Chengdu, Day 34

Today is the last day before our departure back to Singapore. The past fives weeks has been a wonderful journey through the Sichun area, seeing the sights and the people. The different experiences that I have gained here will surely be forever instilled in my mind as I will always remember the warm and gracious gestures that the people of China has welcomed me with.

The school here has been gracious enough to welcome our stay here and even provided buddies for us so as that we will be able to better adapt to the school and the different environment that we have encontered here in China. They have been a great help as they have, knowing or unknowingly, made our stay here a more fun and relaxed one.

The whole trip ends with a spectacular fireworks display which really tops the trip. It is a moment for everyone who participate in the trip to take a time to remember all the sweet moments that we have all experienced here in Chengdu. The trip literally ended with a big bang.

Chengdu, Day 31

 

 Presentation On Chinese Government

 

Tea Ceremony Presentation

 

Today is the day of the IS presentations. It is when we have to present on everything that we have learnt during our stay here in China and the Polytechnic campus. Either from the OIE lectures that we attended in week three or from the experiences that we encountered, we are given a chance to present our finding to the whole class, while also try to attain a good grade for this module.

Having prepared the presentation a few days before, I believe everyone had put every ounce of knowledge and energy that they have in the presentations and even spent several nights awake just to be able to continue working and out up the best results. This would explain why just a few hours after the presentations, most of us were back in our rooms, asleep. I would just hope that we had all done our best in the presentations and is accepted well by everyone.

Chengdu, Day 30

Shopping in Chengdu City

 

Break at Haagen-Dazs

 

Saw a Permier of a new television show

 

After a month of studying and living here in Chengdu, today, we were given the opportunity to roam around the city by ourselves and take some time to catch up on our shopping. It was one of the most long awaited trips that I believe everyone was anticipating and it surely did not disappoint.  Although everyone was still sleepy after having to wake up early that day for the trip, we were all too excited to even care.

Roaming around the city was a trilling experience as we were able to finally live the city life here in China a view China from a modern perspective after living in the rural campus for so long. We started with a western breakfast which I believed everyone had been missing till now. After satisfying our dietary needs, we started on our tour around the city to start our shopping journey. Shop after shop, my group and I view prices and tried on the products and slowly made our individual purchases.  Comparing the prices was a chore, but we did our best to settle on the lowest price on every item we buy, even the food that we ate.

Hours pass and soon we were out of time to shop. We scrambled to get our last few purchases and head back to the meeting point. Delighted by what we have accomplished that day, I can happily say that I have experienced shopping in China.

 

 



Chengdu, Day 29

 Presenting our very own Justin as an emcee

 Performance of One Thing

Performance of The Lazy Song

 

The school has organised a farewell ceremony for us as another way of saying their goodbye to us. They organised many performances for us. Although short, they were able to keep us very entertained. They have even spared a thought for the non-mandarin speaking students of Ngee Ann and got our very own Justin to be an emcee to cater for us. The performances were very engaging but the one thing that I learnt from todays show was that the Chinese people loves to dance and sing and knows how to have a good time.

 

The Ngee Ann students were also able to put up a few performances of ourselves to give our part in the show. I have seen them practicing hours to get their performance rights and being able to achieve that level of performance in that short of time was really an accomplishment. However, the students of the Sichuan Polytechnic were the ones who are able to give a variety of performances, from dances to singing to acting. I had a great time and really appreciate the time and effort that they spent in putting this show together and I believe it is a good way to say their farewell.

 

 

 



Chengdu, Day 28

 

Today is the beginning of the last week of our stay here in China and in the Sichuan Aerospace Polytechnic. With the trip coming to an end, the school has lined up several events for us to commemorate our stay here and also our upcoming departure back to Singapore.

To start off the week, we were all given the results for our commontest which we had just taken the week before. With the many different speculations regarding the correct answers for the questions, everyone was stressed and praying hard to be able to get a good score. Thankfully, the results were not too bad and were a really good start to the SOM module.

 

 We were than treated to a graduation dinner at a nearby posh restaurant. It was not really appropriate to call it that since we have not even finished one module here. However, the food served was really one of the best things that I had had in China. It has a distinctive Singaporean flavor which I have missed for so long. From the biryani tasting steamed beef rice to the tofu egg, the food reminded me of home. Dish after dish, everyone at the table tried to finish off the food. However, really no one was able to finish the 13 course meals. The meal was also a nice opportunity to spend the few last moments that we still have together.

 

 

The night however, was a long one as everyone was rushing to finish off their individual group presentations that is due the next day. Although tired, we all had to try our best to finish off the remaining work that we have. My groupmate and I luckyly have finished the research and only needed to do the compilation, which was still more work than we thought.

Chengdu, Day 27

 

 

 

The cultural visits that we had today are a tour around the more practical sites that is essential to the lives to the Sichuan people. From that ancient dams created by the forefathers of the Chinese culture to the sacred temples of Taoism, we were able to learn the struggles that the people of Sichuan had to endure to develop their province into what it is today.

 

 

 

 Entrance to the river dams

 

 Fish-Mouth Dividing River Dam

The visit to the ancient and newly made dams located at the river literally shows the ongoing efforts of the Sichuan people in their effort of create a better life for the people. I was astonished to learn of the great strides that the people took to create the dams. Since the whole river is virtually mountain run-off from the snow in the nearby mountains, the local residents had to manually heat up the entire river and slowly carve their way through to divert the river and prevent floods from occurring. Simply learning of the history of the creation of these dams is enough to raise interest and respect for the Sichuan people.

 Boat shuttle service

 

 View from cable car

 

Highest temple in Lao Jun Tu

 

 

The second visit is a tour around the Lao Jun Palace. It is a sacred place in the Taoism religion, with temples dotting the mountain tops. The relaxing visit turned out to be a long hike up the mountain to get to the cable car station. Obviously, being my size, the short hike is really a challenge for me and a task that I was eager to accomplish. Although tough, I took it as a personal challenge that I undertook to achieve something more in this trip.

The cable car journey, although short, was an experience that I will surely treasure; being the first time I rode on one. The view of the surrounding from the top of the cable car is enough of a reason for the high climb.

The temples of Taoism on the mountain tops are something new that I have never had the privilege to see up close. Although similar to Buddhism, in terms of the architecture, there are distinctive differences between the temples; mainly the idols. Taoism has many idols of past Taoist monks that has reach a high level of enlightenment and a focuses on the harmonious living with the Tao. Buddhism, however, is a practice of the Buddha that promotes peace amongst all living things and strives to reach Nirvana. By knowing the differences, I will be able to better appreciate the beliefs of the people here and not simply stereotypically refer the religions of the Chinese people to be similar while being more sensitive to their culture.  



Chengdu, Day 26

 

Buckets of Dico's for dinner

 

 

The common test has just ended and this is the first outing and was planned out by ourselves to unwind and also to celebrate the birthday of one of the participant of the trip. Although not very far, the trip was sufficient to recharge our batteries and keep our spirits up for the rest of the trip. We started the trip with a trip around the supermarket to, unusually; buy local snacks that could also be bought in Singapore.

However, the highlight for the short trip for me would definitely be the lunch at Dico’s where I finally had a chance to sample food that I am more used to. Although the Muslim stall in campus provides good food, nothing beats the taste of deep fried foods. That moment was definitely one that I was anticipating since my first taste of Dico’s back in Jiuzhaigou.

The day ended with a coffee break at, what we call, the ‘atas’ place, which could also be referred to a high end coffee shop. The long chat and jokes really allows us to get to know one another more intimately and clear any doubts that we have regarding one another. It also helps to relieve the stress from the common test that we just had. All in all, it was a good day.