Sunday, January 20, 2008
heh. was supposed to have done this like super long ago.
lazy to do it but oh wells. since i'm writing an article for the npcc magazine too.
it may seems abit formal at first but yea. should be alright. (:
can see some chim chim english inside. haha. ms sharm english teacher mah.
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NPCC Overseas Trip to Beijing, China
On the 10 December 2007, we were gathered at Changi Airport, getting ready to leave for Beijing, China. At approximately 10pm, we bid our family farewell and went to check in our luggages. The wait for the plane was a long one as it was delayed for some reason. We almost didn’t manage to catch it as the venue was changed last minute. We boarded the plane and had shuffles here and there to suit our seating preference. Finally, the giant piece of metal soared into the sky for our destination.
The ride was about 6 hours. As we took the midnight plane, most of us were fast asleep shortly after the plane took off (we had our mini-pillow fight :). Once we landed in the capital of China, we were warmly greeted by our tour guide, May, a big contrast with the temperature outside which was 2 degree Celcius I think. She led us to our bus, where Mr Fu, our driver, was waiting. By the time we board the mini-bus, a lot of people were looking at us as we were breathing out of our mouths to see the white mist. We’re childish, but it was fun. :)
We had breakfast and a visit to our first place of interest, their science exhibition centre. It was really cool, and the guys went to play with the snow while the girls froze outside the building, waiting for May to purchase the tickets. We had some time to ourselves and played for quite a long time in the hands-on section. There were the slanted room, where you’ll feel giddy inside and unable to balance; riding a bicycle on a wire; and loads more. Time’s up, and we went to have lunch.
After lunch, we checked into our hotel. We had free time until 4pm so the guys played catching along the corridors, and the girls chatted and watched television. Then we went for an acrobatic show. The performance was great and very entertaining. We had dinner and back to the hotel soon after that. A little complaints here and there due to the air conditioner not functioning and some of our rooms were like sauna, we fell asleep tired from the excitement in the day.
The next day, we had breakfast at the 4th floor of the hotel and went to the biggest jade factory in China. All of the girls bought something and none of the guys did (and I don’t know where is mine now).
We went to visit underground tombs after that. According to the tour guide, everything is now duplicates, due to a massive destruction by some bandits in the 1960s. Had to climb all the way down, and then back up just to see some boxes and a few stone chairs. Then we had lunch before going to the main attraction of the trip, the Great Wall of China. After we climbed to the first stop, some girls couldn’t make it any more as the wind was really cold and difficult to breathe so we had a long rest. The guys almost went to the fourth stop but because of the girls they had to come down.
In the evening, we went to their “Orchard Road” and it was super cold. There was also a night market there and the food sold were out of the ordinary. There were live clams and squids, not surprising, but also sticks of fried centipedes. Eww, gross. The whole street was lined with the food stalls and they have no sense of variety. It’s just turtles, squids, centipedes, clams, turtles, squids, centipedes, clams. The list just keeps on repeating itself.
Also, we went to the Adidas shop, where our TO, Mr Sim, bought some stuffs. Then there was this wide street where the guys walk in all sorts of formations (act cool~). Dinner was next and we had a ride around to see the nightlife in Beijing. Back to the hotel, the girls were teaching each other card games (daidi) and watched a television program on horoscopes. The guys were playing card games in their room too. Later on, I realized that my nose was bleeding but because it was so cold, the blood dried up inside before it even flowed out.
Day 3. A visit to the Forbidden City (Winter Palace). It’s really just a huge piece of land with nothing interesting. Had rickshaw rides around their so called village some where near Forbidden City. Then it was the Summer Palace, which is 4 times larger than the Winter Palace. They really have a lot of space eh? And it was dinner then back to the hotel.
Day 4. It’s shopping time! Went to this damn big supermarket. Bought lots of jelly beans and sweets! Then there was this Anti-Japanese museum and the Marco Polo Bridge right next to it. There are lions statues lined up along the whole bride and all of it are different. Lunch, and then to this place called Temple of Heaven. There was this Echo Wall and if you say something on one side of it, the person at the other end can hear you. But unfortunately, there were a lot of people trying it out so it wasn’t really accurate. Wanted to take photo with our banner there, but the people on duty won’t allow us cause it seems as if we are claiming it as our territory. On the way back to the hotel, we sang random songs in the bus like, Home (the national day song), and May requested us to sing our school song. As we went back to the hotel early that day, there was nothing to do so had card games all the way until it was time to sleep.
Last day. Woohoo! Did some last minute shopping and the sales people are really scary. Once you stop at their shop, they won’t let you off unless you buy something from them. Then it was lunch, before going to the airport. Another last minute shopping at their duty free shops and it was time to board the plane back to Singapore! Sad thing was. I forgot about the banner and left it in the duty free shop. :(
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there was supposed to be this part where me and yy was sick.
but i forgot when was it so didnt add it in.
anyway. what happened was.
when i was sick, the girls took turn to take care of me through the night. (so touched)
my temperature was 36.4*C and i didnt see the fuss in that but ms sharm was like:
she's very cold now. those taking care of her becareful. she may have a high fever later. -.-
miraculously. i was well the next day. (:
however, in yy's case. her illness was more serious than mine.
she kept vomitting and having a headache.
even after we reached singapore, she was still abit unwell. ):
yepps. guess that's all to it. got to iron my uniform now.
thanks to this, i didnt manage to do a single homework. XD
it is FINISHED @ 21:48
