Wai Tuck

My Travels

2012-01-02T10:31:00.000+08:00

Click here to see a list of all countries/cities that I have visited

2012
No plan yet

2011
2011-08: Wuhan (China)
2011-08: Puerto Princesa, Manila (Philippines)

2011-07: Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

2011-07: Bangkok (Thailand)

2011-02: Wuhan (China)

2010
2010-10: Bangkok (Thailand)

2010-09: Chitwan (Nepal) (Volunteer Trip)

2010-04-09: Macau/Hong Kong
2010-03-15: Wuling, Fujian (China) (Youth Expedition Project)

2009
2009-09-27: Jeram Besu, Pahang, Malaysia (Student Adventure Camp)
2009-09-03: Taipei (Taiwan)
2009-07-29: Bangkok (Thailand)
2009-07-14: Kathmandu, Chitwan (Nepal) (Volunteer Trip)
2009-04-18: Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou (China)
2009-02-11: Wuhan (China)

2008
2008-12-31: Countdown 2009, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
2008-09-25: Angkor Wat, Siem Reap (Cambodia)
2008-09-13: Kelong, Johor (Malaysia) (with MDE Alumni Members)
2008-09-08: Pangkor Island, Perak (Malaysia)
2008-08-22: Macau/Hong Kong (China)
2008-01-14: Australian Open (Tennis), Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) (Photo Only)
2008-01-14: Great Ocean Road, Victoria (Australia) (Photo Only)

2007
2007-10-01: Bangkok (Thailand)
2007-03-02: Pulau Redang, Terengganu (Malaysia) (9)

2006

2005
2005-11: Shanghai (China)
2005-09: Pulau Redang, Terengganu (Malaysia) (8)
2005-07: Beijing (China)
2005-03: Du Jiang Yan, Qing Cheng Shan, Chengdu (China)

2004
2004-07-01: Pulau Redang, Terengganu (Malaysia) (7)
2004-03: Pulau Redang, Terengganu (Malaysia) (6)
2004: Bangkok (Thailand)

2003
2003: Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Niko (Japan)
2003-06: Mount Rinjani, Lombok (Indonesia)
2003-03: Pulau Redang, Terengganu (Malaysia) (5)

2002
2003: Hakone, Tokyo (Japan)

2001
2001-12: Beijing, Harbin (China)

2000
2000-09: Pulau Redang, Terengganu (Malaysia) (4)

1999
1999-09: Kruger National Park, Cape Town (South Africa)
1999-07: Pulau Redang, Terengganu (Malaysia) (3)
1999-06: Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck (Austria)
1999-05: Budapest (Hungary)
1999-03: Copenhagen (Denmark)
1999-01: Munich, Fussen (Germany)
1999-01: Cell Am See Ski Resort (Austria)
1999: London, Horsham (England)

1998
1998-11: Annapurna Base Camp Trek (Nepal), Tibet (China)
1998-09: Los Angeles, San Franscisco (USA), Hong Kong (China)
1998-07: Cameron Highlands, Ipoh (Malaysia)
1998-05: Munich (Germany), Amsterdam (Netherlands)
1998: Hanoi (Vietnam)

1997
1997-08: Pulau Redang, Terengganu (Malaysia) (2)
1997: Hanoi (Vietnam)
1997: Manila, Cebu (Philippines)

1996
1996-07: Sydney, Melbourne (Australia)
1996-05: Perth (Australia)
1996: Berkelah Falls, Pahang (Malaysia) (2)

1995
1995-06: Bali (Indonesia)
1995-04: Prague (Czech Republic)
1995-02: Colombo (Sri Lanka)

1994
1994-12: Kenyir Lake, Terengganu (Malaysia)
1994-08: Pulau Redang, Terengganu (Malaysia) (1)
1994-05: Kinabalu, Sabah (Malaysia)

1993
1993-09-18: Kunming, Huangshan, Hangzhou, Chengu, JiuZaiGou, Dali (China)
1993-03: Phuket Island (Thailand)

1992
1992-04-07: Belgium, France, Monaco, Spain, Italy, Vatican City, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, England
1992: Berkelah Falls, Pahang (Malaysia) (1)

Being a tourist in Singapore?

2011-11-12T09:34:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, I was in Chinatown area having my favourite fish soup for lunch at Maxwell Market.

After lunch, I roamed around Chinatown like a tourist.

First on my "tour" was the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple (网址： http://www.btrts.org.sg/). The temple was opened since 2007 Vesak Day, however, I have not stepped into the temple all these while until yesterday. It was really a great experience. The ground level costs $60m to build!!! OMG! When I entered the temple, I was amazed at how elaborate were the finishings. The walls were filled buddhas. I didn't find out how many buddhas were there, I guess it could be easily thousands or even tens of thousands of buddhas!

After visiting the temple, I walked around the streets of Chinatown (http://www.chinatown.sg/). I have not visited Chinatown for years. In my impression, Chinatown was such an old and messy place with narrow streets and old buildings. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the changes/improvements made to Chinatown. The shops were newly renovated.

I strongly recommend for any tourist to visit Chinatown of Singapore, it was indeed a very nice experience for me.

(12 Nov 2011)

Wuhan 2011-02

2011-08-08T02:31:00.000+08:00

Feb 2011 to July 2011 Wuhan, China

Yellow Crane Tower 黄鹤楼

East Lake 东湖

Colleagues travelling to Wuhan with me

Welcome Dinner (hosted by WUST)

Botak Trees

Kai Wei Beer House

Gym @ Wuhan

Newly furnished staff apartments

Golden Hans Restaurant

Exam Preparation

Bangkok 2011

2011-08-03T16:29:00.002+08:00

Jul 2011 Bangkok, Thailand

During my short stay in Bangkok, I stayed in a budgeted hotel/hostel, Take A Nap. It was good-value-for-money, very reasonably priced, clean and safe.

Hotel/Hostel:

http://www.bangkok.com/take-a-nap/

http://www.takeanaphotel.com/

Review on Hostel:
Very good value for money. The dormitory has 7 beds, with attached toilet/shower room. Each bed comes with a safety box, where you can deposit your valuables. Conveniently located near the night market at Silom (5 minutes walk).

my bed (comes with pillow and blanket)

A reading light and a mini-wardrobe by the side of the bed

Individual Safe Deposit Box for safekeeping of valuables.

How to get to Hotel from Airport:
Take the bangkok airport train from Airport to Phaya Thai Station, where you can change to BTS Skytrain (Sukhumvit line). From Phaya Thai station, you can take 2 stops to Siam Station, and change to the BTS Silom Line. Stop at Sala Daeng Station (2 stops away from Siam Station) along Silom Line. Walk to Take A Nap hotel (about 10 minutes walk).

Airport Train to City:
City Line commuter trips, with set fares at Bt15-Bt45, take 30 minutes to reach the airport, departing from Phaya Thai, Ratchaprarop, Makkasan, Asoke, Ramkhamhaeng, Hua Mak, Ban Thap Chang, and Lat Krabang stations, and will end at the last stop of Suvarnabhumi.

Train Network in Bangkok
Click here to view the route

Staff Apartment in WUST (updated Jun 2011)

2011-07-18T07:10:00.000+08:00

Updated on June 2011

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Deputy Dean Chen Ruo Nan, with the help of Zhang Qing and Mdm Tang shi fu, who helped in the renovation works of the 4 staff apartments for NP staff. By June 2011, the 4 staff apartments at Wu Ye Xiao Qu (武冶小区) have been done some minor renovation works. DD Chen has also instructed Zhang Qing to buy new utensils, new air con units (a standing unit in living room + a new hanging unit in one of the bedrooms), new hood (for the kitchen), new set of knives, etc. Zhang Qing was assisted by Mdm Tang shi fu in the execution of all these matters.

It is important for all of you to know the above 3 WUST staff well, they are very nice people who will try their best to help you guys (in terms of admin matters) during your stay in Wuhan. Zhang Qing is overall in charge of staff apartments, so you need any help, you can approach her. She will instruct mdm Tang to help you if needed.

See campus map here, the location of "Wai Tuck Apt" is the staff apartments that NP staff are staying.

Link to my apartment (in 2009)
Some information in the above link may be out-dated.

I have taken a short video of the staff apartment in Level 4 (allocated for Victor to stay in the Aug 2011 semester). This apartment was stayed by Chor Pee, Wai Tuck, Heng Tak, David, See Chu and Khay Soh (for a short few weeks, before he moved to ground level). In this video, you will see DD Chen, Zhang Qing, Mdm Tang, Hoe Chuan (for visiting) and of course, you will hear my voice. I hope this gives an idea to you how the staff apartment is like.

Exam Preparation

2011-06-18T09:01:00.001+08:00

In OEC, we don't have the luxury of AA, SDAR, Finance, Admin, etc to support us. OEC is a mini-NP there, where we need to do almost everything by ourselves.

The following video clips show us counting the answer booklets and separating piles of exam papers for different venues.

Video 1:
Counting Scripts, Exam Booklets, Attaching MCQ sheets to booklets.

Video 2:
Separate booklets into various venues

Golden Hans BBQ

2011-05-18T08:51:00.000+08:00

Restaurant: Golden Hans
Location: 友谊大道 (near 徐东销品茂)

A buffet dinner cost RMB 49, which includes free flow of soft drinks. Food includes BBQ meat, desserts (pastries, ice cream), soup (a few options), porridge (century egg), sushi (not much variety) and some local dishes. Good value for money.

A video of Jason, Khay Soh and Joseph. The beer is cheap there, RMB 6 per mug, but I don't like the taste.

Dinner with WUST staff

2011-05-15T15:51:00.003+08:00

Dinner with WUST staff

The Chinese is a very sociable and friendly race, they always try their best to host the guests such that the guests feel at home. Throwing a welcome dinner to their guests from Singapore has been a practice by WUST.

from left to right: Jason (NP SG), Matthew (UK), Khay Soh (NP SG),Prof Hansen Huang (WUST)

from left to right: Prof Roger Geng (WUST), Wai Tuck (NP SG), Prof Pang Ke (WUST)

from left to right: Khay Soh (NP SG), Prof Hansen Huang (WIST), Wang Zhi Fang (WUST), Grace Tao (WUST), DD Chen Ruo Nan (WUST), Christina (WUST)

from left to right: Grace Tao (WUST), DD Chen Ruo Nan (WUST), Christina (WUST), Prof Zhang (WUST)

Elaborate dishes

The Chinese host like to show their generosity when they are hosting the dinner. Dishes after dishes were served on the dinner table, until there is no space for any more dishes. In the end, there were much food being wasted, because we cannot finish the food.

Another culture which is so different from Singapore.

Gym at Wuhan

2011-05-15T15:11:00.002+08:00

Gym at Wuhan

Finally, after 3 months I came to Wuhan, I have a bit of time to continue my blog.

This article is about my experience in the local gym @ Wuhan. Thanks to Mun Onn, who has passed me the membership of this gym for FREE, very generous of him!

This gym is called Celebrity Fitness (名人健身房). At first, I thought it was operated by the same management of the gym @ Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur, which coincidentally bearing the same name. I was very excited to visit the gym, but the weather was cold in Feb (when we arrived at Wuhan). Moreover I was down with flu and cough, so I didn't pay a visit to the gym until sometime in Mar.

As I was in Wuhan in 2009, I knew what is a local gym like, it is unfair to compare to commercial gym like California Fitness, Fitness First and so on. But when I visited the gym for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised with the gym facilities.

The locker room is "clean" (by China standard), but very small, almost no space to walk around freely. During peak hours, it can be very frustrating when the whole locker room were filled with people!

There is a sauna room, which operates between Mon and Sat: Mon Wed Fri for men, Tue Thu Sat for women. The sauna room is located between the mens and womens' changing room, each with a door leading to the sauna room. I always wonder, what happened if a man went into the sauna room on Tue Thu or Sat by accident? Or vice versa.

The workout area has about 10 to 15 track mills, each with a TV. The machine and free weights area are together. During peak hours, this area is like a market!!! The gym does not give a towel, nor the gymmers are carrying a towel to wipe off their perspiration. Guys were working out without their shirts on, with dripping sweat all over the place. All equipments including the benches are covered with sweat! Can you imagine? I guess another culture shock for me!

As I am allergy to smoke and dust, I am ultra-sensitive to smoke. When someone smokes within 20 metres, I will know. What can be worst than working out in a gym with some people smoking while they work out?! Is that crazy?! What makes me more surprised is some of the smokers are the personal trainers (employed by the gym)?!

Well, again, I have to accept the differences in culture. Since I am already here in Wuhan, there is no choice of turning back. It would be pitiful if I cannot accept the differences. I guess that is the sacrifice we have to made. If every where is like home (Singapore), there is nothing for me to write here, right?

Watch out for my next blog...

Botak Trees

2011-05-08T02:13:00.002+08:00

View from office

Soon Fatt told us that when we cannot see the road (due to the leaves on those trees blocking our view), it means it is about time that we will be going back to Singapore.

We have been monitoring...by mid April, the leaves on those trees were already so dense that we could not see the road, but it is still far from going home. Sob sob...

Kai Wei Beer House

2011-02-18T02:22:00.000+08:00

Kai Wei Beer House @ Xu Dong Shopping Mall
凯威啤酒屋徐东销品茂

Having sushi, while waiting for the soup to boil

Colleagues travelling with me to Wuhan

2011-02-16T02:03:00.000+08:00

Colleagues travelling with me to Wuhan

Joseph @ Changi Airport

Khay Soh getting connected in Hong Kong airport. Free Wifi here. Good place for transit, as compared to Guangzhou airport.

Khay Soh, Joseph and Tang Shifu @ WUST Main Entrance

Look at what they are wearing?! Temperature is below 10 deg celsius. (Feb 2011)

Thailand 2010

2011-01-17T14:01:00.000+08:00

Oct 2010 Bangkok, Thailand

After my volunteer trip in Nepal, I stopped over Bangkok for a few days.

On my flight from Kathmandu to Bangkok, I encountered this unpleasant incident, which I have given my feedback to Thai Airways, but they have not response on my feedback.

Flight from Kathmandu to Bangkok

During my short stay in Bangkok, I stayed in a budgeted hotel/hostel, Take A Nap. It was good-value-for-money, very reasonably priced, clean and safe.

Hotel/Hostel:

http://www.bangkok.com/take-a-nap/

http://www.takeanaphotel.com/

my bed (comes with pillow and blanket)

A reading light and a mini-wardrobe by the side of the bed

Individual Safe Deposit Box for safekeeping of valuables.

How to get to Hotel from Airport:
Take the bangkok airport train from Airport to Phaya Thai Station, where you can change to BTS Skytrain (Sukhumvit line). From Phaya Thai station, you can take 2 stops to Siam Station, and change to the BTS Silom Line. Stop at Sala Daeng Station (2 stops away from Siam Station) along Silom Line. Walk to Take A Nap hotel (about 10 minutes walk).

See here for location map

BTS Skytrain

Silom area is famous for its night market, Patpong. The market opens as early as afternoon and closes around 1 or 2am.

Does this remind you of Petaling Street (Chinatown) in Kuala Lumpur?

I love this, for only THB20, I have got 12 quail eggs, yummy!

2010-09 Thai Airways - Special Meal

2010-10-16T10:53:00.007+08:00

Flight: TG 320
From: Kathmandu
To: Bangkok
Seat No: 33H
Date: 13-Oct-2010 (Wednesday)

Before 13-Oct-2010, I must say I am extremely satisfied with the service from Thai Airways. The staff are friendly and service-oriented. I don't see much difference between their service and the service of the well known (well acknowledged) Singapore Airlines. Both are equally good in their service.

This is an isolated case, and I have already written a feedback to Thai Airways on why I am not satisfied with their service. Once again, I was observing the service of other crew members, they are good, particularly a stewardess named "Natta", she always put on a wide smile (not the plastic smile, which we always see in service staff). I would say I am just being unlucky.

Due to my dietary restrictions, during the booking of air tickets, I always inform the airline that I cannot take beef and mutton. Upon boarding the plane (flight TG320 from KTM to BKK), one steward confirmed with me about my request on meal, I acknowledged.

When it was to serve the meal, another steward came to my seat (Seat no 33H) and ask whether anybody has a special meal of "No Beef, No Mutton". An Eurasian girl (Seat No 33K, aged around mid twenties) hurrily claimed the meal is for her. But I knew hers is Vegetarian, not "No Beef, No Mutton". So I told the steward that the meal is for me, not her. Then this steward insisted that it is for her. I just wondered based on what principle that he (the steward) was ABSOLUTELY SURE the meal is for her and not for me. Was it because she is a Westerner? Was it because I look like a Thai and he just felt that serving a westerner is much more important than serving me?

I just wonder, it was clearly stated in the piece of paper with special meal request for seat no 33H, and why he insisted to serve to seat no 33K? He was new? Maybe he mistaken the position of seats 33H and 33K? About that Eurasian girl, was she so hungry that she quickly claimed the meal was hers? Why didn't she hear that it was "No Beef, No Mutton"? Or she thought "No Beef, No Mutton" = "Vergetarian"? Sorry, I was really mean and sarcastic here, pardon me. I seldom do such things but then ...

I told him I requested for special meal too. He said to me, "No sir, it is not for you, but it is for her. I will check for you whether you have requested for special meal." Well, of course, he said with a plastic smile. In my heart, never mind, he will check and realised his mistakes serving to the wrong passenger. I wanted to see how he behaved and reacted to the situation. I also wished to see how this Eurasian girl responded to a non-vergetarian meal.

To my shocking surprise, the steward didn't come back to me? Which means he didn't even check the special meal request form? Which means he just trying to make me happy by saying he will check? I really puzzled and Thai Airways (if you read this), please help to investigate. It takes all service staff to work well and make people feel that you have good service; but it just only need ONE bad service staff to make a bad name for your organisation.

Back to the Eurasian girl, when she opened the cover of the meal, she realised that it was FISH! Yeah, not vegetarian! What did you want me to do now? Tell her it was her mistake and said it was for me, I take over the food? No, no way, I am not going to take the food which may be contaminated. I still wish to see how she and the air crew reacted to this situation, so I put down my book and waited patiently.

That Eurasian girl finally got hold of another steward (there are 3 stewards so far, the one who confirmed my request, the one who serve the food to wrong person, and this is the third one), and told him about her request of Vegetarian and not fish. This steward went off and returned with the paper with a list of special meal request, and said "Madam, you didn't request for any special meal, but I will check for you whether there is any vegetarian meal left". Very good service! But listen on... I told this steward I also requested for special meal, he checked on the paper and ask me, "Yes sir, you asked for NO BEEF NO MUTTON, right?" I replied "Yes". Then he asked me "So sir, you have not got your special meal?" I replied "No," (in my heart, isn't it obvious that I have not got my special meal?) Then I told him, "I think that meal for this lady was for me!" Then he walked away, without saying a word. He returned with the vegetarian meal for the lady, once again, I applauded for his good service! Really nice! But where is mine? Once again, for the second steward in succession, he ignored my request!!! Feeling really angry about the situation, man. But I don't want to make a scene out of it, and I kept my anger down and waited.

Finally, the meal is served. The third steward was serving me, "Sir, do you like Lamb or Chicken or Salmon?" (obviously, he has forgotten my request for NO MUTTON, why ask me whether I want Lamb?) I gave him a stare, wanting to flare up, but I kept my cool again, I replied "Salmon". The guy next to me wanted Chicken, but there wasn't any left. So, if I didn't have "Salmon" as another choice and Chicken was no available, I would have to eat the salad and bread for my meal.

I have been trying to see the names on the stewards' name tag, but I could not. The best thing is the 3rd steward was not even wearing a name tag!!! Classic!

The above is an exact description of what happened, I have not added any information which is trying to defame Thai Airways, I am just stating the facts of what happened. There may be some personal feelings to it. I didn't know what was behind the scene. But obviously to a customer, I was a very very unhappy customer!

Once again, I would say Thai Airways have good service, this is an isolated incident caused by TWO "black sheeps" (2nd and 3rd steward). But then, to the Eurasian girl, I am pretty sure she was a very happy customer, she was well served!

Wuling Mar 2010

2010-08-11T02:11:00.002+08:00

This is the first YEP trip (http://www.yep.nyc.sg/) I have led. Although I have gone for my personal volunteer trip before, leading a group of students/staff to engage in community service work is a totally different experience, due to the extra responsibilities I have to shouldered.

Been busy with work, when I have more time, will update this blog for more information/experience on our expedition to China, Fujian, Wuling.

2009-07 Bangkok (Thailand)

2010-04-14T10:11:00.003+08:00

A short stopover at Bangkok on my return trip from Nepal to Singapore.

Hotel/Hostel:

http://www.bangkok.com/take-a-nap/

http://www.takeanaphotel.com/

Review on Hostel: Very good value for money. The dormitory has 7 beds, with attached toilet/shower room. Each bed comes with a safety box, where you can deposit your valuables. Conveniently located near the night market at Silom (5 minutes walk).

How to get there: Take the airport bus to Silom area.

2010-04-09 Macau/Hong Kong

2010-04-13T09:39:00.004+08:00

Date: 09-Apr-2010 to 15-Apr-2010
Flight: Jetstar Light (Singapore -> Macau -> Singapore)

Price: $141 return fight, including taxes.

The flight departed punctually at 9-Apr, 10-ish. I arrived at Macau International Airport at 1:30am. It was right in the middle of the night, all free shuttle buses from the Casino hotels were no longer operating at that hours. I need to decide fast on what to do for the rest of the night. I have the following options:

(1) Stay in the airport till dawn (silly, the airport is unlike Changi Airport, there is nothing in that airport!)

(2) Take a public transport to Casino Lisboa and stay the night inside the casino. (I don't gamble, so it would be quite boring to stay up late inside the casino)

(3) Take a ferry from Macau to Hong Kong.

In the end I decided to take a ferry to Hong Kong. The ferry terminal is only about 20 minutes walk from the airport, and the ferry took 1 hour to arrive at Sheung Wan. I arrived at Hong Kong at 4am, and I slept at Macdonalds till it started operating at 5:30am.

Price of Ferry to Hong Kong: HKD 176 (night price)

If you can decide when to return from Hong Kong, you can get rebate for buying a return ferry ticket. I paid only HKD 258 for a return ferry ticket.

Weather have been gloomy and wet for the past few days!

Hostel:

Websites:
http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostel024002.en.htm
http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/hotel/Hong-Kong-Jockey-Club-Mount-Davis-Hostel-P132831.html
http://www.hostelz.com/hostel/31086-HI---Hong-Kong---Jockey-Club-Mt.-Davis-Hostel

My Apartment in Wuhan

2010-02-10T17:46:00.001+08:00

I have put up this new page, due to request from those colleagues who are going to Wuhan.

The apartment I stayed is 10-15 minutes walk from the office. It is located at the north side of the WUST campus. See the map here.

Please note that all the following information only applies to my apartment, it doesnt apply to apartment inside the campus (where Soon Fatt and Sandra stay)

Details of Apartment:
2 bed rooms (with air-con), Master Room with a small balcony.
1 living room (with TV, Ceiling Fan)
1 kitchen (2 gas stoves with a refrigerator, with some cooking utensils)
1 shower room/toilet (with water heater, and heater lamps)

Furnishing:
Queen-sized bed in both rooms (with Pillow and Blanket)
Wardrobe in each room
Electric heater bedsheets (for winter)
Writing Table in each room
Curtains
Sofas in the living Room
TV in living room
2 gas Stoves and 1 Fridge in Kitchen
Utensils, Cutlery (Kitchen)
Shoe Shelves in living room
Washing Machine
Brooms, Mobs
Pails (should have many now, passed down by us)

Things you may buy on your own:
Bedsheets and Pillow Cases (better to buy your own, although there is one there)
Washing Powder/Detergent
Internet Connection
Wireless Router
Digital TV Box
Toilet Papers
Electric Kettle (water need to be boiled before consumption)
Rice Cooker

Some pictures of the apartment are as follows

Portable Heater (you may like to invest on this, if the air-con is not warm enough)

Living Room

Water Heater (gas operated)

Gas Meter (Card-Based, need to topup every now and then)

Washing Machine

Toilet/Shower Room

Kitchen

Bed & Wardrobe

Balcony

My Room

View from Outside

Austria and Germany 1999

2010-01-18T13:39:00.001+08:00

Jun 1999

I was working in Siemens (Munich) between Jan and Jun 1999.

Towards the end of my assignment, Adrian (from Singapore) came to visit me.

Over a weekend, we drove to Fussen, Neuschwanstein Castle. The model used by Disneyland as the Sleeping Beauty Castle.

We also rented a car after my work assignment, we drove to Austria (Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck) for a 1-week holiday.

Palace @ Vienna

Salzburg (where "Sound of Music" was filmed)

Adrian and I stayed in Franz's apartment in Vienna

Volvo: we rented this car to drive around

My travel buddy, Adrian

Jeram Besu, Pahang 2009

2009-10-02T07:26:00.009+08:00

Jeram Besu, Pahang, Malaysia

Date: 27-Sep-2009 to 1-Oct-2009

Group Size:
53 students
5 Staff
5 Instructors from Synergy Dynamics (Facebook, Official Web Site)

Other Blogs: http://npatpahang.blogspot.com/

Itinerary:
27-Sep (Sunday):
7:00 pm: Travel from Singapore to Jeram Besu, Pahang

28-Sep (Monday):
4:00 am: Arrival at Jeram Besu, check-in accommodation and take a rest
7:30 am: Breakfast
9:00 am: Set off for Jungle Trekking (to see the biggest flower in the world, Rafflesia)
2:00 pm: Lunch
2:30 pm: Fun-time at Waterfall
7:30 pm: Dinner
8:30 pm: Team Building Games, followed by Debrief

29-Sep (Tuesday):
We were splitted into two groups, as the logistics cannot handle our group size of 63 pax.
The following schedule is for Group 1 (which comprises of Team 1 and Team 4). Group 2 comprises of Team 2 and Team 3.
8:00 am: Breakfast
9:00 am: Abseiling and Caving (Group 2: 4WD to Waterfall)
1:30 pm: Lunch
2:30 pm: 4WD to Waterfall (Group 2: Abseiling and Caving)
7:30 pm: Dinner
8:30 pm: Night Trek, followed by debrief

30-Sep (Wednesday):
We were splitted into two groups again.
The following schedule is for Group 1 (which comprises of Team 1 and Team 3). Group 2 comprises of Team 2 and Team 4.
8:00 am: Breakfast
9:00 am: Flying Fox and River Crossing (Group 2: White Water Rafting)
1:30 pm: Lunch
2:30 pm: White Water Rafting (Group 2: Flying Fox and River Crossing)
7:30 pm: Dinner
8:30 pm: Campfire
11:00 pm: Slideshow and Final Debrief

1-Oct (Thursday):
8:00 am: Breakfast
9:30 am: Check out
10:00 am: Bid farewell to CountryView Recreation Park and Resort (official site)
9:30 pm: Back to Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Note: This blog is not completed. As I am still in Malaysia now, I cannot upload the pics yet. However, I have given to Rodrick and Ras most of my photographs, they are uploading to the Synergy Facebook, you can go there and take a preview of the photographs from my camera.

2009-09 Taipei

2009-09-14T18:30:00.008+08:00

Taipei

Date: 3-Sep-2009 to 7-Sep-2009
Flight: Jetstar 3K521/3K522 (Singapore -> Taipei -> Singapore)
Amazing Price at $267 including return airfare, taxes, surcharges and insurance!

Pre-trip information:
(1) Singapore Citizen does not need visa for short trip (14 days or less) (look here for Visa Requirements for Singaporean)
(2) Weather at Taipei in September: warm and wet, typhoon season (pray hard for no typhoon, otherwise all shops will be closed)

Accommodation:
Xi Men Backpackers Hostel and Xi Men Ding area (Book via Hostels.com here)

Blogs:
Getting from Airport to City
Friendly Taiwanese
EasyCard
Taipei 101
Shi Lin Night Market
Other Miscellaneous pics

Arriving at Taiwan (see the moon in the sky?)

About to land at Taipei Tao Yuan Airport

Taipei airport to City

2009-09-14T18:19:00.005+08:00

Buses from Airport to Taipei City

Information is available here

Direction to Hostel
I took the Kuokuang Line (??) (NT$ 125) to Taipei Railway/MRT Station, and then take the MRT (one stop) to Ximen. From Ximen station you can go out from exit No.1 and you will see NET cloth shop alone Chengdu Road (???), cross street and go straight. Then, when you see second traffic lights (KFC on diagonal opposite side) turn left , you will see a 7-Eleven on your left, continue walking, about 150 meters walking will see #113 in your left side, we are located above a hair salon shop.

KFC at the junction of Chengdu Road and Kunming Street

Taipei Ximen BackPackers Hostel

2009-09-14T17:59:00.003+08:00

Taipei Ximen Backpackers Hostel

Address: 2F, 113, Kunming Street, Taipei, Taiwan.
Phone: +886-2-23752877
Charges: NT 350 per night (approximately S$17 per night) (6 beds mixed dormitory)
Booking via Hostels.com
Map

Lobby area: provides two PC with Free Internet Access (between 9am and 1am). If you have your own laptop, this area also offers free WiFi connection.

You can keep your valuable stuff in the security locker, which is small-sized. Don't think of fitting your whole bag inside the locker.

Other links:
Link 1
Hostel World
Hostelz

My Comments:
The place is clean and tidy. It is well located near to the famous Xi Men Ding (西门町). It is only 5 minutes walk from Xi Men MRT station. For S$17 per night, I think this hostel is good value for money, and I cannot expect more for that price.

Xi Men Ding (西门町) is shopping area in Taipei, with restaurants/pubs. Staying there is nice and convenient.

Red House (红楼）

西门町

Fire in a shop house

California Fitness Centre at Ximen

The shopping street becomes a walking street after 6pm.

阿宗面线 (Popular and well known noodles, noticed that there is no seat, you have to stand and eat. I have tried, I don't really like it.)

Taipei 101

2009-09-13T19:41:00.002+08:00

Taipei 101 is the tallest completed building in the world now (Sep-2009), standing at 509m. Soon (expected to be end 2009), Burj Dubai will be completed, which stands at an awesome 818m!

List of tallest buildings in the world (from http://uptowndowntownnyc.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/tallest-buildings.jpg)

View of Taipei from ground level

Me on the 89th floor, standing at 388m

Outdoor Observatory deck

Look at the thickness of these cables holding the Wind Damper

Wind Damper

The Wonders of Engineering

Shadow of Taipei 101

Milestones of the construction of Taipei 101

Listen to this walking guide while you are on the observatory deck. It comes in different languages. Very easy to operate, very informative! Nice!

The buildings got character hor?

A Singapore Artist, display his/her work there.

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

EasyCard

2009-09-13T19:31:00.004+08:00

The best way to travel around Taipei city is to possess an EasyCard. Information on EasyCard is available here.

You can buy the EasyCard (悠遊卡）from the Customer Service Counter in any MRT station. It costs NT$ 500 (with a value of NT$ 400 and a refundable deposit of NT$ 100). But if you return the card within 3 months, there is a surcharge of NT$ 20.

Inside the MRT station

Notice that all the people automatically stand on the right side of the escalator, so that those wjo wish to walk up the escalator, they can do it on the left. Nice, right?
In Singapore, it is an unwritten rule that we should stand on the left, and let those who wish to overtake to use the right hand side. But what happen? Anybody care? When you asked them to "excuse me", these ugly Singaporeans will stare at you, and their eyes are saying "what is the hurry?! Can't you wait?" Seemed like Singaporeans have a long way to go, in order to become a cultured group.

Taipei Other Miscellaneous pics

2009-09-13T19:21:00.002+08:00

Taipei Railway Station

淡水 (Tam Shui)

Inside the MRT. Look abit like Singapore MRT?

Some cross junctions allow pedestrians to cross the junctions diagonally. The traffic on all 4 sides were stopped at the same time!

Streets in Taipei: Does it look as clean as Singapore? Yes, I think so.

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

Taipei City Hall

Long Shan Temple (龙山寺)

My Favourite: 蛋饼

See how they change the movie advert?

饺子 (15 for NT$ 75) . Quite filling! Nice!

There have 美珍香 too in Taiwan

Deaflympics is held in Taipei during the period I was there. I saw many deaf people in public places, like MRT, Shopping malls, hotels, etc. There are also 3 deaf people in my dormitory.

Park in the city

Funny Mirror

Friendly Taiwanese

2009-09-13T19:01:00.000+08:00

I feel that Taiwanese is very friendly. The service staff always put on a smile, and always ready to provide you with information you requested. They don't appear to be impatient if you ask more questions. That is something our Singapore service staff must learn.

Here are some of my experiences in Taipei:

Incident #1 - Lost in the City
While I was travelling alone, I liked to walk around, so that I could see more, rather than taking public transport. I was quite confused with the naming of streets in Taipei. For some main roads, they are long and any minor road branching from the main road bear the same name with a number. This was confusing because the names of the minor roads were not in the city map. I am a frequent traveller, and I was a GIS person, so reading a map was never a problem for me until I was in Taipei. But don't worry, people in Taipei were helpful. Just asked any pedestrian or shopkeepers or anyone, they were willing to give you the directions. Some even took the trouble to walk with you for a short stretch of road, to guide you. Isn't that sweet? I felt so happy when I was treated that way!
Try asking a Singaporean for direction along Orchard Road.

Incident #2 - In the MRT Station
Some major MRT stations were huge, and there were many platforms going to different destinations. I could figure it out myself if I wanted to, but it would take time. Just asked the staff who were doing "traffic" control, she would be very helpful in giving you the information you required. Nice!

Incident #3 - In the bus
I was surprised that the bus driver said "Thank You" for passenger! Amazing, right?

Incident #4 - Query about EasyCard (悠遊卡）
Using the EasyCard is the most convenient way to travel around Taipei city. You can use it for MRT and buses, without the hassle of preparing the exact fare, and what's more, there is a 20% discount!
When I enquired about the various options available for tourist at the customer service counter, the staff was so patient in explaining the different options and advised me on what option was more suitable for me in terms of cost savings. Nice right?

Shi Lin Night Market

2009-09-13T19:00:00.000+08:00

The Night Market in Taipei is something we (tourists) should not miss, if we were in Taiwan. The most famous night market would be Shi Lin Night Market (士林夜市). Alight at the Jiantan (剑潭) MRT station, I thought I should alight at 士林 MRT, but fortunately, I was alert listening to the announcement.

So crowded!!!

Ice-cream with peanuts, with "Po-Piah" skin.

2009-07 Kathmandu (Volunteer Trip)

2009-08-11T18:14:00.007+08:00

Kathmandu - Nepal

Date: 14-July-2009 to 29-July-2009

Flight: Thai Airways (Singapore -> Bangkok-> Kathmandu)
SIN (0740) -> BKK (0900) (2 hrs 20 mins)
BKK (1035) -> KTM (1245) (3 hrs 25 mins)
Total flight time: 5 hrs 45 mins (Transit 1 hr 35 mins)

This is my first overseas Volunteer Trip. I was teaching English in a government primary school in Kathmandu! Having a chance to "give" and "share" is a fortune given by God. Nothing is much happier than be able to do that!

I have signed up this volunteer program with International Volunteer HQ, and the working partner in Nepal is "Hope and Home".

If you are interested to be a volunteer, please visit http://www.volunteerhq.org
If you are interested to volunteer in Nepal, please visit http://www.hopenhome.org

Alternatively, you can contact me and I will try my best to give you the information you required. If you have no time to go for a volunteer trip, you may also choose to donate something.

How much do it cost for this volunteer trip?
To be paid to IVHQ: Registration: US$ 220, Program Fees: US$ 320 (for 2 weeks). Click here to see details.
Airfare: On your own (I paid S$ 925 for a return flight with Thai Airways. You may look for promotion/offers every now and then, sometimes, you can get the same flight for about S$500+. I dont have the privilege to wait for offer, as this is the only time slot I can make it)
Other expenses: Your own shopping needs, food/transportation during the return trip (from the placement back to Kathmandu, and to airport), Visa (US$25 for 15 days, US$40 for 30 days, US$100 for 100 days). You may also like to spend some money buying something for the kids at the village (I spent some money on Stationery and board games like Scrabble for the kids).

Visa to Nepal (for 15 days)

NOTE:
(1) It is very important NOT to give too expensive gifts or money to the villagers/people. We shall NOT set a precedence for future volunteers, it would make future volunteers difficult NOT to oblige. The expectation from the Villagers need to be managed.
(2) It is easy to donate money from home, we dont need to be there. Since we are there, the main reason is we want to contribute our time/effort to help the needed ones.
(3) However, if you are buying something really beneficial/useful to them (more like a necessity item), I would encourage you to do that.
(4) If you have an old computer/handphone/books/clothes/stationery/etc, and you wish to donate to them, the villagers will be overjoyed!

Here are some more pages on my trip, enjoy reading:
Orientation and Sightseeing in Kathmandu
Journey from Kathmandu to Chitwan (Narayangadh), and back
Where do I stay? Whom do I stay with?
Map of Padam Pokhari (modified from Google Maps)
What kind of volunteer work?
Some thoughts after the trip (where do I go from here?)
FAQ (from Hope and Home)

Finally, after staying up late some nights, I have completed my blogs on my Nepal Volunteer Trip. I appreciate very much if you can read, especially the page on my thoughts. You may have good ideas. I need more ideas, more support, more help. I cannot do it alone, you can definitely help, JUST DO IT!

Thank you in advance, on behalf of the people in Nepal.

Orientation & Sightseeing

2009-08-10T23:40:00.001+08:00

About to touch down at Kathmandu airport, feeling excited about the trip...

At the Kathmandu airport

Upon arrival at the Kathmandu airport, I was received by Raj (from Kathmandu Peace Guesthouse).

When I see him, the first sentence I said was "Namaste, mero naam Wai Tuck Ho" (Hello, my name is Wai Tuck).

Raj (from Kathmandu Peace Guesthouse) picked me up at the airport. Very friendly and helpful!

The Kathmandu Peace Guesthouse is quite clean and safe, good value for money. I have heard some negative feedback from other volunteers, but my stay there was splendid, nothing to complain about.

I arrived at the guesthouse around 1:15pm, and Raj told me that the people from Hope and Home will come to see me at 3pm. I freshened up myself and rest in the room, waiting to meet the representative from Hope and Home. At 3pm, Naresh (the representative from Hope and Home) gave me some brochures and notes (for our orientation program and Nepali Language introductory course).

Schedule of my Volunteer Trip:
Day 1: Arrived at Kathmandu
Day 2: Orientation, Sightseeing (Monkey Temple)
Day 3: Nepali Language Introductory Course, Sightseeing (Boudha, Hindu Temple), followed by dinner.
Day 4-14: Travel to Chitwan (Narayangadh). Placement at Padam Pokhari
Day 15: Travel back to Kathmandu
Day 16: Depart from Kathmandu

The orientation program, Nepali Language course, sightseeing, dinner and accommodation for Day 1 to 3 are included in the fees that I have paid to IVHQ. I appreciated very much for Hope and Hope to organise such a program for all volunteers before we go for the placement. However, I would suggest IVHQ and Hope&Home to look into offering the sightseeing as an OPTIONAL component. I am there for voluntary work, and 2 weeks is really short, so I hope to start the placement as soon as possible. In my opinion, the notes from Hope & Home are excellent for us to do self-learning, we may be able to learn more during our placement, when we are staying with the home family.

Rooftop Garden at the Guesthouse.

Electricity supply is a problem in Nepal, even in the capital city of Kathmandu. Solar energy is a good alternative.

View from the Rooftop Garden. From here, you can see the nearby hills (only considered as hills to the locals, Mountains means those snow-capped ones beyond a few thousands metres above sea level).

More pics from the rooftop garden

Restaurant of the guesthouse (where we have our Orientation programme and the Nepali Language Introductory course)

Nepali Calendar. It is different from the International Calendar, I have yet to understand it. I will find out during my next trip to Nepal.

Water is pumped from underground using this device.

Bigen (from Hope and Home). He conducted the Orientation class for us, telling us A-Z in Nepal, and the culture, and the Caste system.

Pepsi is a popular drink here.

Kathmandu Peace Guesthouse is just about 5-10 minutes walk to Thamel (where all the shops and restaurants are located). Thamel is the main tourist area in Kathmandu, offering many shops selling almost everything, for example, trekking equipments/gears, handicrafts, clothes, mats, etc.

Kathmandu Guesthouse is the meeting place. If you were lost, just ask around where is Kathmandu Guesthouse, and make your way there.

There are lots of shops in Thamel for you to buy your stuff, but the prices varied from shop to shop greatly. Advice is NOT to buy at the first shop you asked, go into various shops and compare the prices, before you started to bargain. Please do NOT bargain unless you are interested in buying. If you don't want the people to harrass you, don't make eye contact with them, and don't look at their goods. Once you show interest, they will follow you till you buy from them. They are aggressive, but not as much as those in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

You can also go to Thamel for restaurants and bars. If your body is tired after the trek, you may also visit one of the many massage parlours to relieve your muscle aches. I visited one at Rs900 (S$18) for one hour of massage. The skill is good.

You can travel from here to Tibet (overland), very unique experience. I have done this in 1998. It is cheaper to book a tour there, than to book a tour from Singapore.

If you are going to Nepal for trekking, you would have 1-2 days in Kathmandu, while the trekking permit is done. During these 2 days, you may like to shop for your trekking gears here, generally much cheaper to get them here, but I am unsure about their quality. Please exercise your own discretion in buying things here.

In 1998, I was here in Nepal for trekking (Annapurna Base Camp Trek), and we were staying in Hotel Moon Light.

Streets in Kathmandu. In Kathmandu, motor bikes and cars are common. Trishaw are mainly for tourist, and expensive. Lots of Honking! Very noisy!

Rickshaw is common among tourists in Kathmandu.

Dinner with other volunteers (Naresh in the foreground)

Nepalese Wine. I cannot remember the alcohol content, but it is quite high, in the range of 50%-60%. It is very similar to the "Schnapps" in Germany and the "Bai Jiu" (白酒) in China. You need to finish it fast, in one gulp. I liked it, I drank about 3-4 cups.

Dance performance during dinner

Join in the fun of dancing

Hindu temple: Only Hindus can enter. We can only look from outside.

They burnt the dead bodies here

Boudha (the largets stupa in Nepal)

Prayer Flags (see here for more details on prayer flags)

Prayer Wheels (see here for more details)

Spinning Prayer Wheel (remember to spin in clockwise direction)

Prayer wheels come in different sizes

Even monkey cannot resist the temptation of drinking Sprite!
I think this is a Good Advert for Sprite!

Other volunteers. After the orientation, we will be heading to various areas for our placement. Can you choose the odd one out from the group?
haha, pretty obvious right?
I am the odd one for the following reasons:
(1) I am the only MAN
(2) I am the only one coming from an Asian country (the rest come from America, Canadia, and Scotland)
(3) I am the only one going for a Teaching Placement, all the rest are going for Orphanage placement.

The following are the sightseeing pics at the Monkey Temple.

Naresh (from Hope and Home). Our "tour guide" during the sightseeing.

Kathmandu valley

Look at this flight of steps, leading to the top of the hill, where the Monkey Temple is!

Kathmandu to Chitwan, and back

2009-08-10T23:35:00.000+08:00

Day 4 (17-Jul-09)

I woke up at 5:30am, washed up, packed my bag and waited for my breakfast to be served in the room at 6:00am. After a quick bite, I checked out from the guesthouse, and proceeded to the bus station (by taxi).

This is the bus, not bad right? Of course, this is a tourist bus, meant for tourists, so it is more expensive (Rs300) and more comfortable. Most of them are tourists going to the Chitwan National Park for holidays.

Dizen. A friend whom I met on the bus. I was fortunate to meet him, the bus ride was almost 5-6 hours, will be bored if he was not there. We had chatted for the entire bus ride.

On the way to Chitwan.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 15 (28-Jul-09)
From Chitwan to Kathmandu

This day, I was feeling sad. I didn't feel like leaving the home family. I could not imagine that we have become so good friends and so attached within 10 days!

Terrace Padi fields

Are you game enough to walk this hanging bridge?

Padam Pokhari, Chitwan

2009-08-10T23:30:00.000+08:00

I was posted to Chitwan, well known for its National Park. The bus ride from Kathmandu to Narayangadh (a town in Chitwan) took about 5.5 hours, including a 30-minute stop for brunch.

At Narayangadh, I was received by Sanjiv (a 22-year old young man), he was already waiting for me when I arrived. When I saw him, I noticed that he had a cast around his right ankle. He had sprained his ankle during a soccer game about 10 days ago, it looked pretty serious. I was quite surprised to see an injured man receiving me, and what surprised me more was "Sanjiv is such a young man, I was expecting to see someone at least in the mid-thirties! To me, he is just a BOY! Even younger than my niece and nephew".

Sanjiv (a T-shirt given by Amanda, a volunteer from NYC)

After you get to know him better, Sanjiv is so mature in his thinking and behaviour, he is much more responsible , reliable and mature than someone who is 30 years old . He is like a care-taker for all the volunteers who are posted to that area. He works for Hope and Home, and he will liaise with all necessary parties (school or health post) with regards to our placement, to ensure that our placement are OK. He takes good care of all volunteers and ensure we are alright. Even though we may be requesting for something extra, he will be so obliging in helping us. A great young man, who is resourceful and helpful.

After Sanjiv has finished his medical treatment (for his ankle) in the hospital, he brought me to a supermarket, to buy some necessities (like Washing Powder, Toilet Paper, etc). They don't provide toilet paper, because they don't need it (you know what I mean? OK, I shall not elaborate.)

I stayed in a village called Padam Pokhari, about another 45 minutes taxi ride away from Narayangadh. During the ride, I already started to notice how rural is the place. Rice fields, corns fields, mud houses, animals (cows, buffaloes, goats) everywhere, non-tarred road, and so on.

Padi Field

Corns Field

This is how the road look like. Full of stones and pebbles. Very difficult to cycle on it, especially when my cycling skill is so BAD! My butt ached after every ride, because it was so bumpy!

You can see goats/cows eating grasses along the road. A very common scene here.

It was about 4pm, when we finally arrived at the Hope and Home Library House at Padam Pokhari. I was quite happy with the accommodation arranged, I was expecting the worst, but it actually turned out to be not that bad. At least, the toilet and shower room are indoors, I thought I may be showering in the open ... thanks God!

Hope and Home Library House (my room is the one on the left, very warm, just like a sauna! If you want free sauna, come here!)

My Room. My bed is the one on the left. The bed on the right was taken by Dominic (another volunteer, from England), but he left 2 days after I arrived, so I got my entire room to myself! The mosquito net is a MUST, the mosquitoes there love my blood (O+) very much. I am always the one being attached by mosquitoes! One of the nights, while I was sleeping, I accidentally trapped 2 mosquitoes inside the net, and you should be able to guess what happened to me after that night. :'(

Chitwan is a Malaria-proned area, remember to take anti-malaria pills, and the required vaccinations before you go to Nepal. Go to Tan Tock Seng Travellers' Clinic for vaccinations.

Shower Room (the water comes from the water tank on the roof)

Squatting Toilet!!! (Sorry for my knees! It was always a challenge for me to stand up after doing my business)

Day Bed. This is the place for us to relax during the day. Mainly occupied by Sanjiv, while he was studying for his examination, but not for long, he dozed off after a short while. Haha...

Is Sanjiv studying or sleeping? See the bandage on his anke? Wrapped by me! After this placement, I become quite good at massaging the leg and doing bandages.

Stable (for the goats). Just beside the Library House.

Have you seen the real "Pigeon Holes"? Do these holes resembles those mailboxes ("pigeon holes") we have in our office?

Dining Table (just outside the Kitchen)

Water Tank on the rooftop (We need to fill the tank periodically with the hose). The hose drew water from underground, very clean water, potable. I was quite amazed, even the tap water of some developed countries are not potable.

Radha (Sanjiv's mother) in her "workplace" (the Kitchen). I called her, Didi (Elder Sister). She cooked for us, excellent cook! Very delicious! Mainly, we eat Rice and Vegetables. (In Nepali, it is called "Dal Bhat"). This is the main staple diet for most Nepalese.

Dal = Lentil soup, usually eaten with rice
Bhat = Steamed Rice
Tarkari = Curried Vegetables

Radha washing the dishes

Stairs leading to the rooftop. The rooftop was our favourite hangout place in the evening, because it was cooler up there in the evening. From there, you could see the sunset. At night, you could see lots of stars and even the milky way galaxy. Due to the darkness of the surrounding, we could see thousands/millions of stars in the night sky! An excellent place for lying down and seeing the stars, except for the sickening mosquitoes!!!

I was just thinking how could we make better use of the rooftop. Probably, we could build a small shelter there, with some floor mats for chatting, or playing games.

Sunset

Sanjiv tidying up the shelves (with my help of course! He is an injured man!)

Are you keen to help to fill up those shelves? They need donations! Pass to me, I may be there again...

During this trip, I bought some stationeries (exercise books, pencils, abacus for teaching Maths, Scrabble board game) for the kids. I also spent 1-2 days in making the Pictionary Board Game for the kids. However, I have no time to teach them before I left. I have passed the responsibility to Amanda, who will be there for another 1.5 weeks.

These pens are donated by Meow Leng (Thank you so much, Meow Leng).

Desk for the kids while learning in the Library House. Sanjiv teaches the kids English and Mathematics in the morning, between 7am and 9am. Sometimes, we (the volunteers) will help him out.

Satil

Aashika

Abatar (younger brother of Aashika)

(from Left ro Right) Aashika, Satil, Abatar, Sachita

The kids like to dance

Sanjiv's nephew

Consistent Electricity Supply is a problem in Nepal. Everyday, there were power breakdown for a few times. On the average, there may be a total of 4-6 hours of power interruption. During my stay, the longest period without power was 48 hours! The first night (with the 48-hour breakdown) was so warm, and I couldn't sleep, I woke up to shower every 2 hours! The next day, I felt sick! Sanjiv didn't sleep too, he was sleeping outside the house (because it was too warm inside), and he was "kissed" by many mosquitoes that night!

We should treasure what we have. In Singapore, we often take things for granted, having electrical supply is a norm. If there is a power break down of 10 minutes, it would cause a BIG Hoo-Ha, and for sure, it will appear as the Headlines in tomorrow's newspaper. Just imagine these villagers are suffering this every day, for their life. Can you imagine how fortunate you are? Why complain when you are already in a much better situation as compared to the unfortunate?

Sanjiv and Amanda; Blue and White; Soccer and Volleyball.

Do you remember the song "Planting rice is never fun"? Try to bend down and plant the rice for an entire day, I am sure your backbone will SCREAM for HELP! The villagers here are farmers. Too bad, I don't have a chance to experience planting rice during this trip, I will do so during my next trip (if I have the opportunity). Sanjiv, recover fast, so that you can bring me to the padi fields.

Look at her palm

They are still using buffaloes to plow the land. No tractor!

Have you seen a spider this BIG?

Sanjiv's school

Radha and Sanjiv. I used these two photographs to draw the following picture.

I have much time in the afternoon after school, so I decided to draw a picture of the Library House, and give it (as a souvenir) to Sanjiv.

Hope and Home Library House
Padam Pokhari, Chitwan, Nepal
A Paradise on Earth
A Land of Happiness
Where people lead a simple life
But yet Happy!

Aashika is helping Amanda to do her hair. Very professional looking.

On 22-Jul-2009 about 6:45am. Nepal was not in the path of the Total Eclipse, this was the best I could capture.

Villagers. They are all very friendly. I usually cycle around the village in the evening when the sun is not so hot. They will definitely say "hello" to me, when I cycled pass their home. Some will invite me to take pictures.

On a clear day, we could see the snow-capped mountains.

Sanjiv sitting on top of a bus. On Friday (24-Jul), Sanjiv needed to go to the hospital for his appointment. I accompanied him to the hospital at Narayandadh. This day was another FRESH NEW Experience for me. Firstly, I have to walk about 30-40 minutes to the bus stop from the Library House, and then waited for the bus which come at a frequency of 1 hour, and then a bus ride of another 1 hour or so! All-in-all, we spent almost 3 hours on the road (one way)! I never expect the village is in such a remote location. I thought this only happened in the movie, but it happened in real life!

You (Singaporeans, and others staying in developed countries) who are reading this, your country has very good public transport services, and moving from one place to another is so convenient and fast, please treasure what you have!

Sitting on top of the bus is a very nice experience. I rather sit up here, than to squeeze inside a jammed-packed bus. I can tell you, you wouldn't like it to be inside the bus, and you cannot imagine how packed it is. I experienced it when I went to Narayangadh on another day, it was so packed that I couldn't move, left-right-front-back are people, body touching body, without any room for movement. I almost cramped during that one-hour bus ride!

Sanjiv - My Vanja (which means Nephew).

Eating his favourite buffalo's meat

Dominic, Radha, Carrie. Dominic is from England and Carrie from America, they left 2 days after I arrived.

Sanjiv having a picture with the volunteers. It must be hard on him, volunteers come-and-go, when he got to be closer to a volunteer, it was about time for the volunteer to leave that place. So, I guess he will feel sad every 2-3 weeks, when another volunteer leave the Library House. Well, that is part of life I guess. 天下无不的宴席

Soon it is my turn to bid farewell. I hate to say goodbye, I am an emotional person, and I am easily attached to close friends, no matter how short the period is. Within 10 days, I made very good friends with Sanjiv & family, that I am really feeling very sad to leave them. Although you can see my usual smile on the following pictures, I am actually feeling sad...依依不舍

Bye bye, Sanjiv, Radha and Surya. I will be back!!!

Laxmi Higher Secondary School

2009-08-10T23:29:00.001+08:00

On Sunday (19-Jul-2009), Sanjiv (despite his injured ankle) brought me to see the English teacher (Mr. Ishari) at Laxmi Higher Secondary School, which is about 30 minutes away from Hope and Home Library House (by bicycle). The school is located in another village. Cycling on the uneven road (full of stones and pebbles) is very challenging, especially I was trying to catch up with Sanjiv, who was cycling at a very leisure pace.

Oh, did you wonder, "why Sunday?" In Nepal, Friday is working half day, and Saturday is an off day, Sunday is a working day. If you wishes to shop at Narayangahd, don't go on Monday, 90% of the shops are closed.

Along the way to the school, Sanjiv was guiding me on how to remember the route to the school, because I should be going to the school alone after that day. The meeting with the Mr Ishari only lasted for about 30-45 minutes. During the conversation, I understood that it was summer vacation, so there were no proper time-tabled lessons. Only extra classes were conducted during the period that I was in Chitwan.

The school staff and students are accustomed to having volunteers going there for teaching English. They are extremely friendly to volunteers, and the students are always curious in seeing a foreigner. Everyone was staring at me like an alien. After the meeting, we (Sanjiv and I) went back to the Library House. On the return trip, Sanjiv purposely asked me to lead the way, to ensure that I could remember the way back to Library House.

On Monday (20-Jul), I started my assignment in Laxmi Secondary School. The school consists of students from Grade 6 to Grade 12. (Sanjiv, correct me if I am wrong.)

The lessons started at 6am, and ended around 10am or 11am, depending on the grade of the students. The students were required to go home and helped up in the fields. Some students will be back to school in late afternoon, after their work in the fields.

Yes, I didn't type wrongly and you didn't read wrongly, the lessons started at 6am!!! Everyday, I woke up around 4:45am, washed up and headed to the school without breakfast. Luckily, the sun rose very early (around 5am), so I didn't need to cycle in the dark.

I perspired very easily, so I usually cycle with my singlets and shorts. When I was near to the school, I will change to my Jeans and T-Shirts. If I would to cycle with Jeans & T-Shirts, I would be totally drenched with my sweat when I arrived at the school, which happened on the first day.

For the first few lessons, the teachers were kind to let me sit in their classes as observers. When the students were doing exercises given by the teacher, I will walk around to help the students. After a few lessons of observation, I started my own class.

The first class was for Grade 6 students, quite young. While I was teaching, there were so many students crowding outside the classroom, peeping from the windows and door. I was unsure of their command of English, but from the conversations, it seemed to me that they were quite weak in English. I didn't have a textbook. So, i just started to use the chalk to draw pictures on the blackboard, and asked the students to spell and write the objects I was drawing. The students also started to copy what I drew and named the objects in the picture. Most students were visual, drawing pictures can help them to remember better.

They are still using chalk and blackboard for teaching. Rubbing the board can be tiring and at the same time, my hands/fingers and clothes were full of chalk powder after the class. Now, I can appreciate so much on the advancement of technology, which helps us in Singapore. We are using computer and projectors to teach. If needed to, we could write on the Whiteboard. But in Nepal, you would not have the privilege of using computer, projector or whiteboard.

The following are some pictures of the students in the school.

The following are pictures of the Laxmi Higher Secondary School.

Some students were early for the class (time then was 5:45am). They were generally very friendly to volunteers.

Parking for teachers. You may be able to spot my bicycle in this pic.

Canteen in the school. Very very small. I guess most students will go home to eat, so there is no need to have a big canteen.

What did I teach?
The most difficult part was we (the volunteers) don't know what is the English proficiency of the different levels of students. The teachers will ask me to go into a class of Grade 6 or Grade 7 to teach them. No textbook was given to me, I had no idea what level should I be teaching. Should I teach them Grammar, Tenses, Compositions, Comprehension, or what? What is appropriate and what's not? Thousands of queries in the beginning. It was a bit chaotic during my first 1-2 lessons. But after that, I would first ask a student to give me his textbook, and I will choose a topic/chapter from the textbook and teach them.

Sometimes, I felt quite frustrated and I felt that I was actually giving trouble to the school, rather than helping them. I just had the thinking that I was redundant and I was not required to be there. But after talking to Sanjiv, I felt much better. He told me that Volunteers were definitely required in the school to help the students, there were not enough English teachers. It just happened that I was there during the Summer Vacation and hence, there were no proper classes, and that's why I had the wrong impression that I was actually not required.

Thoughts

2009-08-10T23:28:00.001+08:00

This trip was truly amazing! I knew that I will definitely feel good about helping people, making a difference, but the result of the trip was far beyond expectation. I didn't expect this trip has caused such an impact on me. This impact changed my values in life, changed my goals, and it has helped me to start a new chapter in my life!

There is no word for me to describe how I feel about voluntary work. You have to experience it on your own. Before this trip, I had a mission in my life to travel to 50 (or even 100) different countries. I love to see the world! Till date, I have covered 31 countries, an awesome number I think. To some of my friends, they called me a "Seasoned Traveller".

However, after this trip, my mission in my life changes slightly. I still want to see the world, but the focus is shifted, and doing voluntary work is also another way in seeing the world:

(1) It helps us to see "things" that we would not be able to see when we travelled to BIG cities in the world.

(2) It helps us to understand what we have today is not there by chance, there are people who are working hard to achieve that. Not everyone in this planet (called Earth) are privileged enough to share the same life style as us.

(3) It helps us to understand we cannot take things for granted. Treasure what we have.

(4) It helps us to understand one can be happy by leading a simple life. No computer games, no entertainment, nothing in the materialistic world! Isn't that ironic? People in the cities are working very hard day and night in order to be happy. These villagers are happy, contented for being simple.

So, doing voluntary work can also fulfill my dream of seeing the world.

Where do I go from here? What else can we do to help?
I will definitely be back to Padam Pokhari, so that I can do more.

Some volunteers like to go to different places to help different people, so that they can reach out to more people. This is really nice, and I admire their spirit for lending their helping hands to others WIDELY.

Some people like to donate money, clothes, stationery and other necessities, to the poor. These are very kind gestures, and I thanked these people for their generous donations/contributions. These can definitely help the poor to improve their life.

As for me, I prefer to go back to Padam Pokhari. I see that there are much things we could do to help the people there. This trip is my first volunteer trip overseas, and I don't know what to expect. Now, I know that place better, I know the situations/conditions better, I hope that I can do a bit more in my future trips. You may also lend your hands to the poor ones. I want to share this happiness (of helping others) with you, so that you can only feel the same as me. I wish that we could help the poor ones DEEPLY.

As written in my facebook, I have two new goals in life:
(1) To help the poor ones
(2) To help others who wish to help.
For goal no (2), I have many friends who always wish to help, but they have no time due to family/work commitment. They can help in many different ways, no need to be physically there overseas in order to help. I am hoping that I am offering this channel for them to lend their hands to the poor.

There are many ways in helping them. Donation is one way. We shall continue to donate what could be helpful and relevant to the villagers. I am just a bit concern that donation may result in making the villagers more dependent on external assistance (from charitable organisations and volunteers). What I think is more important is "how we could help the villagers to help themselves?" What could we offer to the villagers so that their life can be improved, by their own effort? How can we help to make them independent?

I have been to Nepal in 1998, to trek the Annapurna Base Camp trek. 11 years later (in 2009), I arrived at Kathmandu (the capital city) again, and I am abit surprised that I cannot see any noticeable improvements. It doesn't seem that the Kathmandu city has developed. Maybe I am wrong, because my focus is narrow, I only see Thamel and surrounding area. There may be some other improvements which I didn't see. But if, only if my observation is correct, then .... ? (fill up the blanks yourself)

Off hand, there are a few pointers in my mind, which I want to do or try to do:
(1) Make a point to visit Padam Pokhari again, at least for a few more times.
(2) Bring students/colleagues from my school there to do voluntary work.
(3) Influence friends to join me in voluntary work there.

Some possible goals for the trip may be:
(1) Donation of money, or any necessities for their daily life consumption
(2) Educate the villagers (English, Mathematics). Since there are farmers, is it possible to educate them in better or more advanced farming skills, to improve their harvest? Maybe our School of LSCT (Horticulture) can help? Just a wild idea.
(3) Donation of old computers and setup a computer lab in the village, and at the same time, teach them on computer skills?
(4) Volunteers teaching English in the school. Learning English can be fun, how to teach and learn in a fun manner? I think our School of IS in NP have brilliant ideas on how to make learning fun. I feel that another possible mission can be having our lecturers to be there in the school, to educate/teach the teachers on new innovative ways of teaching. This will benefit them (both the schools and the students) in the long run.
(5) Perform Needs Analysis on the Health Post. I have not visited the Health Post during my trip, but I heard from other volunteers that the equipments are not proper, and some medical supplies may be insufficient.
(6) Make the Library House as a meeting place for villagers. The villagers can go to the Library to interact, to learn (classes like Massage Course, taking care of babies/childrens, English, Mathematics, General Knowledge). Make it as a game/sports centre, make a small soccer field, a small basketball court, etc. Setup a mini-cafe there, to serve drinks and snacks.

Possible Donation Items:
(1) Money. I personally dislike the idea of giving money directly to the villagers. We could use the money to buy stuff in Nepal, for them. If we are going to do some community work, we could also use the money to buy raw materials and necessary things for the community work. Just a wild idea, probably some of you can donate some money to me, to sponsor my trip partially (like the airfare).
(2) Old computers
(3) Old mobile phones
(4) Board Games, promoting development of the kids' brain
(5) Medical Supplies?

Donation Items which I may deem inappropriate:
(1) big items (reason: difficult to carry)
(2) heavy items (reason: may result in overweight, excess baggage penalty may be more expensive than the price of the items)
(3) new items which can be bought in Nepal in cheaper price (reason: there is no point buying new things in Singapore and bring there. It is better to bring money there, and buy the stuff there, to help in boost up their economy)

What can we do now?
(1) Fund-Raising? Get in touch with charitable organisation. Get students to raise funds.
(2) Start to gather donation items

Some of the above ideas are contributed by Faith Tay and Sandra Toh. Thanks Ladies for brainstorming with me. See? You have done your part to help too! You dont need to be physically there to help.

I need more support and ideas from all of you who are reading this. You can help, just do it!

Map of Padam Pokhari

2009-08-10T11:25:00.000+08:00

The maps shown on this page are modified from Google Maps and the satellite images provided by Google.

My Placement is in Padam Pokhari, nearest town is Narayangadh (the spelling is slightly different in Google Maps). Narayangadh has hospitals, shops, markets, restaurants, internet cafe and so on. That is the closest place for us to get connected to our home, but the journey to Narayangadh from Padam Pokhari can be quite wearisome.
3 means of transport to Narayangadh : (1) By public bus (Rs 25 per trip): Walk 30-40 minutes to the bus-stop, and then take an one-hour bus ride. Frequency of bus is about 1 hour. Advise to sit on top of bus, more spacious. After one attempt, I would never want to be inside the bus again, too crowded! (2) By taxi (Rs 600-700 per trip): definitely much more convenient and comfortable, but much more expensive! Takes about 45 minutes.

(3) By bicycle (free): Takes about 1 hr to 1.5 hours (depending on your cycling speed). If you are more adventurous, you can choose to cycle, sometimes, it may be difficult to recognise the route. But with the maps on this page, you will be OK.

The above map shows the route from Narayangadh (top right corner) to Hope and Home Library House in Padam Pokhari (bottom left corner).

This is a satellite image of Padam Pokhari. I have added the paths in yellow, which are not clear in the satellite images. Every evening when the weather was not as hot, I cycled around the village, to get familiarise with the surroundings. I even sketched a locality map of the surrounding, but seemed like it was not useful as the above picture.

Satellite Image of the Hope and Home Library House. The image is rotated by 90 degrees, so that we can compare the satellite image with the picture drawn by me (below).

NP National Day Celebration 09

2009-08-07T19:59:00.000+08:00

Last Friday (7-Aug-09), we had a celebration for our Nation's 44th Birthday in the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Convention Centre (NPCC).

Taken some videos, but mostly too dark. I like this performance by MDE student, but unfortunately, the video was captured without sound.

2009-02-11 Wuhan China

2009-07-03T11:45:00.002+08:00

Date: 11-Feb-2009 to 3-Jul-2009

Facts of Wuhan
Bidding Farewell to Singapore
Transit at Guangzhou Airport
Weather in Wuhan
大白兔奶糖布不含三聚氰胺
Settling Down at Wuhan
My Apartment in Wuhan
WUST
Erratic Weather - Cold and Hot
Our favourite restaurant
北方饺子
饭桶
Food
Welcome to Tuck's Restaurant
省博物馆和黄鹤楼
COLD
SNOW
Immersion Programme Students are here!
My WUST Students
Links to Ngee Ann Immersion Programme Student's Blog (links to other blogs from the Friends' List)
Spring is here, Flowers Blossom
My coffee has arrived
IP Students left for Yangtze 3 Gorges
Total Solar Eclipse on 22-July-2009
East Lake
Steamboat Dinner
Treasure what you have!
Introducing Singapore to WUST
Fried Kuay Teow
Strawberry Farm Visit
Misty Morning
Immersion Programme Students are gone!
Lu Lin

Sunrise at WUST

Yonex ArcSaber 10

2009-05-11T22:59:00.001+08:00

I bought a badminton racket, an imitation of "Yonex ArcSaber 10". It costs me RMB 133 (including the strings and grip), not a bad deal! I have already tested it out, not a bad racket, quite good performance, very good-value-for-money!

Hostels

2009-05-10T23:08:00.003+08:00

When I am travelling alone, I tends to stay in Youth Hostels, it is cheap, and at the same time, I could meet people with similar interest.

If you are travelling and wish to have a stay in any of the following hostels, you can ask me for comments/feedback.

Here is a list of hostels that I have stayed in the past few years (there were more, but I forgot):

Shanghai: Mingtown Hiker International Youth Hostel (Apr 2009)
Suzhou: Mingtown Suzhou Youth Hostel (Apr 2009)
Hangzhou: Hangzhou International Youth Hostel (Apr 2009)
Macau: Augusters Lodge (Aug 2008)
Hong Kong: Mt Davis Jockey Club Youth Hostel (Aug 2008)
Melbourne: All Nations City Backpackers Hostel (Jan 2008)
Melbourne: King Street Backpackers Hostel (Jan 2008)
Tokyo: Tokyo International Hostel (Nov 2002, Aug 2003)
Hakone: Fuji-Hakone Guesthouse (Nov 2002)

2009-04 Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou

2009-05-10T03:30:00.000+08:00

Date: 18-Apr-2009 to 26-Apr-2009

Flights: China Eastern Airlines (booked from www.ctrip.com). Monitor the flights every day, and you may find promotions like mine! I only pay RMB 650 (including Taxes) for Return Flight to Shanghai.

On 18-Apr (Saturday), we arrived at the Wuhan Airport (天河机场), at around 6:40am.

The trip started with a cancellation of my original flight at 8:30am, and postponed to the flight at 10:40am. And then that flight was further delayed to 12:00nn!!! Basically, I spent half a day in 天河机场 (武汉）!

I had so much time, so I setup the tripod and take picture of myself.

In the airport, there are charging stations for mobile phones! Not bad hor? I charged my phone here!

Itinerary:
18-Apr to 20-Apr (Sat to Mon): Shanghai
20-Apr to 21-Apr (Mon to Tue): Suzhou
21-Apr to 23-Apr (Tue to Thu): Hangzhou
23-Apr to 26-Apr (Thu to Sun): Shanghai

Done with my blog on Shanghai and Suzhou. Blogs for Hangzhou is not completed yet. Please re-visit to see more updates!

2009-04 Shanghai

2009-05-10T03:25:00.000+08:00

Shanghai

By the time I arrived at Shanghai (about 13:20), I tried to call James (my ex-colleague in Singapore, who had returned to China for good in 2005), who was supposed to come to airport to pick me. To my surprise, my SIM card could not be used in Shanghai, it was a local SIM card to be used only in Wuhan, Hubei! Luckily, there is a public phone around, which I can use to contact James.

James has bought a car, Buick, and had volunteered to pick me up at the airport and sent me to the hostel! (Throughout this entire week, I had pre-booked my accommodation via Hostels.com. Hostels.com offers very good rates for hostels world-wide. See below for information on those hostels.)

After checking in to the hostel, we went to James' home (which he bought it in 2005 at 世纪公园), where we were going to meet Gu Bei (Lily) and Hong Tao (Aaron), for dinner. Gu Bei and Hong Tao had been working in Singapore as well. In the years of 1999-2004, we had been playing badminton and cards together! It was one of the many sweet memories of my life!

At James' Home: From L-R: James, James' Mother-in-law with James' Son (Zhang Zi Heng), Grace (James' wife), Lily, Aaron and me

Zhang Zi Heng (James' son): Very Intelligent, Chatty and hyper-active! I am amazed at how his lingual abilities, who is only 4 years old! He is Bi-lingual (English and Mandarin).

After dinner, James brought me to the river-side (黄浦江) at 陆家嘴. From there, you could see the opposite bank, the Bund (外滩), it appeared in most movies/serials filmed in Shanghai, for example the famous Hong Kong Serials, 上海滩.

At the bank of 黄浦江：L->R: me, Aaron, James (Shangrila Hotel and 东方明珠 TV Tower, in the background)

The building on the right (Shanghai World Financial Centre, SWFC, 上海环球金融中心) is the tallest building in China. It is the second tallest completed building in the world, standing at 492m, shorter than Taipei 101 (at 509m). By Sep-2009, the tallest building in the world will be replaced by Burj Dubai (which stands at 818m).

南京路步行街

Accommodation
Mingtown Hiker International Youth Hostels (booked from www.hostels.com)

Related Blogs:
Moving around in Shanghai
California Fitness Gym
Train to Suzhou
外滩　Bund (Day and Night)
Lu Jia Zui 陆家嘴
Excursion to Zhu Jia Jiao 朱家角

2009-04 Suzhou

2009-05-10T03:20:00.000+08:00

Suzhou (苏州） is a city with a history of more than 2,500 years, tracing back to the later Shang Dynasty. Suzhou is located in the south of Jiangsu (江苏) province, some 50 miles west of Shanghai, along the old Grand Canal. While talking about Suzhou, the old saying mentions it as a "Paradise on the Earth" or the "Venice of the East", referring to its natural beauty, classical gardens, bridges and waters, traditional operas and soft dialect tone.

上有天堂，下有苏杭

In this trip to Shanghai, I have purposely included Suzhou (苏州） and Hangzhou (杭州） in my itinerary, hence, according to the above Chinese Phrase, I have already been to "Paradise" (天堂)!

Getting There
I took an Express Train (动车) from Shanghai, which took merely 35 minutes! It was fast and comfortable (except for the hassle at the train stations).

Finally, I arrived at Suzhou Train Station!

Learning from the mistakes made in Shanghai, I better buy the train tickets to Hangzhou in advance (dont wish to rush or run into risk of not getting a ticket the day after). I quickly go to the ticketing office at the railway station, and look at the train schedule. I was looking for the fastest train to Hangzhou, some trains were taking a longer time, I bought the ticket (RMB 86) for the fastest train which will depart at 2:15pm and will arrive at Hangzhou around 5pm (around 3 hours).

Accommodation
Mingtown Suzhou Youth Hostel (booked from www.hostels.com)

Related Blogs:

Venice of the East
Guan Qian Lu (观前路)

狮子林

2009-04 Hangzhou

2009-05-10T03:15:00.000+08:00

Hangzhou (杭州） is a tourist city well known at home and abroad. Hangzhou is a city with a rich history and culture.

The Song dynasty helped to make Hangzhou famous when they moved the imperial family here in the 12th Century. With its inviting views and outstanding scenery, the West Lake soon became popular with numerous artists, poets and painters seeking inspiration in this little bit of "paradise".

Lying on the west edge of Hangzhou city, West Lake is the symbol of Hangzhou as well as one of the most beautiful sights in China. Early in the Song dynasty, the famous poet 苏轼 compared the lake to Xizi, a Chinese Cleopatra. And this is the Chinese Poem I found from the Internet. Don't ask me what it means, I don't understand! Can someone help me?

[宋] 苏轼
水光潋滟睛方好，山色空蒙雨亦奇。
欲把西湖比西子，淡妆浓抹总相宜。

So the Lake is also known as Xizi Lake. With an area of 6 sq. km. and a circumference of 15km (9 miles), West Lake, surround in three sides by rolling wooded hills, has captivated countless visitors for centuries.

Getting There
I took an Express Train (动车) from Suzhou, which took approximately 3 hours! The train need to pass-by Shanghai.

Once again, upon arrival at Hangzhou, I went to buy the train tickets back to Shanghai in advance. There were trains to Shanghai station and Shanghai South Station. Look carefully, the trains were of different durations and different prices. I dont quite understand the system, but somehow, I managed to find the fastest and yet one of the cheaper train back to Shanghai South Station (which cost RMB 54).

Accommodation
Hangzhou International Youth Hostel (booked from www.hostels.com)

Related Blogs:

West Lake (Day and Night)
Musical Fountain
Exercising Everywhere

Exercising Everywhere

2009-05-02T14:00:00.001+08:00

In China, in every cities, in every corner, you will somehow see people exercising in the morning and evenings. It happened in Wuhan (in any space they can find, e.g. roadside, corner of a street), it happened in Shanghai (near the Bund area), in Suzhou (near temples, walking streets), and here in Hangzhou, it was even more predominant, especially around West Lake, where the scenery was beautiful and the air was clean and fresh!

I saw a group of retirees, men and women, dancing in the park. It was quite obvious that they were learning a new dance, they made mistakes, and they laughed, but they never stopped trying! It was so much of fun! I was attracted by their laughter, and I stay put at that spot, watching them having fun! Suddenly, I remembered a phrase I have learnt "Happiness is Contagious! Spread it!" This statement is so TRUE! I got influenced by this group of retirees, and unknowingly, Tears of Joy just flowed naturally out of my eyes! I was happy for them! I felt that these retirees were the RICHEST Men and Women in the world! They may not be rich in terms of money, but they are rich spiritually! Isn't Happiness what all of us are striving to get in our entire life? They are HAPPY! And money cannot buy that happiness!

Here are some pictures of the people exercising and having fun!

Please enjoy, spread your joy/happiness to your families/friends/loved ones!

Kung Fu Master. I like their costumes, I wanted so much to buy one of those costumes!

shi zi lin

2009-05-02T02:21:00.000+08:00

狮子林

Map of the mansion

This is a stone maze. If you are not careful, you may get lost inside the landscape. To your movement within the maze more difficult, there were easily hundreds/thousands of visitors inside this mansion.

Suzhou Hostel

2009-05-02T02:19:00.000+08:00

Mingtown Suzhou Youth Hostel
苏州明堂青年旅舍

Address:
No. 28, Ping Jiang Road. Suzhou. P.R.China.
苏州市平江路28号

phone: +86-0512-65816869
email: mingtown@foxmail.com

Directions
1) From Railway Station:No.202 to Guan Qian Street East （观前东路)

2) From Southern Bus Station: No.900 to Xiang Men、No.60 to Xiang Men、No.811 to Guan Qian street East、No.529 to Guan Qian Street East、No.55 to Guan Qian Street East (2)From Northern Bus Station:No.40 to Xiang Men

Information from HostelWorld
Pingjiang District is the most ancient block in Suzhou downtown area. For thousands of years, Ping Jiang Rd keeps the old pattern, road paralleling to canal ,which makes it the most attractive ancient block.Visiters could take the wooden boats along the canal and observe native people’life there ,in the background music of Pingtan Opera.

The hostel is next to lots of historic sites and key points of interest, former residences of celebrities, classical gardens as well as Buddhist and Taoist temples. It only takes ten minutes’ walk to famous sights like Humble Administrator's Garden, Suzhou Museum, The Lion Forest Garden, Shan Xi Assembly Hall, Couple Garden, Guan Qian Street and there are also many buses to other sight-seeing spots in Suzhou city from here.

My Comments:
I paid only RMB 25 for a bed in a 6-beds dormitory.
The place is clean and tidy, with alot of character, due to its traditional architecture. It is well located in the ancient block in Suzhou Downtown (providing me with lots of photography opportunities), and with easy access to nearby places of interest like 观前路, 狮子林 and 拙政园.

Mingtown Suzhou Youth Hostel, nice right?

Phone at the hostel reception. It is still operating!

Backyard of hostel, whereby you can relax here, have a coffee/tea with your friend

Ping Jiang Lu at night (just outside hostel)

Lobby area: provides two PC with Free Internet Access. If you have your own laptop, this area also offers free WiFi connection. You can rent a bicycle if you like to travel around Suzhou by bicycle.

Inside the hostel

Washing Area

Common Shower Room

Every bed is provided with a secuirty locker to deposit your stuff.

Hangzhou Musical Fountain

2009-05-02T02:02:00.001+08:00

This is new attraction in West Lake, the Musical Fountain. Although I have seen the same in Singapore Sentosa Island, somehow somewhat it is slightly different. I enjoyed alot watching how the water dances in the air, synchronising movements with the music.

Every night, the first show starts at 7pm with a duration of about 10-15 minutes each. The show repeats every 30 minutes, some songs are repeated, and some aren't.

Wanted so much to take pictures of the fountain, I went to area at around 620pm, and I was surprised that the place was already full. All the seats were occupied, but anyway, I had no intention of sitting down. I found an ideal location for photography and I setup my tripod there. I happened to the first in that area, and slowly the crowd gathered and there are more and more people crowding behind me. Some didn't know why there was such a crowd there. And many of these curious tourists will ask, because I seemed to know the answers to their query. Quite obvious, right? A photographer with a tripod being setup.

I was actually snapping the photographs like cerazy! Well, that was the good thing about digital photography, I don't need to be too much concern about wasting money on rolls of films, developing charges, and printing fees, just SNAPPED! I enjoyed the "water" shows, and I stayed there from 630pm to 845pm when all the shows were over! There were some repetition of songs, but it was alright, I don't mind watching it again and again.

There was a young man (from Jingzhou 荆州) who was with me throughout the entire durations. We made friends with each other and chatting, somehow we felt attached to each other, due to the virtue fact that we both were from Hubei 湖北.

But anyway, throughout the duration, in addition to taking photographs, and answering queries to some curious traveller, and chatting with this guy, the commonest thing I did was helping some other tourists (generally ladies, hehe) in setting their cameras, or take pictures for them. Well, I could have setup a small little stall there to earn some money, by helping other tourists to take pictures, or guide them on how to use their camera.

Strange hor? People don't know how to use their own camera? The classic example was this lady (a tourist from Shanghai, I think), not bad looking, quite attractive. She asked me to help her to adjust the settings in her camera, because her camera didn't manage to capture night scene properly. I believe it had something to do with the exposure (which means the shutter speed or aperture or ISO setting). Well, it was not a normal brand, the user interface was in Chinese (of course!). After spending 5 minutes or so, I couldn't figure where to make the correct settings, it was not easy. I have no choice but to pass the camera back to her, and said "Sorry, I have no idea how to set your camera", or something like that. And you know what? She started to show me that impatient look and sarcastic face, and uttered something like "Why you didn't know how? You were a professional photographer, right? Why don't know? Why? Why? Why!" I was like taken by surprise and wouldn't know how to react to her "nonsense"! In my heart, I was saying "Well, you came to me to ask for help, I offered my help to take a look, I tried, but I couldn't help, sorry! Was it my fault?". I felt so "委屈". Haha! Anyway, this little incident didn't manage to spoil my mood on enjoying the beautiful scene in front of me.

Most of the pictures were taken with the following settings:
Aperture: F4.5 to F5
Shutter Speed: 0.5 seconds to 2 seconds
ISO: 100 to 800 (depending, I was exploring different options)

Sometimes, I purposely set my aperture to be smaller, so as to make the shutter speed slower, to explore. Anyway, that was the spirit, EXPLORE, and you will learn! It is same in doing other things in your life. EXPLORE!

Please enjoy some of the pictures here:

Laser on Water Screen

From another angle

Guan Qian Lu

2009-05-02T01:57:00.000+08:00

Guan Qian Lu (观前路） - walking street (步行街) filled with shops, malls and restaurants.

In the history, Suzhou has the most number of 状元. In the olden days, there was a annual examination, whereby the top student was called 状元, second place is　榜眼, and the third place is 探花.

List of 状元 from Suzhou

These joss sticks had words on them!

This temple got 道士！

Even the cleaner took a break from her duty and exercise.

耍棍

When night falls, Guan Qian Lu becomes even more beautiful!

Hangzhou West Lake

2009-05-02T01:37:00.017+08:00

In the internet, you can find so many poems/phrases describing how beautiful is the West Lake (西湖）. You will know why when you are there.

Map of 西湖

There are 10 scenes in West Lake, and here is a poem which describe all the 10 scenes.

一峰一高人，兩人相與語。此地有西湖，勾留不肯去。
（兩峰插雲）
湖氣冷如冰，月光淡於雪。肯棄與三潭，杭人不看月。
（三潭印月）
高柳蔭長堤，疏疏漏殘月。蹩躠步松沙，恍疑是踏雪。
（斷橋殘雪）
夜氣滃南屏，輕嵐薄如紙。鐘聲出上方，夜渡空江水。
（南屏晚鍾）
煙柳幕桃花，紅玉沈秋水。文弱不勝夜，西施剛睡起。
（蘇堤春曉）
頰上帶微酡，解頤開笑口。何物醉荷花，暖風原似酒。
（曲院風荷）
深柳叫黃鸝，清音入空翠。若果有詩腸，不應比鼓吹。
（柳浪聞鶯）
殘塔臨湖岸，頹然一醉翁。奇情在瓦礫，何必藉人工。
（雷峰夕照）
秋空見皓月，冷氣入林臯。靜聽孤飛雁，聲輕天正高。
（平湖秋月）
深恨放生池，無端造魚獄。今來花港中，肯受人拘束？
（花港觀魚）

I didn't have sufficient time to see all the 10 scenes, but I have visited all the 10 scenes back in 1993, when I first came to Hangzhou.

Fisherman collecting "harvest".

Look at the design of the net, fishes which swam into the net may have a problem swimming out again.

Tomb of Wu Song (武松墓)

See? I am wearing bermudas, very warm weather!

岳王庙

三十功名尘与土，八千里路云和月。 (2 phrases inside 满江红）

柳树 - A common trees planted on both sides of 白堤

宝俶塔

断桥

断桥残雪是著名的西湖十景之一，为西湖冬季的一处独特景观。
断桥是西湖中最出名的一座桥，是西湖三大情人桥之一。它的名字与中国民间故事《白蛇传》中缠绵悲怆的爱情故事联系在一起。白娘子与许仙相识在此，同舟归城，借伞定情。

Look at this brush, quite ingeniously designed huh?

Calligraphy on the floor

One common way of moving around West Lake to experience the beauty is by boat. There are many different types of boats in West Lake.

Dusk

Night falls

Musical Fountain in the distant

A restaurant in 西湖天地, where there are many restaurants/pubs. Nice place, nice view!

Lu Jia Zui

2009-05-02T01:21:00.000+08:00

Here are some pictures taken at Lu Jia Zui (陆家嘴), Day and Night. Lu Jia Zui is on the eastern bank of the Huang Pu River (黄浦江).

View of the Opposite Bank, the Bund

东方明珠 Oriental Pearl Tower (Shanghai TV Tower)

a ship passing by...

Venice of the East

2009-05-02T01:15:00.004+08:00

I have been to Venice in 1992. Nice! I have always been wanting to visit Suzhou, Venice of the East. I have seen so many documentary and photographs of Suzhou, the bridges, the canals, the architecture, all are filled with so much character.

Suzhou didn't disappoint me. It is simply splendid! I love Suzhou!

Bus Stop: Nice hor?

Even the street lamps are so traditional-looking

Even the bride came here for outdoor photography

Morning...

The canal just outside the hostel (along Ping Jiang Lu 平江路)

A tourist from Beijing. His camera's battery is flat! Luckily, he stayed nearby. I asked him to pose for me. Hehe

Boat cleaning the canal

Suzhou is even more beautiful at night. I regretted for not going to 上塘街, heard that it was beautiful from a tourist from Guangzhou. She was staying in 上塘街, and said that street is beautiful at night!

Moving around in Shanghai

2009-05-02T01:15:00.002+08:00

Shanghai, just like any other major cities in the world, has a good set of underground transportation network. There are altogether 8 lines of metro, the diagram below show the metro network in Shanghai.

Shanghai Metro Map

I personally like to travel by using the metro lines. It is convenient, easy and efficient! However, it is advisable to avoid peak hours (from 7:30 am to 9:00am, 5:15pm to 6:45pm), the human traffic within the metro and stations can be overwhelming!

The traffic conditions of the roads in places like Pu Xi (浦西) can be very heavy during peak hours, hence taking buses can be wasting alot of time on the road.

Before I go to a destination, I always check the location in http://www.google.cn (Google Map). From Google Map, I can find out the location of the place and at the same time, allows me to find out how to get there by public transport. The instructions are very detailed. There is one limitation while taking public transport in Shanghai: the metro ends quite early, around 10+ or 11+ pm.; some buses end even earlier, around 7pm! Hence, be very careful to find out the operating hours, if you wish to visit any place at night.

http://www.ddmap.com/ (丁丁网) offers a great deal of information on the bus network in Shanghai.

Taxis can be a good alternative, the minimum fees is RMB 11, and taxi drivers charged more after 11 pm.