At the start of the trip while we were gathering at Changi Airport, I felt very excited as this was the start, the very start of the journey I would have with my friends and teachers, to shanghai, a place I have not been to even though I have been to other parts of China before.During the flight, i kept on picturing what would the rest of the trip be like. I started to think of a modernized and busy city with many ppl on the streets. Tall shining skyscrapers like singapore, and maybe even numerous sites of construction. However, when I got to see it for myself and not through imagination, it did not differ much from my imagination, except that there were not many pedestrians on the streets, possibly becos it was late in the night. First, we had our dinner at this restaurant. It looked quite nice on the outside, and the interior was quite special. The meal there was overall still not bad, although the 小笼包was not that nice, and the vegetables were quite salty, coupled with the fact that we had to finish all of it, but we still had our fill. Our hotel looked plain on the outside but plush inside. The lobby looked quite interesting to me, and the hotel rooms are clean and cosy even though maxsaid it sucks when I showed him the photos. It was just a little different compared to our hotels in singapore.
Day 2-
We visited the Cheng Huang Miao. It was a classic example of a chinese temple with many statues and inscriptions of Buddhism. There, we looked through and found it to be quite an interesting place. As modern day students, we do not get much exposure to religions, not mention having the time and effort to put down schoolwork and visit a temple. Later in the afternoon, we visited the Book City, where we were met with a whole array of books, as spectacular as libraries. There, I managed to find a few books that were quite interesting and bought them. After that, we visited Nanjing Road, which was a whole street of shopping, in a very big contrast from the old and historic aura that Cheng huang Miao gave out.
Day 3-
Today we went to the Shanghai Nanyang High School, where we entered a room to listen to a speech given by the teacher on the history of both China and the school. After the speech, we interacted with the students from the high school even though we were able to communicate with them, it still proved to be quite a challenge when they asked us a few chim questions in chinese! After all, they were a few years older than us... After the endeavor in the Shanghai Nanyang High School, we went to Hai Di Lao to have our lunch. With the experience in Hai Di Lao, I can say that the service they provided us was exceptional, but the food provided was just a bit little. Following, we went to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, to learn more about Shanghai's urban planning and history. We could see the differences of each part of Shanghai through the help of a large map. Through this trip, we could understand how China was slowly transforming into a modern and urbanized country.
Day 4-
Today was also another visit to the Shanghai Nanyang High School, but this time we were given a full tour of the whole school and also took part in their morning exercise. After that, we attended their lessons of every subject, and we found out about their attentiveness and alertness to the teachers lesson, which left us in awe. After leaving the school, we went to dreamworks company building, which was a place of plush and high tech. Seeing a lot of pictures of awesome cartoons and movies made us even more excited during our tour of the building and lessons of how the pictures and animations were produced.
Day 5-
This was the day that we left Shanghai for Hangzhou, and our first destination was Qinghefang. There, we walked through the old and narrow streets filled with many vendors selling all sorts and kinds of things, both traditional and modern. Walking through the busy and squeezy streets was a joy, occasionally popping into different shops to see what was inside. It was a wonderful time to relax and enjoy the trip. Today was also the day where we had to bade goodbye to our hilarious and informative tour guide, and we would be having another tour guide to lead us through the next two days.
Day 6-
We visit the Yue Fei Mausoleum, where the famous words"精忠报国" appeared at every corner of the place. We visited the place with much awe, seeing the many pictures and statues of the hero, Yue Fei. After this visit of the Yue Fei Mausoleum, we went to the West Lake to enjoy the scenic view of the lake and its surroundings. Also, we got to find out a story of how somebody fell and drowned in the west lake, that left some of us in fear I guess. At night, we got to see a show of never ending exhilaration and interesting performances. However, I have to admit that most of us fell asleep when given the ambient surrounding of darkness, air conditioning and a comfy chair :)
Day 7-
It was the last day of the trip and we went to both the Qibao guzhen and Tianzifang. It was both great areas of shopping and even though it was hard to find something to buy for ourselves, we still enjoyed the experience of walking through the streets nevertheless. With a happy ending, I can conclude that not only did the trip go well for us, it also was a successful trip of both learning and enjoyment.
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