Shanghai-Suzhou Trip_Group A

2007-12-10T16:57:00.000+08:00

**Day 6**
The last of our holiday! Soon, we can say " Hello, Home!" We drove past Suzhou-Singapore industrial park. Sadly, a few of our friends were sick that day, including our group member, Deborah. She had a fever. Our teacher, Mrs Lai, said that she had to sweat. Therefore, we piled all our thick jackets on Deborah. Haha .. :) Soon, we arrived at the Golden Lake scenic spot. We took the jackets off Deborah to check if she did sweat as well as to see if she was well enough to get down the bus. Unfortunately, she did not sweat. And, she also did not feel well enough to get down to take pictures. But, some of us stayed in the bus with Deborah so she would not feel lonely. See how nice we are? xP Then, after taking terrific pictures of the Golden Lake scenic spot, we headed for Shanghai. Good bye, Suzhou! Hello, Shanghai! Upon arriving in Shanghai, we visited to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which is the highest tower in Asia and the 3rd highest in the world! Can you imagine how tall is it? We then took a group photo there. After lunch, we proceeded to the airport to return to Singapore!! But, before that, we bade good-bye to Annie. She was staying in China as her relatives were staying in Shanghai... :( So now, Singapore, here we come!!!!!!! After checking in, we went into the departure hall. We filled up a departure form and then went in. Before boarding the plane, we bought some souvenirs from some stalls. There were also some vending machines. Mrs Lai wanted to buy some coffee, but couldn't find the coin slot. Haha .. But eventually, she asked someone and found it. On the plane, there were many movies and games. Some of us played games, while the others watched some fascinating movies. About 5-6PM, the view outside the plane was this really nice sunset! It was breath-taking .. Watching the sunset from the plane. When we reached the Singapore airport, it was a nice reunion for all of us. Everyone of us was homesick, leaving our parents for a long trip for the first time in our lives. :P We also hope to go back to china again, but with better food!

2007-12-10T16:31:00.000+08:00

** Day 5 **
Lessons with the Suzhou pupils again! But, it was different that day. It was our last day with the Suzhou pupils, which means we had to really treasure it. :) That day, LOTS of pupils came up to us to ask for our contacts. We were really willing to keep in touch. Then, during lessons, we saw some pictures the teacher took of us, as well as some pictures of the Suzhou students' excursion. After that, we headed to their canteen for lunch. And after lunch, we went to their 'School Hall' to watch and participate in a joint performance. The performance was truly FABULOUS!! There were poem recitals, piano pieces, and even a wushu performance. Amazing, isn't it? Similarly, we also performed. We sang two songs - My Island Home and 小人物的心声, a chinese song - and performed our Cimo Cimo dance. Then, after we exchanged gifts, we left the school. After the performance, we went to Shantang street, the only well-preserved ancient street in the city, to get a sense of the glory and prosperity of Suzhou in ancient times. There, we went shopping (Again) :) and bargained. Thereafter, we proceeded to the BIGGEST Bookshop in Suzhou. In the bookshop, many of us bought Chicken Soup Books. They were really cheap! Mrs Lai bought 11 books! Then, we headed for dinner. And after dinner, we went back to the hotel.

2007-12-10T15:46:00.000+08:00

**Day 4**
We went to Suzhou Foreign Language School today. Enjoyed the events there a lot. We had lots of fun jogging around the school that day. It was really a nice experience. Imagine jogging in the cold. We also studied Mathematics with the Suzhou pupils. Unfortunately, we did not really understand their lesson - and maths units (cm, m, ml etc.) - as it was in Chinese. After the maths lesson, we buddied up with the pupils there. Then, a Caucasion teacher gave us a task where we had to think of a story using the helping words she gave us. We went around helping the pupils think of a story. It was very fun!! =) We did embroidery after lunch. BUT, we did NOT manage to do calligraphy as there was not enough time. =( We went to the Master-of-the-Nets Garden where there are many of rocks structure and ancient furniture there. The scenery there was also very beautiful. The Silk Filature Mill was our next destination. Our tour guide, Emma, explained to us the process of silk-making and the types of cocoon there are. It was really very interesting. On the same day, we created a group called 'The Bananas'. We made a song for it too. =)

2007-12-10T14:52:00.000+08:00

China's leaning tower of Pisa.

Pictures of Tiger Hill.

The school canteen.

Pictures of Suzhou Foreign Language School.

** Day 3 **
We went to Suzhou Foreign Language School today. Had lots of fun there!!! We attended the English lesson before the assembly. When we attended their school's assembly, it was very different from the one we had in school. We had to stand throughout the assembly instead of sitting. We also did some jogging & marching on the spot. After that, we went back to the classroom and attended their Chinese lesson. They were learning about 黄果树瀑布. We did not really understand what they were learning. Their chinese was really strong and difficult. Then, we headed to the school cafeteria for lunch. After we ate lunch, we went to do some traditional arts - Paper cutting and clay molding. During the clay molding lesson, Phoebe did an ice-cream and the rest of us did some containers. After that, we headed to the Tiger Hill. It was said that the mountain looked like a tiger's head. So after that, they named it 'tiger hill'. Emma took us up the hill and to take some photos. At night, after dinner, we went to GuanQian street to "practice our bargaining skills". We went into a few shops that sold keychains. We didn't really bargain but Mrs Lai bargained for a pair of boots. After doing quite a lot of shopping, we went back to the hotel to sleep. ZZZzzz ...

2007-12-10T13:34:00.000+08:00

Pictures of Yu Garden Bazaar.

Pictures of Zhouzhuang aka water town.

** Day 2**
Today we went to Yu Garden Bazaar. Yay, shopping! Bargaining was so fun! It's amazing how the original price can be cut down to half or more! Later, we visited Zhouzhuang, a beautiful water county, which was in Suzhou. The scenery there was breathtaking! Everyone was busy taking photos of the calm river, traditional boats, and ancient shophouses. However, some of us got cheated of up to 6 singapore dollars! There was this stall selling necklaces with a grain of rice in it. Many of us were interested in it, so we ordered many of them. While walking across more stalls, we spotted another stalls selling the exact same thing, but at HALF the price! Needless to say, many of us felt cheated. Mrs Lai argued with the first seller, but he refused to budge. We felt so angry!!! But there was nothing we could do about it, so we just had to blame it on our bad luck. >:(
Then, after dinner, we checked into the Suzhou International Conference Centre. Time to sleep!

2007-12-10T12:55:00.000+08:00

Pictures of The Bund. Nice scenery, eh?

Pictures of our Shanghai Hotel.

** Day 1**

The weather was so cold when we arrived in China. It was such a big difference compared to Singapore's humid weather! We had dinner in a big restaurant. The food was very oily, and many of us were not used to it. BUT, once the fried egg was served, it vanished in seconds!

After dinner, we visited Nanjing road. There were many bright lights there and plenty of branded shops. After that, we went to The Bund.

The weather seemed to be colder there because it is near the sea. The scenery was really pretty! A lot of us took many pictures. After that, we checked in the hotel. It was such an exciting day! Unfortunately, there was no shopping!!=(

That's all for now, till tomorrow!

Group A

2007-12-10T12:51:00.000+08:00

Hi, we are Group A! This group consists of: Mrs Pauline Lai (Teacher-In-Charge), Stella (Group Leader), Janelle (Assistant), Deborah, Jia Yan, Nicole, Phoebe, Tosy, Annie, Dilys and Yi Fan.