Sayonara, Shanghai

Hey guys,

The student leaders have been caught up with the trip preparations, and hence I haven't got the chance to blog. I'm so excited to go back home, but this few days  has been quite an experience.

All that field trip would go to waste if we fail to find any meaning in them, and I think learning something isn't too hard to find.

As I scroll through my pictures, I feel as though I've seen so much and honestly, I wouldn't be the same when I go back to Singapore. All the things I've been through in this trip made me think of a lot of things, and i am very sure I am not the only one who thinks this way.

We had some reflection today, and we all got so appreciative for our home. Everything i took for granted, only in their absence do you realise dependent on them. The water, the technology, there's just too many to list. Knowing this is one thing, remembering and acting on it is another.

Don't get me wrong, China is a great place, some of us shared how much it has changed for the better. But there's something about home I still prefer. China may not to be my liking, but hey I'm glad I was here to see all this.

I had fun, I had time to play and shop (maybe not enough, haha) and I got time to interact and look at China.  Seeing the world always shape our perspectives, and I think that is what it's doing for me right now. I have a lot on my mind, I honestly don't know what to say here. But, I just want to say that it has been a fruitful trip.

I guess the impetus of my thoughts today was the moving statement Haojie made about us being the next generation for our nation, and went on saying about how are we going to take up that helm. I actually thought about it during this trip, and i feel that many of us still have a long way to go, even for me.

A lot of us need to grow up, you know expand our horizon, learn to do more and stretch ourselves. We have to start doing some thing worth while, and invest time in things more worthy.

That is my burden as I spent the last few days in the trip. As we see all the great stuff happening to us, I just notice that there is some characteristics we share that holds us back, limiting us from our potential. I hope we find an answer to that one day, and I believe it is a team effort.

What I mean is I have truly see how Singapore became such a fantastic country, and what it is being compared to and truly appreciate it, and while i saw that i see my peers, Singaporeans of tomorrow view it and I feel we can do better. We have done well, but still can do even more.

I never thought Shanghai would do this for me, bu hey I'm glad through all that experience I took home some thing personal for me. Good night Shanghai, thanks for everything.

Jerome

Shanghai Study Trip- Day 2(Singapore Pavilion)

The day starts off with a routine wakeup call from my roommate Nabil at 7am. I was so reluctant to get up, however thinking about the breakfast; I dragged myself out of the bed and took a shower.

After breakfast, all of us moved out of our hotel to start on our very first adventure of the day... For Team B(my team), we were attached to the Singapore pavilion and basically our objective were to learn how the pavilion actually works and how the management team controls the amount of crowd that goes in and out of the pavilion. (By right we were supposed to reach the pavilion by 10.30am, however due to some unforeseen circumstances, we were late and we reached at around 11.15am. Fortunately, it was not serious and everything else went as according to plan)J

Upon reaching the pavilion, we were taken on a tour around it by a staff. We first visited the second floor which was the theatre room where we actually sat and enjoyed a 7minute music video clip featuring Singapore as a whole. I really enjoyed myself as i felt that it was an interesting and meaningful video about how Singapore has developed and became such a modernized country from just a plain island with limited resources.

 After that, we were taken to the rooftop garden where there were a wide variety of plants found in Singapore. I was so amazed by it as i never expected there’d be a garden on the rooftop. What’s special about these plants is that they were flown all the way from Singapore, to the pavilion in China. My team and I had a whale of our time there taking pictures of all the exotic and beautiful plant species. It was definitely a eye-catching tour! J

Lastly, we then moved to the first floor of the pavilion whereby it showcases different types of areas which makes up Singapore such as the environment and culture and food. There were displays of the different ethnic costumes found in Singapore. Also, there were galleries which showcases the local food of Singapore such as the famous chilli crab, chicken rice, and also it showcases infrastructures of Singapore and tourist attraction sites such as The Marina Bay Sands, etc..

All in all, i found the tour around the Singapore pavilion to be really interesting and educational, and after the tour, i  felt extremely proud to be called a SINGAPOREAN! J

Peace,

Jeremy.

Exhausted is the word. 

 

This picture depicts how tired all of us are right now. In fact, this picture was a candid picture, we didn’t pose for it!

But today, was probably the most rewarding, interesting, interactive experience most of us had.

We started off the day experiencing public transport in Singapore, which, is not very different. In fact, it is almost just like Singapore! From the way the stations were built, to the interior of the train, it is really similar to Singapore’s SMRT. 

The ticket machine! Just like Singapore's! 

Train tickets, exactly the same as the ones Singapore used a few years ago before EZ Link Cards were created! 

Then we proceeded to the Gallery Suites owned by CTC Travel Agency. It is a boutique hotel and won best boutique hotel in 2010. I have to say that it is really pretty much different from the hotels that we usually stay in. The lightings, furniture and building design, is really unique. Look at how vintage their telephone looks like and how mini their mini-fridge is!! I would definitely love to stay in this hotel once one day.

After that....................

We FINALLY managed to experience and practice the art of BARGAINING!! It is really something we hardly get to experience in Singapore, in fact, never at all. I guess to many of us, the shopping was the highlight of the day. Everything is soooo cheap!!

We visited Cheng Huang Miao today as well. My friends and I tried the different delicacies Shanghai had to offer. This, the “Tang Bao”, is stuffed with soup! After that, we tried Fried Crab in Pepper! Apparently, the people in China eat every single bit of the shell as well!! 

Had dinner at the Yu Shanghai, the theatre show was really interesting! The acrobats were really impressive, from the way they did their splits and somersaults, everyone was simply stunned! 

Went to the bund after dinner and show, many many many pictures were taken! It is such a romantic and nice place to chill!  

Going back to the expo tomorrow, our last and final day at the EXPO, I’d better cherish every moment I have inside it tomorrow so good night while I take a rest.

Second Thoughts

Day 2 in Shanghai and I say, i am tired. So I decided that I'm going to "emo" and keep myself preoccupied in the Singapore pavilion today.

Little did I know today was a blast. Okay not that awesome yet, I mean it's only day 2, but it was pretty cool.

The first 2 groups were on shift at the Singapore pavilion today, and we honestly felt really proud of our pavilion.  Find out about our pavilion here. To be honest, the write ups, photos and including this blog-post will be a huge understatement to the pavilion. You have to see it to believe it, or rather be here to truly accredit its worthiness.

These flowers are found on the roof garden, the leopard skin hybrid orchid(left), and the Scarlett Star (right). 

The fauna I saw there impressed me. I know, there are flowers and trees, green everywhere at home, but really these flowers are amazing. (Credits to the Canon that I'm using, the photos I took actually looks decent. Haha.)

I am truly amazed at our country, and I strengthen my sentiment on appreciating Singapore more. I guess these things are just one of those reminders that make you realise the things you take for granted and appreciate them. You should read the other blogs to find out about the Singapore pavilion, there is just so much to talk about that is good!

                                

For once in his life, Nabil is sooo cute, all the girls go "awwwwww" and everyone can't resist laughing at his gestures and snapping on the cam furiously. Hahaha I'm kidding. Here, Nabil is the "Little Durian Boy" (direct translated) the mascot for our nation's pavilion.

After a long day. We had some time at Nanjing road. We had a great time there, although I must say I am a little disappointed that I didn't get to buy much stuff. Nevertheless, I was really satisfied. I shan't say more, I shall let the pictures (guided by captions) do the talking.

                   

Priority 2 in Shanghai. EAT XIAO LONG BAO (XLB). We were spamming XLB at some "restaurant" at Nanjing Road. AWESOMEXZXZXZ. (So aweome my outlandish expressions are released, seriously.)

I had Fauna, Fun, Food and to finish off today, I had a dash of FUNNY too.

            

Looking for a great shopping experience? Come to our local adaptations of Singapore Brands! Clio coddle (in contrast to Crocodile) and Plaza 353 (in contrast to Somerset 313). Click on the links to compare :)

Ahhh, the genius of brand associations, or not.

All right, that's all from me today, folks. Read the posts of my fellow student committees to find out more of the amazing stuff we're experiencing. Till tomorrow.

Jerome

China Pavillion-Day 2

My day started off with a good breakfast at the hotel, most of the food I tried was nice. The pity part was I didn't have more time to enjoyed the food, thus I will wake up earlier for my breakfast tomorrow! (I should say later (>.<)

After our breakfast, we proceeded to the World Expo and the journey from our hotel to the Expo is about 1 hour. But we took more than an hour due to traffic jam and seriously traffic in China is really^10 dangerous. Though we took more than an hour to arrive at the Expo, the good thing is the queue to go into the Expo was rather short and efficient as most visitors will rush in early in the morning bout 8am plus, upon our arrival it's already about 10am plus.

Today, we were split into 2 group as one group will be helping out at the Singapore Pavilion and the other will visit the China Pavilion. My group were to visit the China Pavilion and we queued for approximately 2 hours to get into the Pavilion and WE WERE ALREADY AT THE PRIORITY QUEUE!!!! Can you imagine if we were to queue like normal visitors? The waiting time will be about 5 hours. (Look at the above picture, you will know how horrible is the queue!) But I have to say the time spent queueing for the Pavilion was worth what we get to see inside. On the 12 floor (yes you didn't see wrongly, I typed 12 floor and it's not a typo!) they show a video in the theatre of how China had developed thus far till the time of the World Expo. Another part worth mentioning about the pavilion was the tram ride, the tram went through tunnels which they project visual on the walls and tells us how their bridge had been developing. Overall the journey in the China Pavilion was a fruitful and interesting one and the view from there was awesome as it was tall enough to see the other pavilions. 

After our China Pavilion, we went to Singapore Pavilion to meet the project managers that were the in-charge over there. They told us about how long they had been preparing for it and the whole pavilion was built from scratch! From the design to the construction of the pavilion. Oh and we met the mascot for our Singapore Pavilion, it has a durain head and a body with merlion on the stomach, (I'll share the picture if I am able to upload them.) it was actually quite cute and they said the mascot was very famous in the Expo. =)

Then, we proceeded to Nan Jing Road for dinner and shopping! (YAYY, everyone was so excited for shopping!) But in the end I didn't buy anything as there was no enough time. :( But my dinner was fun though the food is kind of horrible. We went in a group of 12 with 4 year 2s (including me) and 8 year 3s. We end up enjoying our chit chat way better than our food.

After dinner we proceeded back to hotel and THAT IT FOR THE DAY! =D

Bye bye and I need to complete my workbook before going to sleep. :/

-Li Ming


Guess who is inside the mascot? Answer reveal tomorrow!

Day 2- AHHH our legs!!!

It is only Day 2 and our legs are already screaming 'HELP! We need a massage badly!!!'. It has been like a really long time since we walked so much. We may sound like we are exaggerating but I think we might have even covered 10km today. Looking on the bright side, all that distance covered was good because I bet we lost calories from all that snacking in Shanghai (the Sofie ice cream sold in the Expo is really delectable).

So for today, the 60 of us were divided into 2 groups. 1 went to the Singapore Pavilion for a detailed tour, and the other went to the China Pavilion. Our teams together with Li Ming and Nabil's were the ones who went to the much talked about China Pavilion where we queued for approximately 2 1/2 hours.

China Pavilion is as huge as it looks from the outside. And I must say we were impressed with the host country's pavilion. Not only was it magnificent looking on the outside, the interior was also nicely decorated and designed. Tell me, which other country have escalators and lifts in their pavilion?  

There were a number of things to see inside. They explained how they have improved over the years through a video projected over 3 screens (right left and center) in a large theater, educate the public on ways they can help save the Earth (taking a private car causes more pollution than trains or buses), showcase the famous painting by a late emperor through animations (we were all fascinated by it and marveled at the efforts and skills that went into making the painting 'come to life') and even have a track car ride. If you ask me if it was worth the wait, I'd say definitely!

We were supposed to watch the night parade in Expo but somehow got the timing fixed up and missed the show. As a result, we headed to Nanjing Road for dinner and some shopping.

Nanjing Road is like Orchard Road which houses recognisable brands like Gucci, Guess, Giordano, Uniqlo, ZARA, MANGO, City Chain and the likes. Unfortunately, the prices there were about the same or a little pricey than Singapore's. We left empty handed because we did not see anything worth buying. At the moment. Haha! However, I have to add that we had wonderful crepes and ice cream at Hua Miao Shopping Centre (if I remembered correctly) Each cost 15RMB (approx. $3SGD)? Quite a bargain given the fact that the crepes in Singapore cost at most $7.

What we learnt about China today: Don't look down on them! Sharlene said in 5 years time, we might not be able to regconise Shanghai anymore due to the constant upgrading they are undergoing. I heard from our tour guide that it took them a year to complete an MRT line. That's how efficient they are! They currently have 13 MRT lines and we will experience taking the public transport soon but I'll leave that update to another day.

It's time to head to bed now and recharge for another long day tomorrow. Good night, or perhaps it's more apt to say GOOOOOOOOD MORNING! Hehe :p

PS: We would really love to post pictures and not bore you with a lengthy post but unfortunately we can't seem to host our pictures online. Will try to do so this week or when we get back to Singapore. For now, bear with us and check back frequently! :)

- Sharlene & Amanda

Day 2, adventure

Tonight, I'm going to concentrate much about food. We all know how much of an importance of the food and berverage industry is to each country.

Starting with breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. Poridgge, Egg station, Pastries and bread, Sushi (??) was served, there you see that it's international; like the guests of the hotel.

Lunch was icecream and some Phillipino dessert. A few of us sneaked into the Phillipino pavillion ;) by a secret backdoor (It was a rather small pavillion with maybe almost equal amount of display artifacts and sales item).  So about lunch, I asked one of the staff serving there, what was the dessert made of, as it tasted really familar yet I could not put a name to it. He was unsure and said he would check with the chef. Little did I know that, he came back with almost the recipie to making the dessert. That service impressed me very very much, afterall he has no obligation to come back to me at my table. They had live bands/performance playing constantly in the pavillion, intrustments ranges from electric painos to drums made of animal skin and hair.

Music + dessert = good combination however I would grade the overall experience a 10/10 even though the pavillion was small due to the unexpected service given by the staff.

Teabreak was a lamb sausage in the Australian pavillion, it was recommended and turned out really flavourful. Had it while watching a old black and white chinese film with accompany music for a 5 member instrumental band. (Aussie pavillion has this focus area of how Austrailia is made of many immigrants and that they have this sistery bond with China. Think Sydney and Shanghai being sisters)

Dinner was in a tiny shop at some alley at Nanjing Road. It was a gamble, for we doubted the hygiene in the shop and it was very crowded but none of us would want to have fastfood or other globalised restaurant for dinner. The main attraction of the shop was Xiao long baos!!! So we stayed and fought for a table that could hold 7 of us. (Cheryl, MeiYu, Jerome, Alexis, Jeremy & Yong Rui) Its really cheap though, 20 excellent xiao long baos, 1 plate of fried rice, 1 bowl of tiny wanton soup + 4 fried juicy meat bun = 74 RMB for 3 of us ( 5 SGD each)

Thats all for tonight; food! Yummy day today yea ;)

'Delora