15 ⁰C – Sunny

Honestly speaking, I don’t know how to jot down my feeling today.

Perhaps I was too stoned by the scenery at Three Gorges, or perhaps I was just too exhausted after a whole day event. But I ‘m seriously ran out of ideas to vividly describe my feelings right now.

Maybe the most suitable word to use is awesome.

It’s just too awesome.

With the sunlight radiated out from the sky, the water surface was shining. The mountains images are being reflected onto water surface one by one, forming a floating shadow. It’s just too fascinating to see, greatly amazed by the power of nature.

I felt that I’m so small, to the eyes of nature, not even a single dot.

Anyway, we had a very close contact with Three Gorges today. Haha.

After our breakfast, we’re asked to alight from our cruise and took a ferry from Badong County. On the ferry, we managed to view the nice scenery of Three Gorges. Although it’s only sky, mountains, water, still I felt great.

And guess what? Although the area is rural, still there’re families staying!

According to tour guide, they’re leading a self-sufficiency living system here since long ago. They rely on crops-planting and fishing. And ever since the tourism here starts to prosper, some of them earn money from rowing sampan for bringing tourists around.

Then, we’re asked to alight again, and guess what?

We took a SAMPAN, as we’re leading to the shallow Shen Nong Stream, which is a stream branched from Xi Ling Gorges! But for sure we didn’t get the chance to row it. (Imagine if I rowed it, we all sure had to swim back. Haha)

On the Sampan, I can touch the real Three Gorges water; it’s so cool and refreshing!

And when our sampan came to the shallow part where they cannot row, the sampan tracker started to pull it with man force. In ancient times, they tended to pull the sampan in naked, but nowadays, they’re covered in clothes.

To a tourist, it was a nice experience to be pulled, but to them, it’s such a hard pain to pull 17 people in a boat with force of 6 people.

Thank you, all the boat trackers, you’re really great!

After lunch, our cruise came into the next gorges, Wu Gorges.

I did a long-wanted action, lying down on the deck, admiring the blue sky. It’s so nice, with the gentle wind blow, just like having a sun bath.

And I guess this afternoon was indeed a great day. It’s not because of the beautiful scenery, but a person I met.

I met a grandma.

And she reminded me of my grandma.

Perhaps because she’s resembled to my grandma, that’s why I felt warm, talking to her.

When she talked to me in a soft tone, somehow she reminded me of the tenderness of my grandma. My grandma always taught me and called me in such a soft way when I was young.

She possessed a mild and benevolent countenance.

And her amiable smile just reminded me of my grandma before she got Alzheimer.

They’re just too similar.

I felt blissful, as if I went back the times when I was with my grandma.

All the nice memory just quickly flickered through my mind.

But for a moment, I nearly broke down, when staring into her eyes.

As I can never see my grandma’s eyes again, she’s no longer around.

She left, to a more peaceful place.

And I just wanted to ask a question.

Ah ma, ri ji gu ga ho bo?

Forgive me; I am not in a mood to continue typing.

So I’ll just briefly type out the rest.

At the evening hour, we got into the third gorges, Qu Tang Gorge.

We watched the sun falling down, slowly disappeared from the sea level.

At the night, we went to Bai Di Cheng Temple, and we saw a sample of suspended coffin悬棺 there.

It’s really a mystery of how people execute this burial at the dangerous cliff. It’s actually a custom performed by the southern ethnic group in China. They hang the coffin at the very death-defying cliff. However, up to date, archeologist still cannot figure out how the hang the coffin there.

After that, we went back to cruise and headed back to where we started our journey.

That’s all.

Are you one of the stars in the sky, speculating me?

Labels: Maple's Story

Maple’s Special – 12

There’s always a story behind a successful person. And so, there’s also a story behind the awesome-looking Three Gorges Dam.

Though the 3 Gorges Dam Project is remarkable and finally going to end, this achievement is not solely contributed by the engineers and government. There’re uncountable back crews who sacrifice themselves in order to accomplish this project fruitfully. And the one who sacrifices the most is the people, who are forced to move from their hometown. They’re the greatest victim under the social impact of the dam.

Due to the buildup of the dam, the water level of the river raises from 135m to 185m. The 50m depth causes many places being flooded by the water and this is the reason why million of people have to migrate to other places.

Although the people are really reluctant to leave the places where they live for decades, they still migrate at last, as they want to accomplish the project. Many of them have been living here for generations and have never ever left the place before. The mountain and the river are everything to them, and the skills they have learnt for life are only fishing and growing crops. So, for them to move to a place where they have never even seen before, it’s really a big and tough step.

I remembered the video再说长江 I saw before, it’s so heartbreaking to see them parting with their friends, their hometown, their Yangtze River. All of the residents that are endangered by the project are escorted to other provinces of China, such as Shang Hai上海, Jiang Su江苏, Zhe Jiang 浙江and An Hui Province安徽省. At there, they have to start a new life. The government has arranged a place for them to stay and also a land for them to grow crops. Though the survival is not a problem for them, but the feeling of home is no longer the same. They will still miss their origins, the place where they come.

But no matter how they miss their home, they can never be back again, as the water level of the river now has already flooded their home. So, they have to face the reality, they stand on their own feet again, they try their best to adapt their life in a new environment. They think positively as they have a more stable life. They think positively as their kids can go to school. They will still miss their home, deep in their heart. But, they still give their best to the new lifestyle.

Perhaps this is something that all of us have to learn, the ability to recover and stand up again. There’re times in life which we can never let things done according to our own way. And there’re times which the environment is not under our control. So, we have to learn, learn to recover from the sadness or disappointment, learn to adapt to the new environment and then stand up again.

JIA YOU uncle and aunty! I believe you can lead your new life well!

Labels: Maple's Special

Maple’s Special – 11

Hey I found something new today!

Along the road heading towards Yi Chang, the scenery is all filled by the yellow flower called. The scenery is so tranquil and peaceful.

But this is not the main point. The point is almost all of the farm houses installed a solar plate! Can you imagine that, China farmer has come to such an advance state?

Honestly speaking, both Mr. Chong and I were astonished at the moment we first saw the plates.

He even said that it’s not solar plate. According to him, solar plate is very expensive and the farmers here are definitely can’t afford it. But after a closer look, he said, oh my god, it is really solar plate! Haha.

Maybe you can’t understand why we two are so shocked. As to us, China isn’t that advanced and the people here are still leading simple life with low living standard. Solar plate which is something very high-tech can hardly be linked with the low-income farmer here. Because even in Singapore such an advanced country, solar energy is still not utilized so commonly, so we think that it is kind of impossible for China farmer to implement such technology.

But facts prove us wrong. They’re really using solar plate.

After a research, I found that the real story behind this. In order to practice “green” and improve the living standard of farmers, China government actually spends billions of RMB in promoting the usage of solar plate to the farmer. The electricity transformed from solar plate is meant for water heater. As you know, in the past, the poor boil the water by using woods and this action causes a lot emission of greenhouse gases. Considering this, China government takes up action and encourages the people to use solar plate to heat up the water. By doing this, tones of greenhouse gases are cut down. Besides, the extra electricity generated can be utilized for other daily purposes. Indirectly, this upgrades the local people in terms of the basic facilities.

Although the farmers still have to pay 2000+ RMB to install a solar plated water heater after government subsidy, they find it worthy. In the past winter, some of them have to bathe with cold water and find it troublesome to boil water. But now, bathing in winter is just a small deal.

I am happy to see this in fact. Though it has nothing to do with me, I still feel good for the farmers’ life being improved by technology. And it’s so great to know that it’s part of environmental engineer’s job scope. It’s such a wonderful job as it can improve people life while helps to save the planet.

Smile, contented.

I hope that one day I can smile like this again, but with a different identity, as environmental engineer.

Labels: Maple's Special

Windy - 13⁰C

Well, today’s the beginning day of the Three Gorges Trip.

Though we’re stuck in a poor facilitated coach for 5 hours in the early morning, still I find the journey’s worthy.

It’s really a memorable day, colored by fascinating scenery, excellent partners and also wonderful moments. I guess, if I am given a chance to make a wish, I will just hope that the time would stop by now, without any progression, just here will do.

Well, perhaps the lunch and dinner weren’t as fulfilling as we had always wanted, still it’s considered as a nice meal, at least it’s not so oily and salty as compared to other stalls.

Anyway, I made a great sin today; I accidentally ate a piece of beef which I was not supposed to eat due to religion constraint.

Really sorry Guan Yin Niang, I didn’t do it on purpose.

Honestly speaking, I wasn’t really looking forward to my trip at first, as I thought it’s simply about river, dam and mountains. But when I was passing through the long dark tunnel connecting with Three Gorges Dam, I can feel there’s a change, in my mood. Somehow, I can feel the great sense of excitement jumping deep inside my heart. Maybe I was just too amazed by the tunnel which cut through the great mountains one by one. Can you imagine how much time and manpower are needed to build an 8.88km long tunnel, passing through all the mountains?

But what really made me speechless was the beautiful scenery of Three Gorges. I don’t know how to put my feeling into words, when the paint-like scenery first appeared right in front of my eyes.

It’s just too awesome.

The giant-size Mountains, the shining sunlight, the deep green water. Only these three elements, yet the scenery were so breathtaking.

As scheduled, we visited 3 different places which located very close to the Three Gorges Dam.

First Stop – Tan Zi Ling 坛子岭

Well, Tan Zi Ling was actually named according to its geographical shape, which looked like an inverted jar. It’s 262.2m in height and comprises a showroom for the miniature version of Three Gorges Dam. It’s indeed a nice place as I was able to view the entire awe-inspiring Three Gorges Dam from its top. The feeling was extremely great standing up there, embracing the gentle wind, enjoying the breathtaking scenery.

Second Stop – Platform 185

By hooping into the travel bus for 3 minutes, we came to our next destination, Platform 185. This platform is actually named according to its height, 185m, which is the same height as the Three Gorges Dam as well. Currently, the water level is still at 135m, however when the project is completed, the water level will reach 175m. From such a close distance, looking at the world largest hydroelectric power station, I can feel that it’s really a tough project. Can you imagine the hard work needed to execute a 12 years long project? I must say the engineers are really excellent. Well done, engineers!

Third Stop – Memorial Garden截流纪念园

This was another hot spot of Three Gorges Dam area. Inside, there’re a place where you can view the Dam from a further distance. Standing at this position, don’t know why, I felt a sense of security. Deep in my heart, it’s very peaceful. Perhaps the dam looked too good in protecting the people from flooding. That’s why I felt safe. Or perhaps the scenery there was too suitable for deep thought. That’s why everybody started to look “emo-ish”.

So after all the tourist spots, we boarded a SO-CALLED 4-star cruise, which was our home for this 3-days-2-nights-tour.

Well, before I carried on, I would like to clarify that the cruise was actually rated as 4-star at DOMESTIC level, so yah..

Basically, I can only use one word to describe it ---- “fantastic”.

This was my first time I encountered a 4-stars-rated sleeping place which does not provide toilet paper and if you want it, you have to buy it at counter. This was also my first time I saw a bathroom which the lock is set outside of the door. This was also my first time to see a toilet bowl which even toilet paper cannot be flushed down, and also a heater that cannot function at a temperature of 10⁰C. And, seriously I don’t know what to do inside the cruise as there’s no other entertainment at all, beside sight-seeing!

Anyway I was still thankful to this cruise; at least it gave me a chance to explore Three Gorges in a very close look. Thank you J

Continue.

After a long wait, at 10pm, our cruise finally got into the Ship Gate of Ge Zhou Dam葛洲坝(which is located at the entrance of Xi Ling Gorges西陵峡). I stood at the deck and witnessed the entire opening process of the ship gate; it slowly released water and opened, at a rather slow speed. And before we can get in, there’s boats coming out from the other side of the gate. And when we’re in, we felt trapped. Both the entry and exit were closed and the water level just kept slowly rising up. Affected by the strong force of water, our cruise was slowly lifted up. The lifting process lasted for 30minutes and then we’re out from the ship gate. The feeling was too hard to describe by words but I must really say that if you got the chance, you should try once for passing through the ship gate, it’s a nice experience.

Anyway, I must say that the ship gate really looked grand at night, just like a permanent lighthouse, stand steadily, radiating lights.

Goodnight, Ge Zhou Dam.

It’s filled with stars tonight.

Labels: Maple's Story

Maple’s Special – 10

Hey guys! I found this in China, what you think it is?

It reminds you of the delicious Tao Hua豆腐花 right? Haha.

If you think it that way, then you’re as silly as me! LOL >.<

In China, it’s known as Dou Fu Nao豆腐脑.

From appearance and ingredient, it’s exactly the same as our Tao Hua.

However, its taste…

There’s a weird taste inside the food, which tastes like cigarette smile.

When I have my first sip, I surrender.

It tastes as if the chef’s cigarette ashes accidentally drop into the pot of cooking. Horrible!

But after I complained it to our China Lecturer, her reply shocked us!

According to her, the residents here all go for the weird smell!

If there’s no such smell, they will not eat it!

I shouted a loud “OH MY GOD!” in my heart when I heard this.

But she said that, it’s actually the smell of charcoal.

From this, it leads me to think, what’s so different between our cooking styles?

I guess it’s due to the difference in living environment.

As you know, China is a huge country filled with different kinds of natural resources. Hence, the people here tend to live and eat based on the resources they can find for free or at cheaper price. For example, their main cooking fuel, charcoal is made from the burning of woods which are abundant in China.

In Singapore or Malaysia, we use natural gas in gas cylinder to cook our food instead of their traditional way. This is because we find that charcoal is dirty and very difficult to handle. Hence, for our convenient sake, we choose natural gas in cylinder which is higher in cost. The price for us is still affordable.

However, to China Chinese especially those illegal hawkers, the price of natural gas will really kill them. This is because the price of natural gas is 4X price of charcoal. Maybe one may say they’re too calculative, but being calculative is the only means for them to sustain their lives on, in such a competitive society.

We must be aware that, every single cent to them is very precious.

Labels: Maple's Special

16⁰C – Windy

Well, these 2 days are really uneventful.

Obediently, we attended all our lectures without dozing off, much unexpected right? :X

However, these few days I was super exhausted, slept at 5am for 3 consecutive days and turned out to be the national treasure of China @.@

Know what was my sacrifice for? All thanks to my lovely blog skin.

Perhaps I am too a perfectionist type, want everything to be done nicely, properly and flawless. That’s why I will spend so much time in doing my blog skin.

My friends said I had gone mad, spent one week in learning HTML, 1 day in downloading Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop, 3 days in designing blog skin.

But now, looking at the flying snow in my own blog, I felt a great sense of achievement.

Don’t ask me why, I just feel that when you start doing something, you must do it nicely until the end. If else, don’t ever think of starting it. That’s my principle.

So although I had sacrificed a great number of sleeping hours, I found it worthy. Looking at the flying snow in my own blog, I am proud of it. Proud of my final product. Proud of my sleepless night.

Anyway I must say thank you to my own body, for tolerating me so long.

I will take good care of you in future! Feed you with nice food! Your owner promised you! Hehe.

PS. I tried out my first roadside stall today, Hot Plate Fried Rice! It tastes quite good, but a bit oily.

And the bubble tea here is amazing! The pearls are super Q!! I love it!

The one i am holding is called 丝袜奶茶sock bubble tea. I'm kind of addicted to it i guess! too nice! :X

It’s been so long.

Labels: Maple's Story

Maple’s Special – 9

Well, I found something really great in China for a story-lover like me, that’s their Story Newspaper经典故事报.

This is actually a 16-paged paper which published once a week and only costs 1.5 RMB.

Although it’s mostly occupied by words, still I find it interesting. It comprises a big range of stories themes, including love story, real life story, detective story, funny quotes and jokes. And all the articles are written by local people.

As a foreigner, this is really something new, as neither in Singapore nor Malaysia such kind of papers can be found. In fact, our paper covers stories as well, but the difference is the stories part only stands for a very small portion, about 2 or 3 pages only. Hence, when this paper first came to me, I find it unique.

And guess what, besides this story newspaper, there is also different variety of newspaper available. There’re papers which only discuss about science and technology and papers which focus solely on education field.

So basically I can conclude that, China newspaper is separated and each focuses more on specific area. The advantage for such system is that reader can make their own choice in picking the areas that they’re interested in.

Under comparison, Singapore papers have all kinds of news in a single set. Perhaps this is because Singapore is a small country whose news can all be squeezed in daily paper. However, this indirectly gives a chance to the picky reader to digest all different kinds of information.

Personally, I prefer Singapore newspaper system as I can gain different kinds of information from a single set of newspaper. When I’m finished reading the area that I am interested in, I can flip through other fields, although they are not that appealing to me. Indirectly, it can help me to boost up my knowledge in different areas, instead of solely one specific area. But once in a while, I will still hope to buy the story-based paper as it is really interesting :)

Labels: Maple's Special

Topic: Introduction to China

Name of Country - People’s Republic of China中华人民共和国

Location – East of Asia

Approximate latitude: 19°N to 51°N
Approximate longitude: 74°E to 133°E

Time Zone - UTC +8hours (same as Singapore)

Area – 9640841 km²

Capital – Beijing

Provinces – 32

National Language – Standard Mandarin

Population – 1.3 billions

Ethic Groups – Hans, Zhuang, Manchu, Uyghur, Hui, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Mongol

National Flag – 5 Stars Flag五星国旗

National Anthem – March of Volunteers义勇军进行曲

To listen, click the link below http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:March_of_the_Volunteers_instrumental.ogg

Currency – Yuan / Ren Ming Bi (RMB)

Internet TLD - .cn

Calling Code - +86

Labels: Maple's Insight

Maple’s Special - 8

Did you notice what they used as a replacement for the incomplete set of table tennis table? It’s a brick.

Honestly speaking, I’m astonished when I see this. But at that same moment, there’s a question flickering throughout my mind. Are they really so fond of sports till they’re willing to play, under a temperature of 13⁰C, on an incomplete table?

After my conversation with local students, I got my answer. The people here love sports since young. It’s a nature for them to do sports, either badminton or jogging. So, since there’s nothing else they can do in school besides eating, sleeping and studying, the students here mostly spend their leisure time in sports, until they can’t see the shuttlecock anymore.

So this makes me think, maybe this is the spirit which leads them to perform excellently in world sports. Due to this sporty environment, the buds of “sport-enthusiastic” has already grows in the minds of kids since young. This is the reason why sports become parts of life.

It’s not meant for competition or health, but it’s a habit to them.

So, even in the deadly cold winter night, they still play sports, they still enjoy sports.

This is something that I lack of, or maybe the Singaporean is lack of, the enthusiasm to sports. It’s really incomparable to China people in their sportiness. So in order to upgrade the level of sports in Singapore, the first step to be done is to instill a 风气in sports.

As there’s a saying, when you love it, you will be good in it.

Labels: Maple's Special

17⁰C - Humid

Well, today seems to be the continued version from yesterday.

Still, no tour, no sports, no nice food, but constipation. >.<>

How I wish I can have diarrhea like one of my friend, so at least I can empty up my stomach and eat nice food again. Don’t need to keep stuffing in banana.

I ate 3 bananas a day in order to pass motion. *Sigh*

Anyway, the guys had a basketball-playing session with the local student Kidd today.

Did you ever notice what the local student (in red) wore?

He wore shorts and didn’t even feel cold, whereas I was still putting my thick pink jacket on and kept complaining about the coldness!

And the worst thing was that, he still can play basketball very well in such condition! He’s considered as an expert in basketball compared to us, but still according to him, he’s not the best among his friends!

From this event, I got a conclusion. China people are really “Wonder Man”. They can adapt to coldness, they can adapt to hotness, they can adapt to everything!

By the way, we ate our dinner with Mr. Chong again. However, for this time round, it’s not those 10-dishes grand food, just a cheap 5 RMB set meal of Zha Jiang Noodles with soya bean drink.

Although we usually don’t expect nice food from cheap price, still the taste of the noodles is really thumb-lifting. So I strongly believe that this is the reason why the shop is backed-up by a lot of awards.

How I wish I can share my joy with you.

Labels: Maple's Story

14⁰C – Sunny

Finally, the long-awaited sun’s out.

Supposedly, it’s a wonderful day brighten up by the sunlight, but it’s turned out to be a bad day, especially to Hardy.

His ankle’s injured as he accidentally sprained his leg.

Wonder how serious it’s? Look at the picture then you can imagine.

Poor student leader, although he still acted cool.

Well, from the previous eventful posts, some people might think that our trip is solely having fun as there’s always more interesting incidents reported. But actually it has its boring part as well.

*I’m sure that you know what students feel most boring about – study of course!*

For instance, today, it’s the first boring day I had ever since I came to China.

Maybe I shouldn’t use the word “boring”, but just that it didn’t have too much up and down moment which can make me feel energized, so I categorized it that way.

In fact, it had just not much difference from the normal school days I lead in Singapore.

Comparison between 2 countries will be like this.

Equation in Singapore

Lecture > lunch > lecture > dinner > CCA/homework > sleep

Equation in China

Lecture > lunch > lecture > dinner > blogging > sleep

If I must mention about the difference, perhaps there’re only 2 points.

1.
Point 1 - Usually I don’t have such a great feast (10dishes in fact) in Singapore as my dinner.

This was my dinner which Mr. Chong insisted us to tag along. It is located in the restaurant which he usually goes for every night as he feels that the food there’s hygienic and won’t get diarrhea. He doesn’t trust any food from the back alley (which is also called Snack Street) which we usually go for, as he feels that the food there is cheap so he might get diarrhea easily. That’s why he’s willing to pay 20 RMB for the meal in restaurant every night, whereas we went to back alley for cheap food. Haha.

2. Point 2 - Well, quite embarrassing to say. But... Usually, I won’t have constipation for a week in Singapore. SO SUFFERING! >.<

PS. With the 2 hours break-time, I managed to complete a new Diploma Plus program! That is a new module called “Skills In Mahjong”, introduced by Mr. Jeremy and Mr. Jin Quan. Very thankful to them, I finally know how to play mahjong, just that I need more chance to practice!

Perhaps, it’s a good break.

Labels: Maple's Story