Day 11 - 4 September 2008
Today is Thursday! Meaning? 8.15 am IS lecture by Xiaoling 老师 followed by Mr Puah's BPE. Today's IS lecture is about the History of China. Hmm. as I mentioned before, the lecture is kind of refresher course for me. =P
As for BPE, today is a bit special. There are 2 Chinese lecturers (or Teachers or Students, I not sure. But more like the staffs la) sat in Mr Puah's lecture. RESULT? Everyone was very attentive and 乖 so that the Chinese staffs would not have a bad impression of Singaporeans. LOL. Talking about this, (my personal view), the intent for such behaviour is incorrect. Somehow, everyone (subconsciously) knows that a well-behaved behaviour should be upheld during lessons at all times, not when there are outsiders sitting in. However, for some unknown reasons, people do not do that. HAIZ.
All right, after lessons, Shiuan Shiuan, Vivien, Teckyi and I decided to go out of campus ourselves (in a small group) without the rest. Shiuan Shiuan got to change her spoilt mouse bought at the computer city yesterday. In addition, we got to change all the spoilt (or should I say, poorer quality) fake iPod earpieces and of course, BUY STAMPS FROM CHINA POST!!!
Hence, after placing our books and laptops in the room, 4 of us went to the bus stop outside school and boarded bus 702 to 宝通禅寺素菜馆to sample the vegetarian food as the elderly uncle (the one we met on the bus yesterday) recommended their food. At the same time, we can sample the food for Andy! =P Yep. the food is not bad, if comparing to vegetarian cuisine standards and reasonable priced! About approx. S$8 per person for 3 dishes, 1 soup and 1 rice dish. The service is good too. The only thing that we did not enjoyed in the restaurant is the ordering of similar dishes. (our mistake la. =.= )
Ohya, Teckyi don't really eat vegetarian food fyi.
In conclusion, the environment and food is good! haha.
Some photos taken at the Vegetarian Restaurant:
After that, we walked to computer city. Hmm. Let me see, approx. 1 km or more? haha. Nevertheless, the walk was enjoyable (sounds weird) as this was the only time we could slowly observe the surroundings and sharing all the nonsense.
Yep. Mission accomplished as we changed the spoilt mouse, earpieces that do not have QC, purchasing those weird weird fishes on behalf of Julian. AND I BOUGHT THE STAMPS I WANTED AFTER 11 DAYS!
BUT here comes the problem. There isn't any post cards available for purchase. =.= I suppose postcards or 名信片will be my target for the next few days!
Speaking about the Post Office, I realised something interesting. Other than handling normal postal duties, they do handle remittance (which Singpost do handle too) and BANKING! apparently, China Post does allow the placement of fixed deposits and Saving accounts! Lol. However, when purchasing stamps, I do observe that there is some lack of organisation in the post office. Somehow the impression of the post office is messy and complicated. Yep.
After that, we told a double decker non-air-conditioned bus to 徐东大街's 销品贸to meet the rest of the people. A wonderful experience as this is the first time talking a double decker bus in China. Anyway, the bus fare is more expensive (RMB1.50) compared to a non-air-conditioned single deck bus (RMB1.20)
On board the double decker bus:
So while waiting for the rest of the class to arrive, the 4 of us went to Walmart first. Yep. THAT WALMART WHICH WE ALWAYS READ IN SCM NOTES. haha. Walmart = Giant = Carrefour. Got my idea? haha. Bought toilet papers and tissue papers before meeting the rest at KFC. Their beloved restaurant.
KFC in China is different from KFC in Singapore. Firstly, they do not serve 'Crispy Chicken'. Only Original. Secondly, they have more burger meals then Singapore. For example, Grilled Chicken. Thirdly, they sell egg tarts too! As expected, KFC do not have chili sauce at all. Like MacDonalds.
After that, the rest went to Walmart while Suelyn joined us to walk around the shopping mall before bus-ed home. =)
Some photos taken at 徐东大街:
Personal views:
Travelling in China is rather easy, I realised. Reason being, every bus stop do have the travel guide. The only problem about this travel guide is that we got to know which street we are going (as they do not show the landmarks nearby, which is the case in Singapore). In addition, travelling in smaller group is much simpler as there are less restrictions and more freedom. Seriously, I don't really like travelling in big groups. However, there are pros and cons. The pros of big group is safety. Yep. thats all for today . =D
