of the time.After two to three hours bus ride, we finally stop at one of the restaurant for a lunch break. The lunch that was served was delicious. Personally, I thought this is the best food that I have eaten in Wuhan.
After our lunch, we continue our journey to the three gorgeous. It was another two hours plus journey from the restaurant. After a long tiring bus ride, we finally reach our first destination, the dam which is one of the three gorgeous trademarks. The tour guide explained about the dam background story and we took our chance to explore around the vicinity. The view around this area is outstanding however due to foggy weather our sight of view was greatly decreased. There are some of the photos of the dam and group photos:
After the long tiring journey we finally reach the place we going stay for two nights. It was on a cruise and it was quiet big. Our room was quiet small. The size was smaller compared to our bunk room. As we are tired for the entire journey, we decided to sleep early as we need to wake up early in the following morning. However before we slept, we went up to the dock to see the night view. It was too dark and we are unable to see most of the view. The wind was extremely nice and after enjoying the night scenery, we decided to sleep. Here are the photos of the room that I am staying:
The next day, we woke up pretty early as there is morning call. We are going to the Baidi Cheng; it looks like fortress from far and there is a temple on the top of the mountain. It was four hundred steps height. From here we were able to see a wonderful view of Yang Tze River. After taking a lot of photos, it was time for us to go back to our ship. We rush back to the bus as the bus will be leaving at nine am in the morning. We took the bus back to our cruise and took our lunch there. Here are some photos of Baidi Cheng:
At the entrances
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For the glory of Chang!
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Our entrance ticket
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Group photos
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The end of baidi cheng trips
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After our lunch, I took a short nap at my room. After a good comfortable nap, I, jarold and Roy decided to enjoy the breeze by looking out the window. The view of the Yang Tze River was extremely outstanding. As we enjoying our scenery, the cruise stops at our next destination which is Shen Nong stream. To reach further in the Shen Nong Stream, we need to change the boat. We took a roughly one to two hours boat ride. At here, we were able to enjoy the mountainous view and on top of that, there is one of the world greatest mysteries. It was a hanging coffin, which are placed in the cave located in the middle of mountain. Here are some photos of the boat ride:
After the boat ride, we reach the Shen Nong Stream. At here, we were going to take a small boat that was paddled by the locals. The boat ride was quite fun and the water was so cold. I was able to see a fog on top of the water. I took one of the stone for souvenir. The tour guide explained on our surrounding areas and some Chinese culture. She also sings a song for us and Edy decided to sing an English song for them at response. At the end of the river, the boat paddler went down from the boat and started to pull the boat for us. Their arm and leg strength was remarkable. After the boat ride, it was time for us to go back to our cruise. We took another one to two hours boat ride back to our cruise. Once we reach the cruise, we ate our dinner and take a rest for the day. Here are some photos that were taken:
There is not much happening today. At midnight, our cruise passed through the dam. The dam was long and there are a total of five gates. The time taken to travel to each gates took about one hour plus. Here are some photos of the dam.
In the morning we have our breakfast and packing up our stuff. It was finally time for us to go back to the university. We took bus back to the university and it marks the end of the three gorgeous trip.
Reflections: From this trip, I realise how much effort that human did to preserve their energy. The Chinese created the dam to produce enough electricity to supply their country. People tend to destroy nature to create energy but these three gorgeous project was the opposite. Instead of destroying or harming the nature, they made the dam a beautiful place for sightseeing. This is like killing two birds with one stone, as they were able to attract tourist to the country and at the same time produces energy supply to the country. In conclusion, we should not destroy nature just for the sake of getting more energy supply and instead protect these wonderful natural environments.
Today, we have our next is lesson in the morning. We woke up early and pack our stuff. Once, we reached our classroom, we saw our is lecturer. His english name is Christopher and he will teach us about the chinese culture. We will be using the headphone to listen to the lecture. He taught us about the chinese wedding culture and fengshui.Here are some photos during the presentation: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roy hearing through his headpiece ------------------------------------------ Our IS lecturer ------------------------------------------ Adjusting the Headphone's volume ------------------------------------------ The end of our presentation ------------------------------------------
After that, we went for lunch and then we went for our BPE lesson for presentation and some lecture.Our group was having problem with the thumb drive and unable to present today. Hence, we are only able to observe other people presentation and evaluate their presentation skill. Most of the group did well for their presentations. After a long presentation, we went back to our bunk for some rest. At night, we went to canteen 3 to check for my laptop condition as i send it for repair. Sadly, my laptop were still being repaired and it took longer than I was expected. After that, we went back to our bunk to take a rest of the day. Here are some photos that were taken today:
------------------------------------------ Roy presenting his slide ------------------------------------------ Other group that were presenting their slides ------------------------------------------ We are having problem with the thumb drive ------------------------------------------ Finally, the class is over -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following day, we have only afternoon class. We wake up late and went for breakfast and lunch. After that we went for our classroom for our first written test. Before the class test began, we need to present our assignment one first. Luckily, there is no misfortune accident happen this time and we manage to present our slides properly. Here are some photos taken during the presentation
------------------------------------------ Setting up the power point slides ------------------------------------------ I am presenting my slides ------------------------------------------ Mr.Loh examining our presentations ------------------------------------------
After the presentation, It is the start of the test! I did not study for the test as it was open. After i received the question paper, I finally regret my decision. The questions were tough and I personally thought that i did not did a quite nice job. The reason I felt that way is that i did not answer the question directly and did not able to finish all the questions given. After a difficult test, we decided to have our dinner. After the dinner, we called roy and jarold to come our room. We were going to play cards until morning as we are going to the three gorgeous tomorrow.
------------------------------------------ The answer booklet ------------------------------------------ Everybody are doing their test ------------------------------------------
Reflection: from these two days, i learnt that presentation skill is crucial in business life. I learnt more on how to organise my slides and how to present nicely. By observing other group presentation, i learnt the importance of body language which are used to attract the people's attention and to minimise the word that are used in PowerPoint slides. Point form are very effective as people tend did not read a wordy slides. On top of that, I also learnt that i should not underestimate an open book test. Even it was open book, if we did not prepare well enough we still can fail our exam. By reading the information given, we can analyze the question faster and did not need to waste time to find the correct information/answer. In conclusion, we need to improve our presentation skill as it is a great way to express our idea in a meeting and we should not understimate an open book test
At midnight, it was Shun Qing birthday celebration. We meet up in front our rooms and start to hide in Shun Qing’s room. She returns to her room and we surprised her by singing a birthday song. After the song, we give her our best wishes and we went back to our room.
In the morning, we will have our first lab test. We woke up early and went to the class. There is nothing much happening today. Morning class consists of lecture and a mock lab test to prepare us for the real lab test. After the test, we went to try out the canteen near our class. Here are some shots of what we eat for lunch.
Roy trying to figure out his flexim mob test
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Soup dumpling
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After our lunch, we went back to our bunk for some rest. After a sufficient rest, we went to our afternoon class. We had our first test and after that, it marks the end of our flexim. Hence, we went back to our bunk and we went to have a dinner with Mr. Joseph Loh. After that, we went back to our bunk and it marks the end of the day.
Mr. Joseph Loh enjoying his dinner
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The following day, we went to pluck some oranges. Today, we will be able to interact with the local students and learn more about them. At this area, it has a lot variety of vegetables and fruits. Near the orange trees, there is a small pond. The pond contains fishes and clams! We manage to get a few clams. After that, we went for some exploring and we found out that the Chinese students were burning some sweet potato. The sweet potato was sweet even thought the skin were all burnt As pictures speak a thousand words, here are some photos of today events.
Oranges to pluck
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Some ripe oranges which are sweet =)
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Some other fruit and vegetables available at the farm
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Fresh clam and oranges
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Before and after cooked - Sweet potato
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Group photo
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After plucking a lot of oranges, we went back to the University for some Bbq. We carried the drinks there and set up the fire. The way they Bbq is differ from the way we usually did in Singapore. Here, we need to start our fire without starters. It resembles outdoor cooking more than bbq. After the fire start, let's get the cooking started. We cook a lot of meats and vegetables. The seasoning that was used consists of chili powder, salt, oil and some bbq sauce. Not to forget, here are some photos of the Bbq event.
The fire is burning!
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Our BBQ spot
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Cooking the food
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As the night pass by, we need to go back to our bunk for some rest. We put out the fire and fireworks mark the end of the day.
Reflection: From these two days, i learn that bonding is very important factor in this trip. Just by going dinner or doing activities with them, we can strenghthen our bonding. These trip allow me to interact with those chinese local student. These interaction allows me to understand more about the culture and behaviour of the chinese. We able to exchange our ideas with each other such as how is singapore's transpotation system compare to china's and etc. The BBQ event also allow us to help each other thus strengthen our bond. We managed to work as a team to start the fire and having a wonderful meal together. Not to mention, a beatiful fireworks that end the night. In conclusion, this activity has allow me to explore deeper to china's culture and make new friends. We might be from different place but we still can be friends.
Quote of the days:"We solve the world's problems here. We welcome everyone from every town and background, and we bond quickly, making new friends with a common interest." by Frank Lambert
