Day 5, Week 1 in Wuhan, China

Looks Familiar?

Seems like the Changi Airport Control Tower....

Hey, this ain't so bad. Can i have 1 more, please?

Wuhan's Version of Bugis Street.



Having a try on BBQ Mutton Satay, China Version
Happened to be very spicy......
Need Water.....


Me, Sasireika and Hwee Ping at the back of the taxi.
Looks as though we are behind bars or something

What We Did

Today was a Sunday, and as we did not have any activity for the day, we decided to get up slightly later instead.

We woke up at around 8.30am and headed down to have breakfast with Sasireika and Hwee Ping. We chatted while we ate our breakfast. We also talked about getting a Rice Cooker to prepare our own meals throughout the entire Programme as the food sold at the Canteen is very oily. Not only that, a large amount of salt is used as well. We asked Mr. Ma and Mr. Chua about it and he they mentioned that we were not allowed to do so. I guess they were being concerned about our health as we have a higher chance of getting food poisoning. They were also concerned about finances as well.

Following that, we also did our Laundry and carried out housekeeping as well. At first, I did not know how to even do laundry. Thankfully, Sebestian taught me how to carry out my laundry. Initially, I thought it would take a very long time to do them. Surprisingly, I managed to complete them within a matter of 30 minutes. We also mop the Apartment and our respective rooms. We also decided to place our footwear at the entrance so as to ensure that the cleanliness was maintained.

After having Lunch at the Canteen, we headed to the Shopping District of Luxiang Street. Based on the directions provided by Chee Yong, we decided to check out the night market “Pu Chian”. We decided to walk down to the street. We did not expect that we would take about and hour to reach our destination. We thought we were able to reach within a matter of 20 minutes. We eventually found out that 1cm on the map is actually 20 minutes on foot. We were extremely exhausted but we managed to enjoy some of the unique flavors of the food that was being sold. We ate bing tang hu lu (A Candy usually consumed by royalty in the past. It is also known as Candy Haw) and Cake in a Cup (A mixture of of fesh fruits, cake and whipped cream).

On the way, to the night market, we passed by a streets of sports apparel and shoes. I managed to get a deal by buying a Nike Shirt at 40 Yuan. I managed to get a discount from 48 Yuan, which was the original price. The shirt was of good quality as well.

Upon reaching the night market, we went looking out for the best bargains available. However, we had to be careful as some products may not be of such high quality, even though they come in low prices as well. We did not eat dinner, but we ate some roadside food instead. We decided to eat Mutton Satay-Chicken Style. I felt it was pretty good, even better than Singapore’s version of the Satay. I needed to take a lot of water to quench my thirst as the spices and chili powder almost burnt my throat. We walked around the area for about a hour and a half. As night fell, we decided to move out of the place and head back to the hostel campus.

On the way back, we came across a lady who was calling out for help. At first, I didn’t what she was asking of us to do. When we came closer, we got a rude shock when we saw her car being stuck over a large concrete slab. We had no idea how she got into that situation, but we decided to help her out. With the help of few other guys, we tried to pull the vehicle to a side. It was extremely heavy. I simply never carried such a heavy object such as a car before. After several attempts in bring the car out of its sticky situation, we finally managed to get it on the ground. The lady thanked us profusely and even offered to give us some form of reward. We politely declined her offer and moved on.

We decided to get a taxi to bring us back to Campus, but we found it simply too hard to hail one. Thankfully, we had the assistance of a lady who was in the vicinity who helped us to hail a taxi. I simply couldn’t understand what she was saying as she was speaking in Chinese in a different accent. Both Sebestian and Hwee Ping were helping to translate for us. She suddenly spotted a cab at a distance and told us to run for it. At first, I was taken aback, but I simply gave chase. I was startled at the speed the lady was running in the midst of heavy traffic, with high heel footwear. She managed to control herself pretty well indeed. She stopped the cab and ensured that we were all on board before she left. We really owed her, as she managed to get us a cab during the peak time of traffic.

On the way back, we headed towards the Bakery to buy some bread for the next day, as we weren’t comfortable with the food in the Canteen. Not only that, we also had to report early the next day as we had to attend a lesson by a guest lecturer from WUST at 8am. After all, First Impression counts.

What We Think

We learnt that hailing a taxi in Singapore and China are not the same. We experienced that in the Streets of Wuhan. If I were to stand and hail a taxi in Singapore, I would get one within a matter of minutes. However, in Wuhan, getting a cab does not seem to easy at all. No matter how long you wait, you would not get a cab. We would have to practically stop the vehicle, just to board it, like standing in the middle of the road.

The food in Singapore and Wuhan are slightly similar but the food prepared in Wuhan is much spicier and hotter than Singaporean Food. I only happened to realize that with my first bite of the BBQ Mutton that I ate at the roadside stall. I ended up drinking an entire bottle of water.
We also got exhausted by assuming that the time needed to travel from one shopping district to another. The map’s scale is not always indicated on the map. We would have to make prepare beforehand the route we are intending to travel, the location and how we intend to get there as well.