Day 17 - Giant Bear

We had our Physiology lecture this morning, learning about Blood. It was quite an interesting topic. After lunch, Yan Fang, Melissa, Eddy, Dion, Carol and I, the six of us went out to 名众乐园 for shopping. It was the first time we went out without the accompaniment of the local students. Scary but great experience! Since there were 6 of us, we split into 2 groups and took cabs to our destination. We were worried that the drivers may purposely bring us around, taking the longer route so that he would be able to earn more money. Luckily, this did not happen. Both trips cost around the same, which is about 30 yuan. That’s S$6 for 3 people! J Oh ya, while waiting for cabs, a local actually offered us a ride, but we rejected. In China, some locals who are not taxi drivers may give others a ride, charging at lower prices. This is definitely not appropriate in Singapore.

When we reach our destination, the first obstacle we met was to cross over the road to reach the other side. Usually, the local students would accompany us but now, we are all alone. So, we followed the locals and reach the opposite side safely.

Shopping began!  

After a whole day of shopping, all of us felt really tired and we went to kfc for dinner. The staffs were not friendly at all. They don’t even wear a smile on their faces. I guess that’s because of the long queue which made them feel annoyed.

After all the shopping has been done, we headed back to dorm. It was about 7-8pm then and it was hard to get a cab. The traffic was chaotic, probably because of the peak hour. Getting a cab during peak hours can be a difficult task. You’ve got to be fast and quick, or else some others would have gotten it. After a long time, we finally managed to get on the cabs.

Waiting for cabs.

Oh ya! Eddy bought a huge bear for his sister. It costs only 99 yuan, which is not more than $20. It’s really worth but there may be some problem bringing it back. Haha! We were joking that maybe the bear needs an air ticket J

Me on the cab.

And here's Yan Fang.

Eddy.

Me with the big bear.

Yan Fang and the bear.

Anyway, here are two photos i took this morning in the campus.

This pair of cute grandparents! They are going to shop for groceries, i guess.

Look at the crowd! It's their lunch time and everyone is rushing to the canteen for lunch. I can't imagine this scene happening in Np.

That’s all for today! Seeya! J

Reflection: It’s the first time we went out without the local students around. I must say it’s a great experience though scary. We met many different obstacles like crossing the dangerous road, getting a cab and rejecting a weird driver. We tried bargaining too! It was a great experienceJ

One thing we realized today was that in China, not only they have cabs; they also have another alternative, which is motorbikes-taxi. What do I mean by that? It’s actually taxi, but the vehicle used is motorbike! I saw a motorbike carrying 3 people; 2 passengers plus a driver. How dangerous is that?

Another thing we realized was that the taxi drivers do not drive slowly like how some of them do in Singapore to earn more money. Instead, like what Yan Fang said, they drive like F1 racers! Haha! It’s quite dangerous though, as they would change from lane to lane without giving signals.