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