YangZhou
OELP Daily Reflection
Day1
Finally,
the long awaited yangzhou trip. We finally bided our family goodbye. Being a
very out going person, i did not not bare to leave my parents. I was very
excited to go to China. Going overseas with classmates and friends is a very
rare opportunity. However i was not looking forward to the flight. I did not
like being on a plane. We had our lunch on the plane and the food there was
quite pleasant. The air stewardess was very friendly too. Touching down in
shanghai in late afternoon, the weather there was really really pleasant, very
cooling. After boarding the bus, the tour guide started introducing
shanghai to us. The bus ride to the bund was quite long and when we reached the
bund, it was not very crowded. The tour guide said that we were really lucky as
the bund is normally quite packed especially on weekends. The chilly breeze
brushed against my face as i alighted from the bus. It was very chilly there.
Luckily, i brought my jacket down. The teachers were still reminding us to
bring our jacket down. I did not expect it to be so cold. It was much colder
than the airport. As there was quite a heavy traffic, we had to walk a
long way to board the bus. Then we proceeded to have our dinner. As we had
lunch quite early on the plane and the portion was quite little, many of us was
already famished. When we reached the restaurant, there was already a few
groups of tourist eating. We quickly settled down and had our dinner. It
was similar to the 煮炒 in singapore. We
were all very satisfied with the food. Maybe it was just because we were
already very hungry, so everything tasted really delicious. Then we made our
way to Huang Pu Jiang for a boat ride. There were many skyscrapers and the
lighting there was magnificent. There were more skyscrapers there compared to
singapore. Those lightings on the buildings can attract tourist to boost their
economy and act as advertisements, promoting their company. Finally after the
boat ride, we are going to the hotel. It was already quite late in the night
and everyone was already very tired, after waking up early in the morning, a
long flight and a long day. The hotel was quite far from Huang Pu Jiang and the
bus ride was again really long. The hotel was smaller than i thought and the
rooming was quite confusing, losing our way in the same level. We turned in
immediately after bathing. We did not unpack much as we were going to check out
the next day.
Day2
Waking
at 5.30, thinking i was already late. As we did not close the curtains the
night before, the sun shone brightly into the room, waking us up. We woke up
even before our alarm ring. At 5.30, the sun shone like it was already 9 in
singapore. We changed and made our way down for breakfast. After finishing breakfast,
we went to check out and left for French Concession. I really though i was in
french when i was at french concession. The stuff there was really french like
and there was some cafes there like Starbucks. The buildings were brown and
low, about one or two storey. Then we went to Tian Zi Fang (田子坊) it was named after an artist and the
streets were filled with many artistic items. Before leaving, we also went to a
post office. The tour guide and one of the workers at the post office had an
argument. My classmate and i both agreed that the worker had a bad attitude and
she was being unreasonable. The tour guide then explained to us that as the
workers at the post office are working under the government and even if the
post office is not earning money, they would still get their pay. Hence their attitude
towards customers are not very good. At first i was quite shocked about the
worker's attitude. However after the tour guide explained to us, i understood.
But in singapore, no matter where you work, if your working attitude is bad,
you will get fired, even if you are working under the government. After that we
went to shanghai urban planning exhibition. In there, there was a large model
of the whole shanghai. In the exhibition, they showed us how shanghai has
urbanized these years. After that, we made our way to HaiDiLao hotpot
restaurant. Their service was AMAZING. When we reach, some of their workers
even came outside and welcomed us when we alighted from the bus. I was awed by
their hospitality. The provided us with a ziplock to put our phones and a cloth
to wipe our spectacles. They still gave hair ties to girls, to prevent dirtying
our hair. They also asked those wearing white if they wanted an apron. Their
service was really perfect that i cant find any fault in. I used to have really
bad image of people in china, thinking that they are impolite,
rude and have literally nothing good and positive image of them. however
after this experience, my thinking changed. there are also nice people in
china. Then, we had our 4 hours long ride to yangzhou.
Day3
Today
was the first day we are in yangzhou. We woke up later than the previous
day, as were not visiting the school yet and we were going to have a yangzhou
style breakfast, which was basically what the local yangzhou people eat
for breakfast. They have a really heavy breakfast compared to
singaporeans. They would have Buns, noodles, dumplings and many many others.
Just a bun, they would have different fillings inside and making every bun
taste different, allowing people to have more choices. They have a really
special dumpling which is really big and they would use a straw to suck
the soup inside the dumpling. I have tried this special dumpling in singapore
before and the difference is the thickness of the dumpling skin. In yangzhou,
the dumpling skin is much thicker than the one in singapore. In my opinion, i
think that in yangzhou, their purpose of eating it is to fill up their tummy,
as a main dish but in Singapore, their purpose is to eat the
fillings in the dumpling and to taste it, as a side dish, not supposed to fill
them up as they would still be eating main dishes like rice or noodles. The
breakfast being so heavy has another reason to it. Local Yangzhou people only
eat 2 meals a day, breakfast and dinner. so in order to not feel hungry in
the middle of the day, they would have a very heavy breakfast to last them till
dinner. After so, we went to the Slender West Lake, 24 bridges and dong
guan street. At the slender west lake and the 24 bridges, we had boat
rides. Comparing the boat ride we had in Shanghai the bund, these boat rides
are more relaxing and calming. There was also not that many people on
board. The boat in shanghai was a larger and more grand boat, more like a
ferris. however the boats in yangzhou are bump boats, which are much smaller in
size and more traditional. Both boats have their own role to bring out the
places. For the bund, it is a more modern place with many skyscrapers
around it, so the boat must also be modernised, so that it fits the theme
MORDERN. While in yangzhou, the slender west lake and 24 bridges have more
traditional buildings around it and it is more of a park, hence it must be
of a more relaxing and traditional feel.
Day
4
Today,
we finally went for the exchange programme at a local Yangzhou
school. During the time spent in the school, i learnt that the school
hours are much longer than singapore an their CCA is optional, as the school
wants them to focus on studies more than CCAs. The students are also
very obedient and they are very hardworking. They do not talk in class and
they pay full attention in class. They are also very pro active, fighting to
answer the teacher's question in class. They are also very self
disciplined, they do not fiddle with things in class or do other things in
class. My buddy told me that they had army trainings during the holidays, to
make sure that they are disciplined and obedient in class. Their
lunch is also really scrumptious, with chicken wings and prawns. However my
biddy told me that their lunch was not normally so scrumptious. They never had
prawns nor chicken wings in their lunch set before. Normally it is vegetables
and rice(free flow of rice as they tend to eat a lot). Later in the evening, we
went to Lushi Mansion to have our dinner. It was a traditional building which
serve traditional Yangzhou. It was sort of an 'atas' restaurant compared
to others which we had dinner and lunch in. it would the chinese fine dining.
In order to preserve the architecture and to boost China's economy at the
same time, it is a really efficient method. Through this, you would be able to
eat traditional food in a traditional place, allowing the diner to know a bit
more about the traditions. After which, we went to the Grand Canal, which
is another boat ride. At the side of the canal, there is elderlies doing folk
dances and chit chatting at pavilions. The boat used is a bump boat, to comply
and fit the theme of traditional. The Grand Canal has
many traditional buildings and many traditional
looking pavilions at the side of it, and the buildings beside the
Grand Canal also cannot be higher than 3 storeys, in order to preserve the
traditional feel of the place. Comparing the Grand Canal to the Bund in
Shanghai, there is a large difference. Shanghai is more of modern, while in
yangzhou everything is more traditional. the architecture in yangzhou is mostly
preserved while in shanghai, most of the buildings are demolished and rebuilt,
into skyscrapers and high rise buildings for housing. Shanghai chooses to boost
it's country economy by attracting more tourists and business instead of
preserving its traditions. However, Yangzhou chooses to preserve its
traditional buildings and culture. In my opinion, it is a good way that some
provinces of china choose to preserve its culture while some choose to boost it
economy and not preserve its culture. It strikes a balance between modernization and
traditions. With this, china would be able to boost its economy and perverse
its tradition at the same time.
Day 5
Today
was the second and the last day we will be going to the to the Yangzhou local
school. We have been practicing a dance for the last event we have in the
school, a kpop dance. Although we were supposed to be performing a dance for
Singapore culture but instead of having chose a Singapore based song, we used a
kpop song. Although we did not use Singapore based songs, I am proud to say
that we had put up a great performance, especially the guys. They only started
practicing a few days before the performance, in the hotel room. During the
last day, we also leant how to make dumplings and an egg holder necklace for
dragon boat festival. In Singapore, we simply just eat dumplings during dragon
boat festival. However in Yangzhou, they have a lot of traditions that they
would make and do. They even make their own dumplings. My parents would
normally just buy dumplings from supermarkets. From these, I can tell that the
local Yangzhou past down their tradition from generation to generation, not
belittling these traditions. Even schools make effort to pass down the
traditions of dragon boat festival, teaching students to make the egg holder
necklaces and how to make dumplings. During this last day, we were also thought
how to make chinese knots and traditional paper cutting. From these lessons, I
realized that tying chinese knots and paper cutting does not seem as easy as it
seemed to be. Chinese knots are much easier than paper cutting but it is still
really tedious to do chinese knots, remembering which string go through which
and people with inflexible fingers would find it really hard to do. Paper
cutting requires a lot of skill and practices. Especially those small holes and
small pieces. If you cut the holes too big, it would not be nice. And if u cut
the small pieces too small, you would break it and you would need to re cut the
whole piece, which is really frustrating and annoying. After we left the
school, we were all very sad as we have already formed bonds with our buddies
and it was already time to leave them. Through this immersion program, we have
learnt many things from the students in the immersion school. They are much
more hardworking compared to us and they are very self disciplined. They aren’t
allowed to bring phones to school and they have really strict teachers, so we
should feel fortunate.
After
we left the school, we went to a few book shops to get some books and
stationaries. From this trip to the book store, I realized that the standard of
books we are reading currently is the standard of books a primary school
student would be reading. The standard of chinese language is much higher than
Singapore and I am not sure if I should be ashamed or not.
Day 6
Today,
we visited the Volkswagen company in china and this is the first time I visited
a car factory. I was amazed at how they make cars. In order to save manpower,
many of the steps are mechanized. China
is a really big market for cars as in china, Volkswagen is a trusted brand of
car in china and many people in china drives Volkswagen. In china, there is
large land that could be bought at a lower price compared to a same sized land
in other countries like Singapore and America. By establishing the car factory
in china it not only save costs, it would also be easier to to hire workers as
the population in china is much higher compared to other countries like
Singapore. Hence the pay of the workers are also much lower than the pay
compared to other countries. Instead of competing with many other car brand
which is already established in that specific country, like in Singapore, there
are already many car brands which is established like toyata, Mercedes and
Honda. After so, we went to a temple, with a really really high pagoda, which
is rarely seen in Singapore. Most of the chinese in china is Buddhist and they
strongly believe that god do exist and they would help them. Hence normally
before exams, parents would bring their children to temple to pray for good
marks.
Day 7
Last
and final day in China, we took the maglev train from Yangzhou back to shanghai
as we are flying back t Singapore from shanghai’s airport. The maglev train is
similar to the MRT in Singapore. However, food and drinks are allowed in
trains. Despite that, the train is very clean and the seats are quite spacious
and comfortable. They also do sell food on the trains. They would push a
pushcart down the path and ask if the passengers if they wanted to buy some
snacks.
