Back from the Three Gorges cruise~~~

Hey guys! I’m back from the Three Gorges trip! We took a cruise! We had to take a five hour bus ride again and I didn’t even sleep well on the trip there. But the view after we changed to another bus was really great. We changed the bus in Yi Chang city and since it was at night, we got to enjoy the nightlights of the city buildings.

The thing I found ironic was that Yi Chang is the city that produces the most electricity since it is where the Three Gorges dam is located at, but the price of the electricity there in Yi Chang is higher than the rest of the other cities, and even then the city is the brightest city we’ve been to so far, even though we only went to like Wu Chang and Yi Chang so… LOL

Once we got onto the cruise, we just settled down and went to bed. The room was alright, but the bathroom wasn’t. It was really small. Tiny. In order to close the door, I had to maneuver and do some twisting and turning. Good thing none of you can see me. Lol

The next day we went to a scenic spot called 白帝城 Bai Di Cheng or the City of the White Emperor(I think!). It was really touristy, but the story of the temple is pretty interesting. But the thing that struck me the most was the mass of people selling the same items all over the place. When we exited the temple and was on our way back to the meeting point, we saw a lot of people selling wooden combs and toys. It was a little scary because there was a lady who kept following me and pushing me while I was walking down the steps, trying to sell her items. I kept rejecting her, and saying no, but she followed me for a good while before giving up. And then a little boy kept following Asaph after he took photo of him(the little boy). 

On the bus, the tour guide explained why there are so many people selling the same items. It was a little off putting, but then I guess they had no choice their homes have been submerged by the river(I think because of the building of the dam) so they have to do this in order to earn some income. I feel a little guilty, but there are just so many of them. Then after that we went back to the cruise. 

At first, before we left the cruise for Bai Di Cheng, they told us to be back on the cruise by 6 in the evening. But by 6.45, we still haven’t left the dock yet. I’m sure we were also late for the assigned time, but the one that really delayed us was the other local tourists(I swear I’m not pointing fingers). I thought we would be the last to get on board since I’ve observed that the locals are always very quick in these kind of stuff, but I was quite surprised when the last to board(more than half an hour later). In the end the dinner was like at 7 plus. And the worst thing was, our lunch that afternoon was also delayed. From the assigned timing at noon to around 1 p.m. Sigh. But at least we got to watch the sunset while waiting for dinner! In Singapore, the sun takes about fifteen minutes to half an hour to set but here, it sets within five minutes. The sun is literally setting right in front of my eye. I can see it moving! Wow! An eye opener, seriously! But the next day morning, when we tried to catch the sunrise, we didn’t make it. Even though we woke pretty early, and breakfast was at 6, we still missed it. Dang. But the view in the morning is still very very nice. The fog covered many things, and I think it made the whole gorge look a little mysterious. The bunch of us brought our bowl of porridge up onto the deck to eat while waiting for the sun to rise(though we didn’t know the sun had already risen by then) and also some hard boiled eggs. It was a really cool experience, and I would remember that morning as the morning we sat around waiting for the sun to rise even though it had already risen. Lol

After that we went off the cruise and onto a smaller boat in the shape of a dragon. No, it isn’t a traditional dragon boat but let’s just call it that.

i am the only sane person here in this photo. i'm sure you agree. XP

we look a little more normal now. pardon my squashed face. lol!

But the view while on the river is really gorgeous(pun intended), no but I’m not kidding. I’ve only seen the view of mountains in the shadows of the other mountains in paintings, but this time I got to see it with my own eyes. The trip today, the last day on the cruise, was the best. The view of the gorge, the rock faces, the river, the cool breeze. Wow. Just wow. I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience it. What was even better was that we got to take the dragon boat to the scenic spot. The way there was really cold and loud, cause we were sitting right at the last row of seats and where the engine was. Despite that, the view is still incredible!

Once we reached the scenic spot, we got down from the boat, and onto lego blocks! Lol not really, but it’s something like inflatable lego blocks that we can walk on! It floats on the water, and is pretty steady even though it does bob a little on the small waves the river has. I really had fun there, and it would be my favourite out of all the trips we’ve had so far.

Even though there are human interventions, the gorge is mostly untouched and still retains its beauty. The lego blocks leads into a smaller inlet of the river and then leads upwards. Yes, there is a staircase leading up to a trail, on the cliff face itself. Got a little fright while climbing up, but once on top, the view made me forget anything. We could look out into the distance and see the other cliff faces even if the river winds a little, but man, I wished we could’ve stayed a little longer up there. On top, I even said hi to some strangers on the lego blocks below. Frankly, I thought they were our students so I said hi, but then I realized they weren’t, but oh well.

we took this on. the. trail. itself. you can see the rocky face behind us. :D

There were some obstacles along the trail, like tree roots and trunks that were sticking out into the trail, and worse, some rocks sticking out into the trail. But the good news is, I didn’t hit any of them. Yay! Haha! We didn’t really do much there other than enjoying the scenery(for me) and taking some weird pictures, but I still think that this trip out to the cliff face trail is the best excursion out of all the places we’ve been to.

And then we headed back to the cruise and finally disembarked at 11 in the morning. We took a bus out back into the city, where we had our lunch, before taking the five hour bus journey back to Wu Han. Even though I didn’t slept much(I went to bed after 1 a.m. in the morning and woke at almost 6 a.m.) and I only napped a little when we were waiting to dock and disembark the cruise, I still didn’t sleep on the bus(not that I would’ve slept well anyways). Wow. So that means I was awake for the entire trip doing nothing. Lol >.<

What a relief when we finally got back here in the apartment. I missed the bathroom. Now I don’t have to perform body gags everytime I want to go to the loo. And the street food. The pan fried dumplings, the wraps, the crepes, and the banana pancake. Yummy!

Need to sleep soon, since I want to wake up earlier to write out some of my notes, so bye for now. Goodnight and peace out~~~ ^ ^

Tea ceremony and calligraphy!

Haven’t updated the past two days, but I shall today.

The day before we had an IS class on Feng Shui and the different foods in China. I think the lecture on Feng Shui is very interesting. I’ve always been a little curious about how the masters calculate Feng Shui, but now I think the gist of it. It’s pretty common sense to me. If your back and sides are protected, that would be favourable, because this would keep the Chi in the building for a longer period of time. Chi is like the life force or energy in us. And if there is a body of water in front, that would be favourable as well. So if you, and by you it could be a room or a whole building, have your back and sides protected, and a body of water in front, then that would be the best. But if the body of water is moving, like a river, and it’s coming towards you, then it would be unfavourable. This is a disclaimer, that this is my interpretation of the Feng Shui. I’m not sure this is what the teacher actually meant but I think of the moving water as a medium. It could either bring you good fortune, or bad. If the water is moving perpendicular to the building, it would be like it is sweeping the bad away from the building, but if it was coming towards the building, then it’s as if the water is bringing the bad towards the building. And when in a room, it is best not to block the doorway, which is where the Chi enters the room. So this means it will be better if the bed wasn’t placed in front of the door. To me, all these kinda makes sense to me, but I don’t know about anyone else though.

Then we talked about food. The lecture started at 6 in the evening, the time where we’re usually having dinner out. It’s a good thing I ate a cup of instant noodles before going for class, but still its jaw watering when he went through the different types of food in different region of China. He also went through some of the common food we have in Singapore as well. This was the worst part. We got reminded of what we are missing. I mean, just the mention of Bak Kut Teh gets my saliva going. Add in the sweet and sour pork, that’s it man. I can’t express how grateful I am to have eaten something before the lecture. The food was pretty intense. But it is really interesting how different region have different tastes. The teacher said Hokkien people have stronger taste, 重口味 (zhong kou wei). I find it to be true for me. My family are Hokkien, and I like to eat food with stronger taste to them, so I like salty and spicy food. This was pointed out by the lecturer, and I was a little amazed. So many things you can tell just by looking at the food and its taste. Some of the province likes blander food, some prefer stronger tasting food, and some likes a balance of both, not too strong, not too bland. And then some have simple, easy to cook(?) dishes. Dishes that would be easy to cook and are not too complicated. I think it is really cool how we can guess what kind of food and background of a person by looking at the way they cook or prefer their food.

Then yesterday we had lecture in both the morning and the afternoon. Forensic psychology in the morning and crime scene investigation in the afternoon. Both are interesting but I think I like the crime scene investigation lecture better. But the differences between insanity and incompetency and the difference it makes in court is cool. I used to think they are all the same, just mental disorders, and they are all the same, but in fact, there are differences that determine if a person can stand trial or is certified to be mentally incompetent to stand trial. The line might be very thin in some places, so being a reliable forensic psychologist is really important. For the lecture on crime scene investigation, I was pretty intrigued from the start. I won’t go into the gory details, but I have to say that in crime scene investigation is where the real action is at. The application of the techniques we are taught in school and how to decipher the results to get to the conclusion is really interesting.

But the highlight was at night. We went out to the city again. Did I mention that I bought seven pairs of socks the last time I went to the city? This time I went back and bought another five pairs? Add on to the three I bought out in the streets, I have bought a total of 15 pairs of socks since I’ve been here. I would buy more if I can find more that I like. XP oh and I also bought macaroons. It’s a little different from the ones in Singapore. It’s a little sticky, not as crisp as the ones in Singapore, but I liked it. Especially the lemon flavoured one. It tasted like the Kong Guan lemon biscuits back in Singapore. Yummy! The yam flavoured one too. Sooooo nice~ kekeke

But other than that, we didn’t really do much. But I did buy a shirt and a pair of pants, along with the socks. And chicken wings~ teehee.

But when we got back to the apartment, that’s where the real fun starts. I was introduced to Julian Laputa. He has a middle name that I added in, but let’s not be too obvious. But with the added middle name, it has a better ring to it. Seriously! But we somehow graduated from a guitar(Julian) session to a party session. All sorts of weird and hilarious stuff went on behind the closed doors of the master bedroom. All I have to say is that it involves body waves, weird music(Elmo song included) and a new sort of disco light. But it was a really good experience. It was the first time all eight of us came together and sat down, and all because of Irfana’s Julian. :D

Today we had Tea Ceremony and Calligraphy class for IS. I was really excited! I did both before in Singapore but I like the whole process of brewing tea and the also the process of properly appreciating the tea. We tried different tea leaves and the different ways of brewing them. We had green tea, Tie Guan Yin, a type of clear 清(qing) tea, Pu Er 普尔 tea, a type of black tea, Da Hong Pao 大红袍 tea, another type of clear tea, yellow tea. I was already a green tea lover, and after this session today, I learnt that I actually do appreciate the taste and fragrance of black teas as well. They leave a bitter aftertaste that stays in the mouth for a few minutes. Pu Er has a bitterer aftertaste than Da Hong Pao, but both have a floral fragrance when you smell it. And the Da Hong Pao is an expensive tea. It costs 1500 yuan for 100 grams of the tea leaves. Xenia and Jovin doesn’t like Pu Er but me and Kristine liked it. The teacher taught us the different apparatus for the whole ceremony of brewing tea, including the utensils and the whole tea set and how they are used in the brewing process. And different leaves have different brewing methods. For green tea, red tea and yellow tea, because they are not as strong in terms of fragrance as the other teas, they do not have to be washed. For teas like Pu Er, black teas, they have to be washed be washed with hot water. By washing I mean the first brew of the leaves is not drank. Only the second brew is for drinking. This is because the leaves are fermented. The teacher said for black tea leaves that have been fermented for more than four years, the tea’s color will turn out a more wine red color than just black color, like soy sauce. And like wine, the the older the tea leaves, the more expensive the tea leaves are.

We took the teacher’s name card, and I hope we will have the time to go to her shop, she opens her own tea specialty shop, and buy some back for my family. :D I still have a tin of the green tea leaves I bought in the mountains I haven’t touched yet, partly because I forgot about it, and then again because I was too lazy to do so. LOL

After the tea ceremony class we had a calligraphy class. I learnt from my God-mother, and I had some crash course in primary school and secondary school as well, so I’m pretty familiar with the basics. But the hand writing itself… I can’t seem to get my down stroke right. It always turns out horrible. But my horizontal stroke is pretty nice. Even the teacher said so. :D yay to my God-mother’s crash course! ^ ^

I managed to get the teacher to write my name for me, just before he had to leave. Teehee. And I got tips from him too! So all in all, the IS class today was fun and enlightening for me, since I have an interest in both calligraphy and tea.

But I sad to say, I got tempted by Monisha to go check out a pleather jacket. I might buy it. Well, there is a high possibility I would buy it, but who knows. It’s up to the fates to see if they will have my size available!

Sleepy and my stomach have been weird these few days. And I might be coming down with something again. I haven’t even fully recovered from my previous batch of germs, and now I might be down with another… T.T so sleep, I shall(anybody gets this reference? Lol I’m lame I know).

Goodnight and peace out~

Paper cutting! :D

Today we had a paper cutting lesson! Wow! It’s so cool how by just using a pair of scissors and a penknife can produce such nice art. I think all of us did well today, even though we are all beginners in this, but I think through this activity we discovered that we are actually pretty creative. :D I think my cutting is pretty alright. It might not be the nicest, but I like it. Xenia and Jovin said it looked like galaxies, because I cut stars in the paper. I’m not sure it does, but then again, it’s me. I did a second one, but I haven’t completed it, but I think it might be decent too. I like the process of planning and the outlining of the cut, because in paper cutting, one wrong cut means the possible ruin of the whole thing, so caution and care must be in our top priority right at the start.

my first cutting! do you think it looks kinda like a galaxy? 

I was pretty reluctant to start at first, because I’m not an artsy person, but I am a little of a perfectionist. It’s like I can’t do it well, but I want it to be done perfectly well. Does that makes sense? Doesn’t matter, it didn’t made sense to me either.  But I got into the paper cutting spirit(LOL) soon enough. Enough that after I completed my first one, I got started on my second one. We had a few laughs, and I got irritated at my inability to draw nice circles, nor to draw nice stars. We laughed at Mr Lee’s cutting. It looked like it was meant for the Halloween celebration instead of at a paper cutting class, what with a smiley face with jagged teeth. Ms Tan’s looked like a virus. If the next batch of students in her class gets introduced to her virus, at lease we know where did it come from. I didn’t really try to cut some fine details, because if I did, then I would have to use the penknife. I am not so good with the penknife. That’s why I rather just use the scissors than to risk the tearing of my paper with my clumsy self.

Tomorrow is the IS presentation already, what a short time to prepare.  But at least after that, we have another IS class and it’s about Feng Shui. I hope I can finally know more about Feng Shui and its relation with the Taoist Ba Gua(not the kind we eat for new year’s). :D

Need to finish up our project prep tomorrow morning. So gotta go sleep soon. Goodnight, and peace out~~~!  ^ ^ 

lunchie! does it looks nice?

Our first proper city tour~ Updated!

Yesterday we finally went on a city tour, and get to look at the city proper. We went to four destinations, but I was disappointed they didn’t bring us to the zoo. The first itinerary included a trip to the zoo but the plan got changed so we didn’t go. But we went to some interesting places too! :D

The first place we went to is the museum. Yay! Museum! The museum might not be as large as the other famous ones, it still contains many interesting stuff. We went to look at the treasures unearthed from the tomb of the Marquis Yi of Zeng. There are so many interesting stuff, like porcelain bowls, jewellery and the normal bling stuff. But the more interesting items on display are the coffins and the bells. The coffins are beautifully decorated and the color is beautiful. Other than that, we went to other exhibition and we saw belt made of gold and gems, ancient bronze weapons, and interesting bits and pieces. Me and Jovin were moving so quickly we finished walking the whole of the second level of the museum in half an hour. But we got a little startled at an exhibit. It was a skeleton recovered from one of the clan cemeteries. It was quite complete, but I got a shock when I saw it. I was a little sad that this skeleton is placed as an exhibit. I’m not sure if the skeleton itself is a replica or not, but let’s assume that it is the actual skeleton. Even though I know displaying it at the museum is a way to educate people about the past, I still think it’s a little disrespectful for us to just leave the remains of the people of the past right out in the open. But then again, if we look at this issue this way, then all the exhibits, especially of the tombs then should be left in their places.

look at the details of the markings on the side!

isn't this little cup beautiful?!

this, is a belt. gold and inlaid with gemstones. oooh

 this is the outer principal coffin, the inner coffins are smaller, though no  less beautiful.

The second place we went to was the East Lake(directly translated by me), but we didn’t get to see much because we had some time constraints and the scenic spots we were interested in were pretty far apart so we didn’t went to check them out.

Then the next stop is… Lunch! We got to go to a famous food street in the area and had fun buying the different dishes to try. The first thing we got was Tang Bao, or soup buns. It’s a little like Xiao Long Bao, except that there is soup in the bun itself. It was really good, really appetizing, and after eating that I was even hungrier. That after that, I went to get soup. Lotus root and spare ribs soup. I would bet that the soup has been simmering in the pot for quite a few hours because the soup was rich with the taste of the lotus root and the spare meat on the ribs. This dish is pretty common here in China, but back in Singapore I seldom see stalls that sells soups like this everywhere. Then I had something that looks and taste like Roti Prata, something that I love eating in Singapore. Finally, a little something that tastes like home. But this kind of dish is not common in China, unlike in Singapore, we can still find Roti Prata rather easily. And after the Prata(I shall just call it that), I had some fried meatballs! But for me, it’s a little hard for me to really satisfy my cravings sometimes. I am a meat lover so I often find dishes with some meat in it, or I would supplement my meal with some other meat from other sources(erm lol). But here in China, their staple food here is rice, and they have a lot more vegetable dishes than meat dishes. Normally if I go to the school canteens, their dishes available are always mostly vegetables, and limited choices of meat dishes. I guess it’s because here it’s easier to plant crops like rice and other plants than raising live stock. And from all the farms we've drove past in our trips to places, I don’t think I can say that I've seen a farm that rears livestock yet. Mostly it’s all veggies and rice.

scalded my tongue with these little buns. but they are good. yum!

But the only bad thing I find about the lunch yesterday is the amount of time allocated to us for lunch. We only had 40 minutes to get our lunch! I was peeved. Why bring us to a place with good food when we don’t have the time to enjoy and savor it? Instead, we have to rush through, and I had to abandon some of the things I wanted to try because of our time constraints. Because I tried to finish my food quickly, I scalded my tongue with the Tang Bao’s soup. I know, a little too old for this kind of things to still happen, but I really don’t have a choice.

Then after lunch we went to the Yellow Crane tower. It looks five stories high from the outside, but is actually taller. We took a lot of pictures, good or bad, glam or unglam. It was really packed, and the times when we had to take the stairs down was really scary, because there are other people going down the stairs and some people are rushing down the stairs, and others were slowly strolling down.

Then we ended our tour by going to the longest river in China. Chang Jiang in Chinese. We went the Bank(river bank) of Han Kou, along the river. The river also happened to be the third longest river in Asia. We took some funny pictures at the bank, and some with Ms Tan. Apparently she gets too caught up with making sure everyone is in the shot and forget about her own expression. LOL ^ ^

being silly. Insiders will know this pose. XP

The highlight of the day(read:sarcasm) happened when we were own our way to board the bus to get to the Bank of Han Kou. We had no idea we needed to cross the road to get to the bus, and the tour guide just suddenly, like really SUDDENLY, crossed the road when there is a break in the oncoming cars. I was stunned for a second before I ran after the guide. I swear my heart almost stopped. The traffic was jamming pretty bad, and the cars were packed. And also, we crossed near a bus stop so all the huge buses were lurking around the area. I think Wilson almost crashed into a scooter that was going in the OPPOSITE direction as the rest of the lane! I was open-mouthed by the scooter. And then another bus that was cutting through two lanes to get to the other side. That was the scariest traffic I’ve seen. I know there are worst, but I hope I don’t ever be in a situation in those conditions.

Today we went strawberry picking! Right after a night of raining. There was so much mud, and I was wearing my new shoes. T.T but thank goodness it was pretty waterproof on the outside, so I didn’t suffer the most. And it was easier to clean off too. Lol Nazhifa had to take off her shoes because her soles doesn’t offer her much traction in the mud so she ended up bare footed. Then after that we got back to the school and had a party with some of the local students. We had a karaoke session with them as well. I’m glad to see that they have some of my all-time favourites. Most of the songs are in Chinese, but there are a few English songs and we managed to get Ms Mikia and Mr Lee to sing. Teehee. XP And one of the games we had during the party was to hold the balloons between two persons head and get it to the end point without dropping. We made the teachers do this as well. Mr Lee with Ms Mikia and Ms Chuah with Ms Tan. It was hilarious!

We ended the party around 4 in the afternoon(I know it’s a little early but we started at noon) and then took some group photos. Ms Tan even asked some random passers-by to take the photos for us! LOL! And when the rest went back to their apartments I still have to go interview some of the local students for our IS project. Sigh.

Went to dinner with Jovin and Xenia. The stone twins and Kris went out to town because they got tempted by Sherdyn. Tsk. But that’s good for our plan. It’s Clarissa’s 18^th birthday today, and we planned to surprise her. But we totally forgot about the cake until yesterday! Good thing the bakeries here are very efficient, and even though we just ordered it yesterday, we can collect it today night. Because they came back late, we had to leave the cake in Jovin’s room and turn the AC to 16 degrees to preserve the cake. And then we went down to the room a while before they came back to prep the cake and everything else. And when they finally came, Kristine was alerting us by stomping up the two and a half flight of stairs and singing some random tune. We all laughed even though we were holding on to the cake and were supposed to be quiet. Oh and we invited a sleepy Mr Lee too. Too bad Ms Tan and Ms Chuah didn’t come up. Then we trekked to all the other apartments to share the cake with them but in the end I ate like some of the leftovers even though I had a slice already. Too bad Pris didn’t like mousse(we got chocolate mousse cake) or else I wouldn’t have to eat so much of the cake. But there were still mousse leftover though. I got a little sick of the mousse by the end of my first slice.

But I think it’s really cool that the bakeries here are so efficient. If we ordered in Singapore, we would have to do it three days before collection. If all bakeries were this fast, we might be able to get away with some last minute planning sometimes… Hmmm…

I think I’m starting to sleep better on the bus now, as long as I plug in to my music, because even though in Singapore I can sleep in the bus with no problems, the roads here are full of potholes and also uneven, so the rides as always bumpy. Teehee.

I shall go to bed soon. I thought I was going to be better but today I felt even sicker. I’ve been sick since the Red Cliff trip and I’m still having snot problems. Felt feverish today. I have to sleep early today. Well since class is at 10 I can sleep a little later. XP

Miss Mikia left today, so we didn’t get to celebrate Clarissa’s birthday with us. I’ll miss her. But I’m envious of her. She gets to travel around China with her brother for a few more days before heading back to Singapore… I wanna do that too…

Been watching Indiana Jones movies these few days since that day we went to the biopharmaceutical factory and the bus uncle played it on the bus I got hooked on it. I decided to give the second instalment a miss because it was too gory for me. Like, nope. No thanks. I don’t wanna watch people happily eating eyeball soup. Gross.

Tomorrow we’re continuing the lecture on forensic DNA. Yay. But the contents are so heavy, so much memorizing to do. T.T but thank goodness it is something interesting to me, so I won’t have too hard of a time while studying( I think). And also, my tongue is still scalded. ouchie. :( 

Bye bye~ Sleep time soon(don't believe me)... Goodnight and peace out~ ^ ^

p.s. my wifi is being really mean to me and don't allow me to upload photos at all. >:/ Grrr...

wheeeeeee~~~

updated! thank goodness Xenia's lappie can upload photos. mine doesnt like the wifi here i swear... T.T

Trip to the city~

Short update today. Started in forensic lecture again. This time on forensic DNA. Again, I think this is cool! Hahahaha no surprise there now. Today’s lecture we talked about Short Tandem Repeats, Variable Number Tandem Repeats, and how to identify and look for blood, seminal fluid and saliva in a crime scene. Pretty interesting stuff don’t you think? XP

Then after class, we went out to town in the afternoon. We spent the whole afternoon just going into clothes store, shoes store, buying socks, looking at food, and being weird people. I didn’t buy any shoes or clothes, but I did buy a pair of earrings, eight pair of socks and 8 mid-section chicken wings. :D oh and a belt. And some sushi for dinner. Yay! But the only non-yay thing is the bus rides again.

I like to take buses. I prefer them over to taking the MRTs in Singapore. But the buses here are really tough to ride in. the buses we take to town is always crowded, especially the buses back to the school. This is where all the chaos takes place. Trying to flag and get on a bus is the tough part, because the buses like to pick up people away from the bus stop, so everyone is chasing after the bus like mad. Then when the bus finally stops, we have to try to get on the bus. There is no such thing as civility or order during this frantic fight to get on the bus. People are elbowing, pushing, stepping over each other in their effort to get on the bus. I got sandwiched between people as they push at the back so I got plastered all over someone. If you finally get on the bus, then you will face another battle. People will fight for space for themselves before settling down for the long journey ahead. During this time, jostling, shifting, stepping on feet(again), and the elbowing continues. I was literally sandwiched. My back was leaning against someone, and my front was almost(I resisted) plastered to another person’s back.

I got lulled by the rocking(read:bumping) on the bus so I ended mostly asleep while standing in the bus. I think I might have leaned on the person behind me too much because she shifted away. I was too tired to care by then anyway. When we finally got down from the bus, it was raining and I was only wearing a single layer of clothing outside since it was warmer today afternoon.

Taking the bus trip really makes me miss the public transport back in Singapore. Even though the buses and trains gets hairy during peak hours, Singaporeans are still very conscious about personal space and they normally do not plaster onto another person’s back for a long, if at all. And they surely some of them, if not most of them, will apologize if they stepped on someone, or elbowed them, unlike in here, they ignore and pretend anything ever happened. I don’t mean to say that they are rude, they are just used to this kind of treatment from everyone else, but for us who live in Singapore for the most of our lives, it might be a little shocking at first. I think it is our fortune that Singaporeans are generally quite courteous to others. I really do appreciate Singaporean public transport more now.

Tomorrow we have a city tour! Yay! I hope we get to visit the museum! I will not hesitate to eat the street food. I don’t have much time left to care if the food is clean or safe to eat. As long as it looks safe and there 

isn’t anything funny or weird, then I will try it. :D teehee. Can’t wait!!! ^ ^

Gotta go to bed soon. Tired from all the walking and the eye power needed, LOL. G’night and peace out~

Lecture day…

Wow today was pretty full. We had two lectures, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. The morning lecture was really long. Three hours in total. Wow. It’s pretty interesting. We talked about Taoism and the contributions of Zhuang Zi and Lao Zi to Taoism, and also Buddhism, and also of Sakyamuni and the monk Tang San Zang, the monk from the Journey to the West.

Our lecture consists of the history and the principles of these two religion. Somehow I felt as if I was attending a religious class… but even though I did drift off(again, I know) but I did get most of the lecture and I did pay attention. I was more interested in the part on Buddhism, but it’s really interesting knowing what’s behind the religion of the Tao. I think in Singapore and China, the idea of Taoism is different. I find that the Taoism Singaporeans practice isn’t very similar to what the Chinese here practice. Before this, I thought that Taoism is just the praying to the different Taoist deities during some of the major festivals and that was it. But after the lecture, I realised that actually in Taoism, worshipping the deities wasn’t the main point. Even though I am not a Taoist, I do see a point in their teachings that I myself feel the same way about. One of the core principle of Taoism is not to meddle with things too much, and let nature takes its course. I think this is something we humans should learn more about. Even though I agree that technological advances are good(I do love my gadgets too thank you very much) and well and helpful, sometimes, trying to achieve too much too fast might backfire instead. Global warming is one example. I know that without advancement, humans wouldn’t be able to achieve greater heights and discover new things, but I do think that sometimes, we should just slow down a little. Because in our haste to change things to suit our needs, we often forget to look past our own immediate concern. Global warming is one of the results. Because of the sudden explosive demand of cars and machinery, and the discovery of using steam to power the turbines, the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere increased exponentially.

I’m not judging or anything, but I just think that if we did take things in little steps, we might be able to prevent any catastrophe in the future if we didn’t try to push to do everything all at once.

The one thing I find fascinating is that these two religions have a similar start. Both religions are said to have been started by one person. A founder of sorts. Zhuang Zi is said to be the one to write down the Dao De Jing, which is kind of like the core principles of Taoism. And the Indian prince Sakyamuni taught his followers the path to enlightenment after gaining enlightenment himself, and the teachings are also the core principles that Buddhist follows today.

I did follow the Buddha’s  way when I was younger, and even though I stopped going to the temple for a few years and I don’t follow the core values as often now, I do find that sometimes I do miss the comfort of having something to follow, to guide me in the way of life.

And this lecture also talked about something interesting. What happens to us after we die? Do we have an afterlife, or do we simply cease to exist? For Taoist, they believe in that they were made from the earth when they were born, and when they die, they return back to the earth. They call this returning to the original state. While for Buddhists, they believe in reincarnation and karma, so if a person did great deeds and accumulates a lot of good karma, the he or she will be able to ascend to a heaven-like world, while a person accumulates a lot of bad karma, they will be punished and reincarnated as animals or human again or even banished to the Hell. Different people have different ideas on this, but I personally do not have any opinions on this matter. We will know when we eventually pass away. But this does gets me thinking of what could be in the afterlife.

After the morning lecture, we went out to lunch with Jovin and the others. Today we went to KFC. I know I know, fast food, but the fast food here has things that our own country’s fast food chains do not have. It’s really interesting how fast food restaurants have different menus in different countries, and I like to go and check out the different things in each new country. XP but I still miss Singapore’s own fast food restaurants. I mean, the curry sauce, the garlic chili, the cheese fries…

After lunch it’s time for our forensics lecture. Today we just did a re-cap of some things we learnt before, but man, it is a welcome change. I mean as much as I think the IS lectures are interesting, I do miss a little stimulation science gives our brain. But! Ms Tan please don’t kill us with the last paper please! ><

Lecture is on recombinant DNA and PCR and spectrophotometers. So interesting how we can programme things like restriction enzymes to and primers to carry out specific tasks. I sure want to know just how in the world did they manage to programme biological materials like these. Hmmm…

But after the lecture, we are pretty much done for the day. I mean, I do have to go and rearrange my notes and do some research for the upcoming projects(T.T), I’m pretty much free for the rest of the evening. Yay! Time to catch up on sleep(I know I shouldn’t be sleeping at times like one thirty in the morning but…) yeah…

No pictures today too. Didn’t bother taking photos of my food. Stomach was growling so I had to feed it first. Teehee. But I think this weekend we’ll be going to the city for a tour(I know it’s a little late but still… Museums!) and to the zoo as well! I wanna see pandas… Pandas! And Museums! Wheeeeeee~~~ and then Sunday we have that party with the students so… :D

Gonna go do my notes soon. Peace out~~~ ^^

Doggy! :D

Common test day! Sigh… hahaha personally I think the paper was doable. At least I don’t think I will lose too many marks if I’m not careless. I think. After the common test today, we went out for some industrial visit at a biopharmaceutical factory. ^ ^ yay!

I found another stall that sells jajangmyeon! I think this one was better than the one I ate before. I asked for no chili oil so the noodles are not so oily. This means I can eat the good bits! The minced meat at the bottom along with the crunchy veggie(got no idea what it is). Yummy!!! <3

Le jajangmyeon~~~ ^ ^

Right after lunch, we went to the suoermarket right below the canteen we were lunching at and bought eight bottles of 1.5 litres of water. I decided to be macho and carried all eight of the bottles from the mart to our apartment. The most tiring thing is, on the way back, I had to climb uphill little! And we just had to stay at level 5 in a building without elevators so I had to lug the eight bottles up the five and a half flight of stairs since apparently the ground floor isn’t taken as level 1. My arms were so sore and tired when I lift them up, you can see both arms and hands trembling. When I try to tap on something on my tablet, my fingers weren’t cooperating with me. T.T bet I have muscle ache tomorrow! But at least it was exercise. XP

The industrial visit was really interesting! The whole building is designed like a grid, all straight hallways and sharp corners. Since it’s a factory that makes and packages  IV (intravenous)related products, the whole place was under strict cleanliness and they take sterilization very seriously. We had to wear a plastic bag over our shoes(I call them shoe socks) to prevent us from tracking mud and dirt into the compound. Then after that, we had to put on lab coats and a hat to contain our hair. Then finally, we can begin our tour. Because we got there in the afternoon, the place wasn’t as busy. Our guide also said we arrived too late, and some of the production lines already stopped for the day. I was a little disappointed, because I wanted to see how the product is made before they packaged it. But because we have so many people, we have to split into groups to tour. I went in the last group, so I didn’t get to see the production line, but the guide said the first group managed to see it. T.T

The guide brought us to the packaging lines, the sterilization lines, and the water distilling lines. He also explained the different types of ways to ready an IV solution(at least I think it is for IV solution since we were mostly talking about Intravenous drips, so yeah… there were different bottles with different bottles. Glass bottles and polypropylene bottles, 250ml and 500ml bottles. And the different forms of the IV solution. The concentrated form that needs to be mixed with saline before it can be injected into the patient, the ready-made form that can be used immediately, and the powdered form, that also has to be mixed into saline solution before it can be used. And then we took a look at the water distilling process. This process converts the normal tap water into highly sterilized and cleaner water. Our guide told us the water they distil is cleaner than the bottled water we drink here! We didn’t get to see much before we had to leave the compound, so I was a little sad, but at least I don’t have to study today! Yay! :D

On the bus, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull was playing(I think) and I was so into watching the show! I almost yelled when the bus driver turned it off when we arrived at the school. It was just at the funny part too! I was chuckling the whole way, with Xenia dozing on and off beside me. The show got turned off just before Indiana Jones was pulled out of quicksand by his son, using an anaconda. I laughed when Indiana pointed out to his son that that was an anaconda he was holding onto, and then the driver turned off the TV. T.T why???????

me, Mei Zi and Pris

isn't she beautiful? 

Oh yes, while waiting, we went to a field near the factory. The grass there was so long, it was like a thick green and brown(dried grass) carpet! So nice to walk on! Teehee :D and while walking from the bus to the factory(the roads are too narrow), a stray dog trotted past us. I was totally entranced by it. It was grey-brown, the color almost like that of a wolf, and totally fluffy! It was so cute!!!!!!!!!! I just wanted huggle it and bring it home… T.T but then our China coordinator noticed my interest(more like spazzing) in the dog and he asked me if I liked dogs. I told him yes(duh) and he showed pictures of his own dog! She was so pretty! It was a rough collie mix, and he got her from the streets a few months ago. She is larger than a normal purebred rough collie, but she is still very pretty, and very friendly. I had so much fun with her! I’m going to go play with her again when I have the time. ^ ^

Dr Sujit left for Singapore today. Sighs. We’ll miss teasing him with miss Mikia… but miss Mikia also leaving on this Sunday, so sad. But this Sunday will be interesting! We’ll be having a party with the local students and then we might party by ourselves too. Teehee :D

Speaking of parties, me and my apartment mates were having fun blasting some KPop music and singing along with it. I think I got a little too excited, cos now I think I crashed from the high just now. LOL but it was really fun for a while~ kekeke

Tomorrow we have two lectures. The lecture from the dean about Buddhism and Taoism in the morning and then forensic science lecture in the afternoon. Sighs. Gotta wake up early again. T.T at least I don’t have to study tonight. Need a little break from all that mugging. Phew!

Gonna go do some web surfing and sleep! Must wake early tomorrow T.T hurhurhur Nights! Peace out~~~ ^ ^

Barbeque day! (updated)

We had IS class this morning… the lecture is one of the longest I’ve ever had. It was three hours long, though there were two breaks in between. It was cold today too. We had a light drizzle in the morning. The dean of the university was the one giving us the lecture and he said there is another class this Thursday. Today’s lecture is on the history of China and Thurday’s will be on Buddhism and Taoism.

Today’s lecture was actually pretty interesting. I like the history of ancient China, during all the different dynasties. But the lecture was really dry, and the dean was talking so slowly, I slowly slowly drifted off. I know that isn’t good, but I was tired, and still sick, so I was really drowsy. But I did pay attention to most of the lecture. We talked about the different dynasties in the ancient feudal China, and the greatest achievements and era in that period. At first when we saw the number of slides on the dean’s lecture, we were pretty sure we will not last throughout the whole lecture. His PowerPoint presentation has 189 slides! When I saw the amount of slides he had, I was like O.O And when he started the lecture, I just wanted to do this à OTL because his slides were just full of words and no pictures. I’m not kidding. Then after he did an introduction of the different dynasties, he went into the details of those dynasties. Even though whatever he told us was probably already heavily summarized, it was still a lot to take in when you factor in the dozens of dynasties that he had to go through. T.T as interesting as it is, I still dozed off. T.T but I am looking forward to Thurday’s lecture. I think it would be even more interesting for me.

Today is Sports Day. It was supposed to be some bonding thing so I thought some of the Chinese students would be joining us, but it turned out to be bonding among ourselves. The first thing we did was split ourselves into two teams. Since we had forty people in total here for the trip, we have equal numbers in each team. So in the end me, Jovin and Clarissa were in the same team and Xenia, Jun Li and Kristine were in the other team. But because we were so awesome, we won the 150 seconds competition against the other team. :D heheheh

But before we did the 150 seconds challenge, our first task as a team was to challenge the rock wall. I don’t like rock climbing, because I can’t climb much before I have to drop down again. So I was already dreading the moment, and then when it started raining again, I was totally depressed. I mean, even when it is dry, my grip on the stone hand holds was precarious, with my foot size being so big and all, but add in the rain? I can’t even think about how embarrassing it would be. But thank goodness, I didn’t have to climb because the rain was heavier then. So we moved on to another station.

But I think I had most fun with is at the 150 seconds challenge. This one really needed teamwork, and it was challenging and fun at the same time. We had to complete three tasks within 150 seconds, and one of the tasks includes sixteen of us holding on to a drum from the ends of the ropes attached to the drum, then bounce a volleyball on the drum eight times. This wasn’t as easy as it seems, what with sixteen people and differing heights. I keep pulling on the rope with too much force. But in the end, we found a way to keep the drum balanced, and thus the ball’s trajectory while bouncing. We did a trial run during the practice time and we finished everything in a minute and two seconds, but when we are doing the actual run, we clocked a minute and thirty one seconds. We dropped the ball once and had to redo it, but at the end, we managed to finish all the tasks within the time and we won the challenge because the other team overshot the time.

In a team, we will, of course, have a team name, but I will not introduce it to you, because it is seriously funny(read:weird) and a little retarded. >.> LOL

Then after the bonding session, we have a barbeque. As much as I like barbecues  I didn’t touch any of the food they cooked. Partly because I was busy trying to get the fire going, and partly because I saw the way they cooked the food. Because the charcoal we used takes incredibly long to catch fire, they had to use lots and lots of twigs, newspaper and even petroleum. And even after all the effort we put in the charcoal still didn’t burn red-hot yet. I was fanning the fire all the while and rejecting offers of food from the students. I don’t have anything against them, but because we didn’t wait for the charcoal to fully catch fire, the China students just used the fire from the burning newspapers and twigs to cook. The worst part is, they used to burning pertroleum to cook. Because someone drizzled petroleum onto the charcoal, the fire was blazing. But because it was late and some of the students didn't had their dinner yet, they just started cooking with the fire from the burning petroleum. And when the fire suddenly flared up, the meat is all scorched. As much as I like eating the burnt bits, it wasn’t healthy, and not to say, with me still sick, I don’t think that was a good idea.

Actually we got a little worked up aver the fire thing. Because in Singapore, we do organize barbecues pretty often, so some of us are quite well versed in the art of barbecuing. So we did get a little peeved when the China staff were trying to make the fire their way even though it clearly wasn't working. I know maybe some of the fault lies with the charcoal itself(it behaves just like old charcoal) so it doesn't catch fire as easily as the charcoal we are used to in Singapore, but the way the China staff set up the fire wasn't that effective either. because they don't use fire starters like we normally do in Singapore, they use newspapers and twigs as the starters. but because they place the twigs and newspapers on top of the charcoal pile, the charcoal doesn't catch fire because once the newspaper and twigs finish burning, the fire also stops, so the charcoal doesn't have enough time to heat up, much less catch fire. and then they add petroleum, and that worked a little, but as I said, it is pretty dangerous using petroleum. but eventually, we did get some food cooked. But I think I did pretty well with the fanning. I didn’t inhale much of the smoke in front but at the end, when other people also were fanning the fire, I inhaled some of the smoke. But I did well avoiding the smoke, I think. Teehee.

I left a little earlier but it was okay. I really need to come back into the apartment and shower and study. Common test is tomorrow. T.T hope I do well for it…

Lol Nicholas just entered our apartment just like that. That was really scary. Out of nowhere, a deep male voice just popped out. Everyone else freaked out because they thought it was Asaph. LOL but in the end, it was Nicholas. Whew.

Hehehe tired and my nose is still blocked(on both sides too)… hurhur T.T Shall go study some now. Peace Out~ ^ ^

Sleep in day~

Yay! Woke up around eight thirty, then lazed around till ten. Puahahahaha! Wheeeee~

But today wasn’t much fun. Woke up, then started studying already. Then after an hour or so, went for lunch. Lol. But I felt so miserable since I woke up in the morning I can’t concentrate much. I gave up writing out my notes because I felt so sleepy even though I slept enough. Sore throat, phlegm and headache. T.T I have a feeling tomorrow might be even worse than today, and yet tomorrow we have to wake early for our Chinese Culture class at eight thirty. I just hope I can pay enough attention to the lecture tomorrow…

On to the better stuff! Mr Lee and Ms Tan arrived today! Haven’t seen Ms Tan yet, but I’m sure we’ll see her soon enough. J

We watched Running Man in the dorm today! I watched it before, but watching it for the second time is still funny. I swear SpartaKook is so scary when he plays for real. I was tired of studying(and going nowhere with it) and then I remembered I downloaded the full episode a few days before. Kekeke. We had a good laugh, me, Pris and Xenia. Ate the whole bag of Wang Wang little buns!!! Teehee. Flip sore throat when there are Wang Wang little buns to eat! XP

Speaking of food, I tried this egg-y stuff in from the first canteen during lunch. It was really good~ There is an egg on the top of the pancake-like thing. I don’t know what it’s called in English. My brain is kinda not functioning now… it was salty and there are bits of meat in it for flavor! Yummy~~~ ^ ^

Lunch! 

After lunch snack! :D i still call it the eggy stuff XP

I finally tried something different in the beef noodle store I talk about before! I tried this beef and mushroom rice. It was good. I ate everything! My plate was clean! 

Dinner! shroom, beef and capsicum! yummy! 

Hehehehehe after that we went for some banana pancake! I keep forgetting to take a photo of it. I tried the red bean one, but the beans were hard, and I prefer my red beans to be mushy so I took the banana one this time. Sweet! The pancake itself was a little sweet, and soft. A little like glutinous rice. Add in the banana… awesome!

After that we went to buy Jovin’s wrap. Me and Xen went to the noodle store with Jovin. I went to buy a stick of barbequed pork and the other two went to buy crepe. Then when I finally got to them, I found Jovin spazzing. About a man at the crepe stall. There was a cute-ish young man at the stall, and Jovin had been eyeing him since the start. I think he’s the son of the stall owners, since he was the one who collected the money, but I can’t say for sure. But Jovin was jumping around and squealing in English… Then I was like ‘I hope he doesn’t understand English.’ Then Jovin entered a state of mental breakdown. LOL. Then when her wrap was ready, she said thank you and stared at the cute guy for an extra three seconds. Then when she walked away(finally!) Xenia pointed out her extra three seconds stare and she started jumping around(again). LOL looking at her jumping around was hilarious. Then we were discussing about how she wants to take a photo with the cute guy on her last week here. But then I burst her bubble and I asked her what if the cute guy could understand English and he replied her in English when she asks for a photo. Then she said she would dig a hole and jump in it if the cute guy does. Puahahaha

The walk back to our apartment was just full of talk about the cute guy and what Jovin would do if the guy really understood what she was saying. Somehow I got a feeling that the cute guy did understand what Jovin was saying, but for the sake of Jovin’s sanity, I hope he doesn’t. LOL

Coughing and nose dripping… Good thing none of you can see me right now. Off to study now(maybe) so… Peace out~ ^ ^

Wet and miserable weekend

Back from the trip to Red Cliff! I was expecting a lot from the trip but it turned out not as awesome as I imagined it to be. It is nowhere the scenic places’ fault, but the weather. When we got down from the bus, it was drizzling. But then it got heavier and heavier, so much so that by the time we made it to the restaurant we were lunching at, we were half soaked already. T.T

We went to the Red Cliff, where the epic battle of Red Cliff was sited at. The battle of the Red Cliff occurred at least a thousand years ago, and there are different accounts of the actual battle. But at the end of the day, whether if the widely accepted Red Cliff is the actual site of the battle or not, it doesn’t affect the beauty of the whole area. I have to admit I can’t remember much of what the guide said already. We were all over the place, and I was mostly at the back so I really couldn't hear what she was saying. It was a pity. I was really interested in the history of the Three Kingdoms, but this was really rushed and I really couldn’t get into what the guide was saying. T.T

We saw a thousand year old tree(I don’t know what is the species of the tree in English), and it was very unique. The guide said that there were only set of roots, but on the surface there is two tree trunks. these two had grown side by side each other through the many years that passed by. They think the trees are a couple, meaning a male and a female. This is because every year, there will be fruits appearing, so they think the male tree is fertilizing the female tree every year. It is said that one of the figures during the period of the battle had planted the seeds of these two trees by his own hands, and this tree could prove how long the history of the Battle of the Red Cliff has been. Because both trees had started to grow shoots on the trunk of the trees themselves, and this only happens when this species of trees grow to be a thousand.

Ok enough of trees. The last week we went to the Wu Dang Mountains, and the hotel rooms there was cozy and nice. This time round, the hotel room was spacious and the bathroom pretty. Though the toilet can’t flush… But me and Xenia was channel surfing again and we managed to watch a variety show and a cartoon, and some other weird shows on the TV.

Then in the end, we slept late again. And woke up late as well. We were supposed to wake up at 6, but we only woke up when Jovin called me and asked where we are. I immediately scrambled. I swear I did set the alarm, but I think it wasn’t underneath my pillow when it rang, so I must’ve not heard it. Luckily we were meeting for breakfast only so we didn’t delay much. And there were some others later than us so… hehehehe XP

We were so happy when they told us today’s breakfast will be western but when we went there it was the normal Chinese breakfast we’ve eaten so far. But it’s alright, it was pretty nice. J

Today rained as well, though it wasn’t as heavy as yesterdays. We went to tour the islands on a boat, and we saw some pretty interesting things. The most interesting thing we saw over there was something that looked like something you would see in an amusement park. It looks like the contraption you sit it when you go for the bungee ride. But instead of shooting upwards, this one goes round and round. It looks pretty harmless at first, and we were wondering what that thing is. I thought it was some kind of ancient torture device or something but it turned out to be more like an amusement park ride. LOL but the one thing that makes me very curious is that why the heck is there even an amusement park ride (that was pretty safe, said the operator of that machine) doing there in the middle of an island, which is a part of the scenic areas?

But then after that it was time for us to go back to the boat and return to our bus. This trip was very short, because we’ve skipped some of our planned visits so I think we reached the apartment earlier than expected. Then we went out for dinner! Yay! The meals we had over there at the Red Cliff scenic spot was low on meat and high on vegetable. Now, I think I said before I lurve veggies, but this time I was almost like a vegetarian. The meat dishes mostly came with some kind of veggies as well and then by the time everyone tried it, the dish is almost empty of meat already. T.T so when we came back to the apartment and went out for dinner, we ordered 2 meat dishes. And, YES!, the meat dishes are high on meat, and there are some bonus veggies! We ordered diced chicken with mushroom and lightly pan fried pork(I think) with bean sprout. I still can’t really get used to the bean sprouts here in China. In Singapore, our bean sprouts are short and fat, but here in China(and Korea for that matter) the bean sprouts are long and thin. I think I prefer Singapore’s sprouts, because they are crunchier and juicier(this sounds weird).

Oh, I just remembered, today we watched a performance at the last island we visited. It turns out that two of the female performers were males. One was the emcee, and the other was a dancer. At first, I was like ‘Dang that girl is so pretty and tall. I’m jelly.’ But then when they said he was a guy, I was like, ‘Wow. So unfair. He’s prettier than me.’ >.< but he had a deep voice when he started singing.the whole class was wondering if the dancer was really a female or not. And when they finally know he was a guy, the whole class was in an uproar.

But the really astonishing revelation and is the one about the emcee. I had no doubts at all that he was not female, and I just(like, just) knew that the emcee was also a male as well! Wow, totally didn’t see that coming. But I really admire them. Especially the dancer. But that’s not for now. But the performance also gave me quite a shock. I mean, I half expected tribal dances, but I never would’ve thought there will be something like a strip show. The dancer didn’t strip or anything, but the dance was something that didn’t fit in with the environment, nor something that we should see as students. I hope I don’t have to watch that ever again.

Frankly, I can’t exactly recall what we did on the islands and during the trips these two days because the rain plus the speed at which the guide goes just made the whole trip seem like a blur, and I’m really a little disappointed. But oh well, what is done is done.

And I think I’m coming down with a cold. T.T I’m having a sore throat, and lots of phlegm. How does that even work?! Psht. If I really am sick tomorrow, then I’m gonna spam my Panadol. Need to study… T.T

But right now, I need to sleep. I still haven’t mastered the art of sleeping on the bus without having a neck crick nor ending up with a headache. XP

Tomorrow is study day~ but I will sleep at least more than seven hours today first. Or else I’m gonna die tomorrow. Yay~ sleep in!!!!! shooo sleepy right now...

Goodnight! Peace out~ ^ ^

me and Jovin~ a little bored while waiting to check into the hotel...

I photobombed them kekeke XP

then Jovin squished me...

me and Kristine :D

that weapon looks scary >.<

The whole scenic area is rebuilt to resemble the ancient city of that time of the Battle of the Red Cliff and the
Three Kingdoms period I think. there are lots of things i saw that we see in the movies that i see here. altitude might not be as high as the Wu Dang Mountains, but the view is beautiful too. the buildings and the rich history of the place is really captivating. too bad the weather had to ruin our fun.

P.S. i just realised i didn't get the picture of the Red Cliff. oh well. >.<