DAY 1
Today, woke up at as early as 2am, and headed for the Changi International Airport,Singapore. There, many friends had already arrived, with the earliest at 1.30 am. Some were already checking-in the moment the gates opened. Call that a typical Singaporean. The journey itself lasted seven and a half hours, from 5 till 12 pm later in the day including a transit at Shenzhen airport, so, we had our meals on board, not to forget the experience of witnessing the sunrise on board, above all. As there was a time constraint for the whole trip, there was no time for a five minute break. Immediately we were on our way to the very first destination of the nine day programme. We went to Da Ming Lake, Jinan, which was a historical site, what else, in fact each and every site was historical! There, Daniel was busy buying ten hot dogs already! Well, I agree that it may be a lot, but lunch was only 2 hours after our breakfast. Next stop: Bao Tu spring. Amazingly, there were at least two hundred springs in such a small area, in fact, they were spaced just metres away from each other. Next, we went to Quan Cheng Square, where everyone was busy shopping, a few friends became about Rmb 500 poorer...
Dinner was entertaining, shawn, the "table's fool"(not an official name), would always be there to give the party an atmosphere of great fun and jokes, which just went on for days until yesterday.
DAY 2
Today was back to school again, to be with Jinan No.8 Middle School. First up, something which I expected to miss actually came up first: Computers! But a pity everything was in Chinese, so there was actually quite a great difficulty in trying to keep up with the class.Next was a short exercise session which lasted ten minutes. Seems like that was their daily routine. At four thirty that afternoon, the principal gave the 16 of us a tour around the school. Their computers may be out-dated, but nonetheless, the Science labs looked more superior to those in our school. Boy won't our own Science teachers be envious of China's Science teachers! After that was a short basketball match against the school's very own professional basketball team. In terms of
a Pro, indeed they were.We were so close to beating them flat. As soon as the match ended at 5Pm, it was like 7.30pm in Singapore, as it was dry winter in China.DAY3
Today, The thing I was interested in was theEnglish lessons. I could actually score a full hundred marks for their test! In was so downright simple to do! Maybe, even the failure of my class could even score high marks for the test.Next up was the PE, it was intensive training for everyone who were preparing for the afternoon games. At four-thrity again, we were getting ready for the games, and it was quite fun too, although it was only what wedid in Primary school. Actually about ten minutes before that, students, especially girls, crowded around someof us to know about our Singapore and life there.Seems to me like they really want to see the outside world.
DAY4
So, The last day of the main purpose of the immersion programme. Everyone was busy exchanging autographs, especially the fourteen of us. We were all chased around by many students every corner we turned. Where there is light, they will come. It was like a mob, We were all followed by them, as though we were stars, and that was something I did not really experience before. That evening, there was a farewell party for the 16 of us, afterwhich we went back to our class to receive many more souveniors, but of course, before that i had already given mine away, including our very own currency. They liked it. That night, there was good news. The students would be coming to our school somewhere during the first quarter of next year!That, was according to Mr Chia, our principal, who had earlier signed an agreement with Jinan's No.8 Middle School principal.
DAY5
We were very relaxed today, with the main focus and all the stress gone, the happy and freedom of going on the next four days of tour musked the odour of our exhausted smiles. Today, we went to climb Mount Tai, one of the top five mountains in China,It is ranked at the top, as it attracts many visitors and tourists annually, and mountain climbing competitions are also held here annually. I never expected the climb to be so tough, even those back-straining training during my NCO course could not be compared to it. After we reached the top, where the winds were so strong our hoods were blown off our heads. We were laughing at pour potential, which at first we were not confident of scaling the mountain, but after some strong determination, we made it, by ourselves. That, was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime experience!After lunch, we went on to a tea factory, where I parted with RMB 200 to buy some top-grade tea leaves.Fernando was sweating the whole night, could be because of the tea?
DAY6
An hour's journey to Qufu, a town located in the Shan Dong province. There, we went to places only related to one person, Confusius. The monuments there were simply amazing, with some tablets written by the late emperors of ancient China themselves at least two thousand years ago. One of the buildings built in Confusius' temple, survived an earthquake years ago, and still stands as the only monument ever to survive the communist revolution which caused widespread destruction to many monuments in China.That night, we had a Confusius Family Banquet, which was a replica to what they ate thousand's of years ago.
DAY7
Today was Monday. two hour's journey to Wei Fang, the thrid and last town in our destination list for the whole immersion programme. We headed for the Ancient ceramics museum in Zibo, the halfway point during our journey. There, I think that was the place I took one of the most photos. Many artefacts, both new and old. The most recent was just months ago, while the oldest dates back to thousands of years ago.That afternoon, I went with two other friends, Caleb and Fernando on a shopping spree of about 2 and a half hours. There, we played computer games for an hour, thirty minutes of arcade games at a small arcade, and went to search for MP3 players and ear phones. As we came unprepared, we did not really have much money with us. So, our effort was quite wasted when we found some products of good quality and deal. Back at Fu Hua Hotel, the last, which was a five star hotel, nine others were playing a "dirty" game of "Truth-or-dare", in which they were challenged to a few embarrassing questions or stunts whenever a roulette pointed at them. That Fateful night, I went back to the hotel, only to find that S$100 was MISSING from my envelope. Surprisingly, the clothes above it were left intact, as before. Those theives must be highly experienced. But, nevertheless, we still went to play four hour's worth of bowling, billards, and ping pong. That was the only time that I sweat qutie a bit.
DAY8
Today, went to a famous district in Weifang, where it was reknown as a kite metropolis in the World. We all went to a Factory, Where coincidentally, it had my surname. But more surprisingly, 80% of the town's people had that surname, so don't tell me that I belonged there?There, we experienced the factory life there by making certain parts of a kite. Before leaving, we bought some kites. Next went on to the Shan Wang fOSSIL MUSEUM. There were fossils of many kinds, insects, marine animals, plants and ancient herbivores. That night, the Last night in Shan Dong, we went back to fU hUA HOTEL, to have two hours of play of ping pong. We found out, no that should be since yesterday, that since we were living in the hotel, we could enjoy a 30% discount.
DAY9
Today, the last day in Shan Dong, we retraced our steps, and travelled back to Jinan International Airport, where a flight was waiting for us at 8pm. In the morning, we headed for the Ancient Chariots Museum at nine am. It was located under a highway, as it was where the chariots, together with human and horse remains were found. In the afternoon, after 3 and a half hours journey back to Jinan, we had lunch at a high class, an extremely obvious five star hotel, which seemed to be a town itself! Every building had a special purpose. The restraunt had a Special"B" Grade, inside it was really grand. In the area where we ate our meal, the four corners were all windows which offered a sceneric view of mountains Which grew into the horizon. We then headed to the Yellow river, the second longest in China. There was a bridge, which followed the height of the tide, linking Shan Dong and Beijing together. Next we went back to the place where we shopped the first day. That was the Old Street of Jinan. After two hours, we gathered back on the bus, before the last hour of bus journey to Jinan International airport. The nine days of the Shan Dong Immersion Programme came to a close after the Shan Dong airlines plane, B-737-300 finally touched down on SIngapore soil, in Changi International airport, SIngapore, at 03 20 hours, Singapore time, on Thursday, Deember 1st, 2005. It may have ended, but I feel that all that excitement has only just begun... ...
ALL MEMORIES, ESPECIALLY THE BEST AND MOST MEMORABLE, SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN, BUT ONLY THE WORST AND AGONISING SHALL BE LOST AND WILL FADE AWAY WITH THE HOWLING WIND.
THIS IS THE 2005 IMMERSION PROGRAMME TO SHAN DONG, CHINA, FROM TUESDAY, 22 NOVEMBER, 2005, TO THURSDAY, 1 DECEMBER, 2005.
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