On the 26 of May, my class, consisting of 34 students boarded the aeroplane SQ380 A380 towards Shanghai Pudong International Airport.
Upon arriving, we travelled to the city of Shanghai and had dinner. After dinner, it was already dark and we made our way to The bund, or also known as 外滩. At The bund, it was a beautiful scenery with the spectacular view of skyscrapers. The place was decorated with colourful light. The bund was a long stretch of board walk along the river. Together with the fascinating skyscrapers and the refreshing cool wind, it was an enjoyable experience. Next, we went to the Huangpu River (黄浦江) and took the cruise. On the cruise trip, we saw many hotels, shopping mall and of course the major tourist attraction, the cruise. There were also many banks such as ISBC, HSBC, DBS etc.
From this tourists attraction alone, I have gained some knowledge of how China economy function in Shanghai. Firstly, it is able to earn income from tourism. This place is situated with hotels and entertainment for tourists. This will attract tourists to go to that particular place and it provides housing and is convenient to the tourists as they can easily have a day filled with fun without moving to further places.Another reason is due to the success in finance in China. China has many banks and it is their primary source of income.
At the bund, our form teacher, Mr Dela Cruz, taught us new value, situational awareness.
Since we arrived in Shanghai in the late afternoon, we did not have much time before the sun sets and with this, the first day of our OELP has ended.
Day 2 : 27 May 2015
On the second day, we had to wake up early to leave for Yangzhou. Fortunately, me and my roommate woke up earlier and were the first few to proceed to the dining area to have our breakfast.
Since this was our first breakfast, we had high hopes. To our disappointment, the food was not what we had expected. However, I enjoyed the pork bun and ate 3 of them. Whenever had had their breakfast, we were all ready to leave for our destination, Yangzhou. During the bus ride to Yangzhou, we had observed the change in industrial area. From tall skyscrapers to paddy fields, it was a 180 degree change, be it the way people live or the economy.
My CID group with the tour guide and the bus driver
Next, we were supposed to go to the Chinese Paper Cutting museum. However, another class of our batch was in the process of cutting the paper so we had to change our destination to the next attraction, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
A picture of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand CanalWe had a boat ride on the river. Me and my friend, Kieren, were stretching out our hands through the window to take picture of the lake. The lake was a simple one, with a long stretch down. The lake was calm despite the raining weather and many people were feeling sleepy with the slight rocking of the boat. However, me and my friends were using our cameras to take the bridges that we see.
After the boat ride, we went back to the Chinese paper cutting museum. This time, we were able to carry out the activity of cutting paper. The process was a treacherous one. In order to cut the paper, we needed to be very precise and it takes a lot of time as some of the pictures are very complicated. My tablemate was cutting one of the hardest picture and he was so determined to finish cutting it that he was still sitting there when everyone was done.
My friend working hard to finish the paper cutting activity
Later that night, we went to have our dinner. Then, we walked to the nearby supermarket to compare prices of the food in China and Singapore. Most products were cheaper than Singapore, except the imported goods. They cost higher in China than in Singapore.
When we reached our hotel, we proceeded to the meeting room to have a debrief by our form teacher. That night, the debrief was about comparing between Shanghai and Yangzhou. Compared to Shanghai, Yangzhou has more greenery and the sight of people riding motorised bicycle is also significantly higher. However, Shanghai was more industrialised and had modernised buildings. From this, we are also able to infer the difference in the pace of life between the 2 states. Yangzhou has a generally slower pace of life compared to Shanghai were the traffic is usually congested and people bustling around.
Day 3 : 28 May 2015
Today, we were heading towards Shu Ren International School. Upon arrival at Shu Ren International School, we were greeted by the principals of the school and we were invited to take a picture together. After taking picture, we proceeded to observe the way lessons were made in Shu Ren international School. From the way the teacher teaches and students reaction, I can tell that the students rarely talk to each other and always listen to the teacher attentively. Also, whenever they were told to answer question, they were not hesitant at their response but rather confident and just speaks out the answer loudly. This is something that most Rv students are unable to do and I admit that I am one of them. Thus, we should learn from them and try to bring this positive attitude into our classrooms.
After lunch, we watched both schools present their performances and presentations. Students from Shu Ren international School were really talented and they were able to perform their pieces with their best effort. Even despite that there were some errors, they did not give up but persevered till the end. This is really amazing as this is opposite of RV's culture where students will have a setback when they meet with a problem
Following that, we went to Shu Ren International School's garden. It was like a small park but was very big compared to our garden. They were many plants and the teachers explained that most of the plants are planted and taken care by students from Shu Ren Intenational School.
After that, we had a friendly competition of basketball with Shu Ren International School. Despite the fact that we were losing, Rvians continued to cheer for our fellow friends. In the end, we were defeated but it was a game that had closed relationships between students.
After that, we left the school all tired but I believed that is a fun-filled game and all my fellow classmates had enjoyed it.
Day 4 : 29 May 2015
Today, we had another visit to Shu Ren School, but it was the old campus. However, the hospitality towards us was the same as the more modernised school. Firstly, when we reached there, we exchanged gifts with our buddies over there. Through conversations, I found out that some of them plays the same game as me! But it was rather hard to converse as my Chinese was weaker and I could not rly understand their language. We exchange gifts and that was the end of the activity. At the old campus, we also learnt how to make our own wristband. Students from Shu Ren School gave a fantabulous skit and they did not show any slight mistakes. The students also gave an introduction about the salty egg. I tried it during lunch and it was so salty. My friend ate the egg without rice and to him, it was not salty at all. All of us were so amazed at him that we found it unbelievable. Next, both schools presented their performances to each other and it was a fun-filled one. We were all so nervous about the performance but it ended smoothly. We believe that both schools enjoyed each other performances. Lastly, we went for 书法课. The students were very patient at guiding us on how to write the Chinese words and they repeated the instructions countless times despite that I could not catch up with them. Their patience is really commendable and this is one thing that I can learn from them. With that, we bid farewell to the students and the principals that have been good hosts.
Our next destination was to go to Xinhua Book Store. The Book Store was very big, it was 6 stories tall with different books on different levels. However, according to my teacher, there were not any books on Sun Yat Sen and he asked me why? I believe that China was communist country in the past and it was Sun Yat Sen who had made it democratic, that was why there was not any books about Sun Yat Sen. I still remember that my friend bought a Chinese book and told Mdm Lim to send the our Chinese teacher, in the end he was told that we needed to write a review about the book. It was so funny!
Day 5 : 30 May 2015
Our first destination was the visit to local market. The local market was more of buying pets, jade, pottery etc. This were the main things that I observed in the local market. The market had many mini shops selling all the jades and ancient products. The place is more for the older generation compared to the younger ones.
Today, we visited the former residence of Zhu Ziqing. Zhu Ziqing is the author of a story called "背影“ . His former residence is in a housing estate where there are many one storey houses. The tour guide says that Zhu Ziqing is a respectable man who had done countless contribution to China. There is a picture in the resides of Zhu Ziqing where one of the high ranking official came to visit Zhu Ziqing former resides. This shows how much respect is given to Zhu Ziqing.
The Dongguan street was the time where most people began to spend money. Dongguan street is a street that is straight alley. Dongguan street has many shops for souvenirs and also many shops that sells handicrafts. There is also a structure at the entrance of the street which is similar to a castle. The view that one can see at the top of the structure is really amazing and breath taking as it is possible to see the long stretch of shops.
Next, we went to see the famous 瘦西湖. The way that the river blends in with the river is just amazing. Even though the walk at the lake was very long, it was a once in a life time opportunity that I get to see the nature blending in with the lake.
Day 6 : 1 June 2015
Today is the second last day and also the day where we travelled back to Shanghai. Having breakfast in the bus, most of us went to sleep as we all did not have enough sleep. Upon reaching Chenghuang Miao, we were dispatched and were told to go and walk around in our CID groups.Chenghuang Miao is very different from Dongguan street. Chenghuang Miao looks more modern than Dongguan street and the shops are also air-conditioned whereas Dongguan street is more ancient looking.
Next, we went to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, we proceeded to the exhibition hall for animals. The exhibition there was really amazing, the animals looked as if it was real and we were given time to explore the exhibition in our groups. Following that, we proceeded to watch a 4D movie and it was really exciting as the seats were moving up and down expectantly, it was a really thrilling experience.
Next, we went to the Oriental Pearl Tower, it was what I was most looking forward to. Taking the elevator up, I could feel my ear get blocked as the pressure slowly rises. When I reach the top, the view was breath-taking. The city, Shanghai could be seen from all directions. The ground was also made of glass and was transparent. This enabled us to see the bottom of the Oriental Pearl Tower and it was pretty scary. The air was really chilling and it was an unforgettable experience.
After taking countless pictures on the Oriental Pearl Tower, we went to the French Concession. It is said that that was the base of the French when it was taking control of Shanghai. We walked around the area and I found that everything in the area was very westernised, including the shops, the house and even the tilling of the floor had the western feeling. The picture below shows the mixture of a Chinese and a Westerner house.
On the way to Tian Zi Fang
Our next stop was Tian Zi Fang, Tian Zi Fang is a beautiful narrow alley that has many shops by the side. To me, it was not a shopping place but a place for us to see the way that Tian Zi Fang was built, it also looked western as it was in the Old French Quarter.
Day 7 : 2 June 2015
It was the last day of our trip. Our first destination was the Qibao Ancient Town. The Qibao Ancient Town lived up to its name. The walls were really old and had the ancient feeling. The Qibao Ancient Town was also the town where most of the CID groups bought their group identity.
Next, we went to the Shanghai Museum. The Shanghai Museum consisted of items that are from the Ming and Tang dynasty. There are many ancient stuff, like the currency that was used in the past, the clothing and even the furniture. There is difference in the items based on the dynasty.
After viewing all the exhibitions, we left the museum and headed towards our last stop, Shanghai Urban Planning Centre. However, it was closed as we had swapped our schedule. But is was alright as humans do make error. Hence, we spent about an hour hearing Mr Dela Cruz's jokes and riddles.
Finally, it was time to heard to the airport, to me, time flew very quickly. It is as if the start of OELP was only yesterday and the 7 days had actually ended. With saddened hearts that we were going to leave China, we boarded the plane... Goodbye China...
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