3rd Sept 09
A free day for us to vist the city and go shopping. (urgh, hate shopping but since I'm already here, I might as well make the best out of it.) So we went out nice and early and caught a bus into one of the bigger malls in town. When we reached, we all split up to do our own walking and we breezed through the stores. So it was 2.20 pm when Edah, Hajar and I decided it was high time we headed back to the hostel. The rest wanted to continue to shopping. Edah led the way to the busstop to wait for the bus that will pass by the hostel and we settled down to wait at 2.30pm. We waited like idiots, wait I'll take that back. I waited like an idiot from 2.30pm all the way to 4.24pm. What a fine way to spend the rest of the afternoon. At 4.24pm, the rest of the group that had decided to continue shopping all reached the bus stop. I was wallowing in despair when the bus finally came at 4.30pm. We waiting for 2 whole hours for a bus that only took less than half hour to send us back to the campus. It was really horrible.
This is probably another difference between SG and China. There is no specific timing at which the buses come at. To top it off, when the people are boarding the bus, everyone is rushing in from both doors. Oh, and their system is not like that of SG's. They had a person who collects the fare and issues tickets but the card system similar to that of our EZLink emerging in the newer air-conditioned bus.
4th Sept 09
Nothing much today. We were brought to see our classroom for the time we were going to stay in China. I'll post the photos on the first day I officially start class =)
Following that, it's free time. So some of the class went out to continue shopping while I went back to my laptop. =)
We are going out overnight tomorrow. We are going to stay in a hotel. Not that I'm looking forward to it, I'm just looking forward to a cleaner toilet. =D
5th Sept 09
Woke at early but due to the laziness in my bones, I decided to laze abit more before rousing myself. Everything was prepared and off we went. It was a 3 hours 40 mins ride, full of honking and bumps in the road. I really mean it. Imagine if you can eat the sound of honks from our bus, it would probably feed me for 3 years. Every 5 mins the driver will sound the horn and it's not really the short horning sounds. He will drag the sound in the period of time he tries to overtake the vehicle in front of him. The whole journey was filled with the sounds of horns. Even my dad don't sound the horns that many times in 5 years. SG dun allow this kind of horn blasting, probably taking into account of the proximity of the housing areas. Another difference between SG and China I guess.
After reaching LuLin Resort, we headed off to lunch before going for the river rafting. No electronics allowed, so no pictures. =) I had troubles trying to figure out how to paddle. URGH! Lucky Tony's my other partner. Otherwise I think I'll probably take 10 hours to reach the end point. The river cuts between the various mountains. With the sounds of nature and the flowing of the water, it really felt like I was no longer in China, really calming and relaxing. That's something you cant really find in SG due to the land restrains and terrain.
Following that, we went ahead to the 美人谷 (beauty' valley would be the direct translation). The scenary is, well, see for yourself.
Overall, I would sum up this trip as a fruitful one. During the trip, we learnt about a small part of China's history and we got to enjoy the beauty of nature and the horse riding, which is something we can't find in SG.
There were water falls and huge expanses of crops on the way to the waterfalls. The views were terrific. The people were living so close to nature and even contributed to nature. After enjoying the scenic views, we headed back for lunch and then to to hotel to sleep.
6th Sept 09
We woke early again and took the bus to the 绿林塞 to see the olden fortress and the defences put in place. There were figurines constructed there to give off a feel of what it might had looked like in the past. There were activities like horse riding and archery, neither of which I participated in.
Overall, I would sum up this trip as a fruitful one. During the trip, we learnt about a small part of China's history and we got to enjoy the beauty of nature and the horse riding, which is something we can't find in SG.
7:12 PM