Overall trip reflection by Sze Yi

Overall trip reflections

DAY 1: After the plane landed in Shanghai Pudong Airport, we went off on the bus with the tour guide to have our dinner. During the trip, the tour guide patiently told us and explained some of the unique things that we might catch sight of in our stay here. While hearing him, we also enjoyed the beautiful sight as the bus drive past several incredible infrastructure. Needless to say, the food at the restaurant was pretty good and that was when we realized that it seemed that we were the only ones there, the tour guide then told us that most restaurants in china would normally close at 8pm. When we finally reached our hotel, I was very tired but yet happy that finally I was in china.

DAY 2: We started the day by visiting Cheng huang miao. It is a temple located within the old walled city of Shanghai, however it was surprising to see the familiar sight of Starbucks in the temple.  When we were given time to shop to our hearts' content in Cheng huang miao, this was when I realised it was not like any other temple that I have been to before! There was a great variety of shops in the temple. After all the shopping, we finally left to go to our next location, the Bund. Even thought the sun in the sky was extremely hot, the spectacular view made us change our minds about running off to find shelter. We ended up taking many group pictures. We headed to Book City after that. It was a huge building of seven floors in total, which contains so many books that it was hard to take in after being used to the book stores in Singapore. I bought a bookmark there as a souvenir as the design of the bookmark was so intricate that I just couldn't stop myself. Next we went to the Nanjing Road Pedestrain street.  We were also allowed to shop there and I found out after some time strolling along its streets that these street stores are more ' modern ' as compared to the Cheng Huang Miao and some of the stores are well known such as Forever 21. Today was really a day that was filled with fun, especially since we were allowed to wander around to have a closer look of the area and to shop freely. 

DAY 3:  Today was a special day! This is because we would be going to Shanghai Nanyang High School for a visit, however this meant that we would also have to get ready earlier.  It was pretty embarrassing when we reached the school late as there were some traffic jams during the journey. I felt terrible when I saw the teacher in charge waiting for us and when we got down, he even welcomed us with a huge smile on his face despite us being late. He brought us over to a room where he showed us slides that could let us better understand their culture. Soon after, our buddies entered the room after their lessons were over and were enthusiastically striking up conversations with us in no time. After this was a fun activity where we had to build a paper tower with only an A4 size paper and nothing else. Despite the fun we had at the high school, we had to leave at lunch to have our lunch at a famous restaurant called Hai Di Lao. The service that was rendered to us at lunch was excellent as the waiters were thoughtful. I felt that that experience would be one that I won't forget. We then went to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall with a full stomach and a happy smile. The tour guide would often stop us and point out the special points in the hall so that we would be able to understand more. This visit also made me realize the importance of improving to keep up with other countries like china which are quickly developing. 

DAY 4: We left the hotel to go to Shanghai Nanyang High School like the day before, however this time I felt sad instead of the usual happiness as it would be our last time visiting them. When we reached, we had to go to the parade square where we would see the students assembly which included a workout which we later found out that this was a daily routine. I was amazed at the students' coordination and the way they got in line so quickly and without any unnecessary delay. We went to their classrooms to observe their studying environment after that. The students were attentive and could follow the teacher's words while I encountered difficulties trying to catch up to their speed. When the students were asked questions, they would stand up without any hesitation and straight out say the answers or at least their opinion to the question. This made me realize how fast paced the students were as compared to most students in Singapore. After saying our thanks to out buddies and the teacher in charge, we went to one of china top universities, the Fudan University where we met up with some of our seniors who would be our guides to this school. We were given a tour around the school where our seniors told us more about it and it's students. The schools facilities seemed to be of quite an old age however this did not affect it's rank of being one of the best universities in China. After being told by the seniors their experience of being in the school, I realized that the students there were astonishingly diligent even so to the point that they would reach the classrooms almost 2 hours before the lessons starts so that they could study there. I felt that we have to buck up on being hard working as students from Singapore after seeing their attitude towards learning new things.

DAY 5:  This would be our last day in shanghai. When the 3 hour bus journey was over, we finally reached Hang Zhou. After having our lunch, we arrived in Zhejiang University. It was a university that was concentrated on the merging of design with technology, art and business, where there were many factors and key elements to industrial design. The principle there gave us an introduction to his university through slide shows to further let us understand. After leaving the university, we visited the Qinghefang Ancient Streets where we were given free time to shop again. I felt that it somewhat resembled the Cheng huang miao during our time there. At the end of the day and when dinner was over, our tour guide said his goodbyes as another tour guide would be replacing him. All of us felt sad at this parting as he was a very kind and patient tour guide who would not only crack jokes with us, he would also explain all the locations without getting angry at us even when we did not listen at times. 

DAY 6: Today we went to the yue fei mausoleum. The tour guide explained to us more about the mausoleum and also more about yue fei himself and his contribution to China. When we walked to the inner open space in the mausoleum, I saw something that surprised me. There are 4 statues enclosed, kneeling down in front of the tomb of Yuefei. The tour guide then told us that they were the ones who framed Yuefei, causing his death. The sign above them read "请勿吐痰", meaning to tell the public not to spit on these statues, showing how much the public hated these four figures such that they would even spit on statues that represented them.  After this, we visited the West Lake where we boarded a ferry and went to view the scenery there. On the ferry, the tour guide than began to talk more about the West lake, speaking of a story where it showed how muddy and dangerous falling into the West lake was. When we alighted the ferry, we began to climb the Leifeng Pagoda as there were many other tourists there hence clogging up the lift to the top. It was worth the climb because when we stood at the top, we could see the magnificent view of the West lake from above. Next we went to another part of the Qinghefang Ancient Street where it was quite modernized and began to shop. After that, we had our dinner and left to watch the show , “西湖之夜”. It was a great show with many jaw dropping performances, some of which seemed to require the performers to be very careful as it was very dangerous. It was a show which seemed to make me forget everything else with its great variety of performances, and I enjoyed myself greatly.

DAY 7: This will be our last day in China. After reaching shanghai by bus again, we went to the Qibao Ancient Town. After strolling through the Gibao Ancient Town, I understood the importance of preserving places built in the past despite the troubles which might have been faced through the process of preservation. We will not be able to find an exact replica of this town anywhere else in this world, and that is what makes this ancient town unique. This is because it contains ancient style architecture from the Northern Song Dynasty and this town witnessed great development in the Song Dynasty and flourishment in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, thus it is different from the other towns. By preserving such a town, this would allow the next generation to experience the places that their forefathers lived in and understand more of their culture itself by observing the environment this town has. Then, we set off for Tianzifang. The items sold there were all pretty expensive so even when we were allowed to shop there, I did not buy anything as I had a tight budget. After that, we went straight to the airport where we alighted the plane with heavy hearts and flew back to Singapore. All in all, I felt that this was a enjoyable and eye-opening trip and I was glad that I had the chance to go on such a trip that would let me learn more and enjoy myself at the same time.