Shanghai Trip! (:

one word: FUN!

yup. it's over now but just like taiwan and changchun, i'll never forget this shanghai trip. it was enjoyable and enriching. i learnt a lot of things and forget lots of friendships. i never thought twice before signing up for the trip and i don't regret it now. a great trip with great people and great activities. (:

ok. so let's do a chronological order of what happened first.

Day 1:
Meet at Singapore Airport Terminal 3 @ 630am. A first time for me at terminal 3. quite empty and quite confusing i thought but maintained very well. (: didn't take any photos there cuz i guess i didn't really know anyone there then. shall just take a pic that hester took. (:


so i just went up the plane. got to sit with 2 TJC people whom i was going to interact with a lot later on during the trip. so after a movie, we decided to play indian poker and the forfeit was drinking water. haha. ok. nvm. very nice people. so we reached shanghai before long and we soon got a taste of the HOT temperatures there which could shoot up to 45 degree celsius. wth... ok so pics on the bus there...


the roads there are really confusing and HIGH!


another one.


some buildings in China.


my first photo at the hotel. yeah.


the hotel that we stayed in. it's called some aeronautics hotel. cool!


our room!


our beds!

ok so later on, we had our dinner there with table 9! yeah! haha. quite fun. we played zong ji mi ma and we keep kanna-ing in turns. lol. like pair up. ok nvm. but we were one of the tables to get together very quickly and we stayed back to play more. ><>< ok. so lots of sabotaging esp. of jc people haha. YITAOO! haha.

at night, took one photo of the streets from our room. looks really nice right? haha.

ok. so that was all for the first day...

Day 2:
Day 2 started off with a short walk (less than a minute) to the northern block of the hotel where we stayed in some meeting room for the opening ceromony. not much luh, basically all those 演讲词 kind of thing... mm... but i really admire chinese for their brilliant 演讲词. they have really really 厚脸皮. haha. i've heard emcees in changchun a few times already and in this trip and i realize chinese really make good emcees with their emotions and loud voice. haha. must learn!


mm ok so this is the pic. errrr... i think i'm in 3rd row haha.

after that came a talk by some really pro aeronautics professional. his talk was actually quite good but i couldn't resist sleeping a little in his talk. shhhh... ok luh i still learnt a bit ok! haha. but i was sleeping beside the RV teacher oops. haha. thanks to her for not scolding me (:


some aerospace exhibition near our aeronautics hotel. it was basically about the rockets that china had used to shoot their satellites and stuff to space. so here it is!


errrr ok showing the three different routes that satellites can take when they revolve around earth. basically the ones nearer to earth have better signals but can transmit signals to only nearby places. yay! i can remember! (:


ok crap. hester's pic is much nicer. grr.


mm big rocket. cz3 if im not wrong.


and some of the model rockets...



and some random stuff there which i can't remember what it's for.


mm random. i don't think it's in english luh...


sculpture like thing outside the exhibit.


me and joel posing haha ok too dark to see.

so after that we went off to see 3 more places. the first one was some place where they tried out their apparatus to be shot up to other planets. the second one wasn't very interesting, just some talk so yeah kind of didn't listen... the third one was showing real-life planes that were not used anymore. mm. haha. the first and third exhibitions were rather good. but the third one was under some really hot sun and it was totally unbearable. haha. oh. i should mention shanghai's temperature. 45 degree celsius at it's highest. OMG. we were totally roasted. the minute we went down the bus, we started sweating. haha. and when you see a crowd of people in a place, you know the aircon is there and you'll go there too! haha.



along the way, took a few photos.


ok the first place we went to. a lot of random instruments there. too bad they didn't show us how it worked...


haha cute thing that looks like a dodobird.


ant's point of view?


more random photos on the bus.


a building plan or whatever you call it of shanghai that we saw at the 2nd place.


At the 3rd place! mm. some planes.


more planes.


this plane was supposedly some jap plane that crashed in china. at that time, china's technology of planes wasn't that good so they just kept it.


rocket.


erm a very big ferris wheel we saw near the 3rd place which was comparable to singapore flyer.


the fleet of planes there.

ok den afterwards was dinner. mm. hot pot.


yum!

after we did some shopping at some supermart before going back...

ok so that was all for day 2.

Day 3:
Day 3 was an exciting day. First up was a visit to their science centre. The science centre was larger than Singapore's but i think Singapore's exhibitions are better (except maybe the first floor one for China's which was really really impressive). the 2nd and 3rd floors seemed more like EXPO or Suntec City exhibitions and weren't really coherent or cohesive and some appearing really random. well, i don't mind haha. just go around and see and spend time with friends talking cock.


So the first thing we did was walk through a route where we found all kinds of organisms.


scary panda not kungfu panda.


emo elephant pic.


not so emo elephant pic.


lion's roar.


errrr deer?


another emo pic of animals running away.


looks like deforestation.


spider! reminds me of my sec 2 RE project.


after that was the exhibit of robots. this one could work in the manufacturing line although it seemed more like dancing robots to me. ><

in the airport?


talented robot musician playing 小城故事.


next up, some DNA thing.


and then! aeronautics stuff. haha. this one was where people tried life on the spaceship. lol. didn't try partly because of the long queue but more because of fear of getting a headache.


rocket shooting up to space.

ok so finally, i couldn't take it anymore. so i went outside to see the science centre from the outside. it took some courage to sneak out but haha i think it was worth it in the end. i think next time i travel, i'd rather have a free&easy trip. it's so much more exciting and fun! but of course i must go with some really nice friends. and that's what i'm trying to do with Go6P now! yeah! haha. so i just sneaked out with chu ming this time and we came back satisfied with the scenary and chu ming with his new shoes.


cool building! (:


some random sculpture.


me in front of the science centre.


the big round thing in the middle.


water!


and i sneaked out even more to get a peak at the mrt. too bad i couldn't see the train. looks a lot like singapore.


another pic. oh lol. and that place was rather scary haha. some weird uncle came over to ask whether i wanted to buy 黄色光碟... >< haiyo. do i look so errr i dunno haha.

a path to light.


ok another pic of the building. the people on the stairs are all selling water. most sell for 5 bucks but i bet i can bargain to .5 bucks haha.


went up even further.


opposite the science centre was this very big space. i love china's 广场. in singapore, you never find such empty spaces! it just makes me so much more relaxed.


more pics on the beautiful place.


i love this pic! haha.


and this one too!


errrr ok i don't know what i was trying to take.


more water.

ok done! haha. so after that, we set off to 东方明珠. haha my first time there! YEAH! mm this is one of the best building i've ever seen. haha. i remember going up the 吉塔 with aaron and ying jie. haha. that one was much more exciting but this one was much higher up! WOOHOO! it was a cool feeling going up to the 273rd storey. yay! i think that's the highest point i've ever been to. so took many photos with friends there haha. had a brilliant time luh!


looks more like the leaning tower of pisa now. or rather a rocket.


me and joel!


up the stairs.


some flowers there. these flowers are really common there. i found it in almost every place we went.


some stuff which looks like olympics.


route to darkness.


pics up there!


looks really polluted.



lonely boat.


nope i didn't kope this pic from the day after tomorrow.



more pics yeah...




ok crap. it looks even more polluted now. ok luh. i think it's because i have pro cam skills. you'll see later that it isn't really that polluted but i can manupulate pics (:


hong kong! where it all started off for me!


ChangChun! where i spent 2 cold winter weeks in last year!


beijing! olympics 2008! i wanna go!


me!


the long road.


buildings.


look at the congestion. ><


more roads.


the sea.


ha! see not so polluted right? these look so much nicer. >< (taken by hest)


more...


the building which looks like a beer can opener. haha. my china scholar friend told me that it was designed by a jap and the middle was supposed to be round but chinese thought it looked like the jap symbol so they made it more trapezium shaped.



more bright pics!


me with a model of 东方明珠.

after that, we visited some exhibit at 东方明珠. mm not very interesting but the things were really very well made. they looked soooo real! haha. and the people's reactions were rather funny yeah. so just had a walk around with IP club and took some photos.


mm random.


emo pics again >< seems like my flash sucks.


doing kungfu?


selling medicine i think.


me on tv (:


errrr random plant.

so after that, we crossed a few roads to a shopping centre. hmm. wanted to shop for some stuff to give friends but i found the stuff there very expensive so in the end, i just went to the shops where we could actually bargain and bought a 东方明珠 model for 30yuan. in the end, i found i was cheated cuz it actually costed only 10 yuan in other shops in the next few days! RARH! nvm... haiixxxx... i want my money back.... haha. but had a fun time walking until my legs were all cramped man. it's almost as big as vivocity although much less cool and almost got lost. ><


errr ok. no i shldn't have taken this pic ><


the fantastic 4?

after that, we moved on to 上海滩. damn nice! i love it! i remember the first time i saw it in P5. it still looks as nice as ever! the scenary is just damn cool. i've taken lots of pics at VCH but i still find 上海 much more nicer. Singapore just isn't a scenic place luh. sigh... i loved the time i spent there even though it was so damn hot. took a few pics with friends. felt like some freed prisoner there! haha ok exaggeration. but yeah it really feels as if there's no stopping you from doing whatever you want. i love 上海滩！


ahhh the river!


hmm love this pic.


this one even better! haha.


brighter pics.



hmm nice pic. not taken by me though.



clouds! i love the sky!


hmm nice pic.




bright pics.


water!



bright pics again.



hmm quite nice.




ok so after that we had dinner at a restaurant beside 上海滩. damn cool. haha. errr there was red wine so me, joel and chu ming competed on who could drink the fastest. i lost. >< rarh... haha. and den there was some speech by people before we commenced eating. yeah. the food was great. haha. but in the end, we couldn't resist it and started going out to take photos! the feeling of 上海滩 at night was different than that of day but it was still a great feeling. day time 上海滩 felt like a sunshine! night time 上海滩 felt like some really bright city at night! i've been at vch at 8pm after rgco concert and singapore river is so dark. no lights! but 上海滩 is so different and nice! woohoo! love it! too bad i don't know how to take good photos. sigh...


ok lights up there.


some speech.


dinner there also allowed us to see 上海滩 at night which was totally awesome.




colourful water.






ok so after that went back to hotel.

Day 4:
Day 4 was the visit school day and we set off to 七宝二中. it was quite a nice school with great students and facilities. oh my gosh. all the tour guides totally own. they spoke with such confidence and memorized all their lines. walao... >< make me feel so embarrassed that i use my script for my 3 min speeches. sighhh... and they seem to really treasure these opportunities when overseas people come unlike in RI. In RI, every week, some foreigner comes. at first, it seems so special, but after some time, one just treats the foreigners as just another foreigner and only a group of people assigned to take care of them will do so. the others are all dao. haha. yeah. i heard that the more overseas people go to the china schools, the better the reputation and this helps a lot as the school can kope good students. RI seems to have it easy in that sense. Competition in China is just too strong. hmm ok let's start with photos.


first up! speeches (again)...


their classrooms. looks better than those i had in changchun.


oh yeah. forgot to mention. the school is some forest place which won the award for the most green school. >< wah. they have loads of trees there that own our banyan tree in RI.


sculptures of scientists.


tall trees.


mm forgot what's this.


leaning tree of shanghai.


the buildings in the school.


errr what's this? ><


plane models.


more bent trees.

so after a brief tour around the school, we set off for our rocket making! it was my first time making rockets so i started off staring at the complicated instruction list made even more complicated by the chinese explanation. in the end, just helped out a bit but i think i screwed up haha. but quite fun luh. and we were all talking cock there cuz nothing to do. haha. tried to sell my RICO tics but i think i failed horribly. sigh.


yitao acting as if he knows how to do it but screwing up in the end and needing to get another rocket. ><


yeah so this was our group. yitao, lijie, hester and me.


and this cute boy from their school haha. he owned us all in the rocket making...


so... our final 2 rockets.


the launching of the rockets on their field which seems to be filled with snow but is actually filled with sand (don't ask me why).


more rockets.


our rocket!


the fuel which flies it high up into the air.


so here we go.......


and it flies!


and lands.


our rockets were not bad luh. at least one of the parachutes opened (happened to be the one i didn't do) RARH!!! ok nvm haha it's my first time anyway. errr yitao acting cool?


yeah our rocket.


the fuel close up.


and den it was show time for some water rockets.


mm i was in group 8 (: yay haha joel was in group 7. and that's yitao's hp i think.

after that, we were treated to an array of performance by the school and by other country ppl. it was really great. i've never heard a better secondary school erhu pupil and an even better dance and singing performance. it was truly amazing. i always thought that people in china only know how to study with their school lasting from 7-7. >< seems like i'm wrong! i've now seen baohanjie in 4C who's imba in piano and these china people who are also so pro! (: and then the other performances were also really good. The hong kong one and the taiwan one was the best (: singapore's one was ok bah. i thought it was not bad (:


sitting down in the LT.


hong kong with 劲歌金曲 by 古巨基! quite nice. (:


errrr this was some prize presentation i think. yeah. for best rockets.


taiwan with their performance. haha there was this really 自high girl who came on stage and immediately shouted "HI 大家好！"... >< haha. that's the girl in white. she can sing damn well man. and after that there was a really really cool 台客舞 by some really cool taiwanese. haha. they are total entertainers man taiwanese. (:


and we all got little sticky sheets to write our wellwishes for the trip!

after that, we walked to some place called 七宝古镇. mm not bad. haha. quite nice scenary. and rather cheap stuff. mm. just walked around. this was the place where i bought the 6 keychains for Go6P! yeah! haha. nice walking through this kind of streets. never get the same feeling in Singapore. In Singapore. shopping is always air-conditioned shops and it gets boring after a short while. In China, there's exitement in bargaining! WOOHOO! i love bargaining. even though in the end, i might not be able to get the best price or i might waste a whole lot of my time, i still enjoy the feeling haha. can train my 脸皮! haha. oh i remember. this shopkeeper was selling some keychain for 38yuan, she reduced it to 20yuan and i asked for 5 yuan. she stared at me. HAHA. ok. that was qutie malu but nvm luh. thinking back, it was really funny!


the pond at the entrance.


once again...


random building.


the route about to be taken.


hmm up the bridge.



the bridge! woohoo. i like this photo.

the left side.

and the right side.


and the centre with the reflection of the bridge.


me! (:


down the aisle. very good pic by hest. (:


mm. speechless.


beerbeerbeer! haha. ><


down the road again.

after that, we all went back for THE AEROSPACE COMPETITION. woohoo! haha. MAN TO WATCH: YITAO! ok so i mugged for nothing in the end cuz i didn't participate in the competition. but nvm luh, i learnt some stuff from mugging that notes. haha. and i could answer most of the questions in the competition ok! YEAH! (: hmm. but i still couldn't match to the standards of yitao and co. who made it to the final round and got 3rd! haha. but it was quite screwed up. cuz the buzzer round was unlike those in singapore where see question den can buzz in. haha they read the question and options before having the buzzer say "1,2,3开始". so if you pressed the buzzer before the buzzer said that, it's a foul. foul twice for one question and minus 10 marks. >< lol. so in the end, it became more of who could press at the right time competition cuz everyone knew the answers haha... in the end, yitao's risciclub-trained hands brought him and his group to a 3rd position which is a 二等奖！


me with yitao and his blazer... >< shit i look short.


the table of competitors.


the judges.


the questions.

yup so that was it.

Day 5:
Day 5 was really a shopping day. It started off with a trip to 城隍庙. a very nice place with very nice buildings. once again the shopping experience was much different from that of singapore's. it was very 热闹. people were blowing dizi, eating xiaolongbao, selling random stuff all around and it was really crowded! it seemed as if we were in the middle of some crowded stadium. had a great time there walking with friends and talking to friends and BARGAINING! haha. very funny. i think i'm improving! anyway, i managed to buy an addidas bag for S$2.40, an addidas shirt for $4.80, an addidas wristband (on 2nd day) for S$0.80, a rather nice shoe for S$11.80. haha. yay! ok it's not real stuff but yeah it's damn cheap. sorry to addidas! (: hmm yeah and i got free xiaolongbao from lijie and co. cuz they couldn't finish theirs which they queued one hour for. haha. but their's was damn cheap. they bought 48 for 36 yuan and i bought 9 for 24 yuan! RARH! haha. and their's is nicer too! but at least i didn't waste one hour queuing up and i got to eat theirs in the end too so i don't mind luh! (: OH! and there was this very cool communist helmet bought by ernest. HAHA! damn funny! cost S$24 i think but damn cool can! haha. got a chance to wear it and i think i made it really stinky cuz i was sweating like crap. but good buy luh!



the short walk to that place. see all the wires there!


the place with loads of ancient like buildings.


hmm. another one.


somehow, this looks like a photoshoped pic.


the place where a lot of officials eat.


some random teacup out of nowhere.


the place outside with some weire chicken hiding under the shade.


and i took a photo with it. ok. at first i thought there was no one there. so i stared into the eyes. den i found a pair of eyes staring back at me and i was like OMG! haha. den i quickly take photo. the guy was trying to run away but too slow luh haha so taken! (:


the pond in 城隍庙.


look at the number of people... ><


me!


haha looks quite spastic. i don't know what they're seeing luh but i think it's some movie like thing and it seemed to attract a lot of people. haha.


yay my xiao long bao!


YEAH! ME WITH ERNEST'S HELMET!

ok so after that we moved on to the museum. hmm once again the ulterior quite nice but inside, i didn't really find much interesting things luh. just walked around quickly and soon enough we walked through the entire place. haha. more time was used to crap as yitao and xiangyu pestered me over how to speak cantonese cuz they wanted to 泡妞. lol. so yeah i helped them ok! haha i never sabotage them. so afterwards, they took a long time to phototake so i went off and found lijie and co. still on the first floor.. >< walao. i think girls love history. ok i don't hate history but i don't love it either. but i hate all the factors question in the history exams which makes history so robotic. so anyway, they really took a long time to walk through the exhibits but soon enough we were out of the place and taking photos outside. yup. so basically another interaction session between friends, just a change of venue.


LOOK AT THE LONG QUEUE. omg. haha, this queue would have taken us 2 hours to enter the museum. luckily, we soon found out that we could take a green passage, reducing time taken to go in to 10 minutes ><


inside haha cool escalators.


and cool stairs.


ok random exhibits.


hmm this one looks quite nice though.


another one.


this is supposed to be a percussion instrument. wouldn't want to play it though. probably too high for me to reach.


random exhibit again.


small brain! ><


stairs from the top.

ok. so after that, we set off for 南京路. ok. this wasn't as fantastic as the one i had in P5 probably cuz i was more willing to spend when i was P5 than now and also because of the HOT WEATHER. omg. it was damn damn damn hot. so we just walked as fast as we could and soon we came to the end of the road upon which we entered some shopping centre for some cold air. bought some food for 4B and went around looking for cheap stuff but not finding any. in the end, we had loads of time left and we couldn't find a place where we could sit down without paying! >< so chuming, hest, rita, lijie and i ended up playing lame games at some sitting area beside some plants... haha but quite fun luh. played 7 up and 节奏游戏! i learnt this game in taiwan last year this time during my dwen an trip! those were wonderful memories. we played it everyday! haha. i didn't know so many people in singapore also knew how to play it but of course i was owning the rest. haha. (: so fun!


boulevard of broken dreams: i walk a lonely road, the only one that i had ever known. ok random. haha. trying to make this an emo pic of us walking on a lonely road but it doesn't seem lonely at all. yeah but it's damn hot.


i caught a photo of an insect on a flower at last!!! but no time to zoom in too much so it isn't a good photo.


the mrt lines.


the trams there. remember seeing it in P5 too.


random recycle bins. rather big one too. oh yeah. i remember. this one is the one where you can money for recycling cans haha. so there was a huge crowd around it. ><


leaning building?

yup. so that was about it. we had our final dinner in some restaurant and unlike most other trips, it wasn't the emo kind of ending (like taiwan) where everyone cried but everyone was cheering for each other. the performances were great. everyone went up stage to perform, country by country while everyone else stood up and crowded around the stage to cheer the performers on. led by the taiwan guy (some pro entertainer), we all synchronised our actions, changing from kallang waves to waving hands to clapping hands and other stuff haha. but it was really nice. everyone's performance was fantastic and it was a great feeling performing with all my fellow Singaporeans on stage with so many fans. haha. it made us feel very warm. i've learnt a new song too! haha. rather nice song.

"life is a road I wanna keep going, love is a river I wanna keep flowing..."

i'll never forget these lines! (: haha. but anyway, good job performing once again. there were great performances by the hong kong people, our teacher (WOAH), taiwan people (as usual with their taikewu and other dances like 你是我的花朵) and the malaysian folk songs which are so simple but so nice and funny and interactive. yup. so after that, it was massive photo taking before returning to the hotel for our final night.

Day 6:
It was finally time to go home. it was quite an emotional time this time round cuz we knew that we wouldn't be seeing each other for a long while after the trip ended. nevertheless, we kept our spirits high as we set off of the maglev train. it was after all our final journey together (except for the flight back). so yup, that was it. our final journey on the train.


the cool maglev train!


430km/h damn fast.


some scenary along the way.


more scenary.


and more scenary...

so we reached the airport finally and we were on our way back to cool (temperature wise) Singapore!


the shanghai airport


Yup, the singapore airlines flight back. an emotional picture for all of us.

ok now that we're done with the programme itself, let's move on to a part which i found even more important - the people!

This trip would have been nothing without all the people that I went with. I went with 40 strangers but returned with 40 friends and probably more overseas. Spending our time together, helping each other, talking cock with each other, indian pokering each other and stuff. i'm really glad to have found so many friends in the process and through the short but meaningful 6 days together, i've gotten to know most of you all! haha. so here are the pics and comments of some people!

TABLE 9 + foreigners:


yup so this is table 9 photo. from left: chu ming (sing), Zoe, David, Davy (3 from HK), nicole, 小敏, 东君, Kael (cant really see in this photo) (4 from macao) and finally me and joel!


another group photo of us! with the red wine haha. ok this pic can see kael at furthest to the left. followed by me, 东君, joel (half blocked), david, zoe, davy, 小敏, nicole and chu ming.


another photo of us and the 3 HK people. yeah. so mm. impression of zoe, david and davy is more of the haha nice type but rather shy type. i think david and zoe are in a relationship but i better not say too much just in case they are not. haha. but yeah very nice people. (: zoe's supposed to go to some 科技大学 if i'm not wrong to study engineering, davy to 香港大学 (imba!) to become a dentist and david to some other uni for something that i forgot haha. all so pro! argh!


a photo with david.


a photo with 3 macao people at table 9 (nicole not in pic). mm. yeah kael is rather short but really very nice! haha. i talk to him most during dinner and lunch and yeah quite a cool personality. 东君 is a very quiet person but WOAH plays weiqi as well! haha. too bad couldn't challenge him to a game but i heard he's really pro so i might as well not go 丢脸. den 小敏's quite a nice person who got sick during the trip. haha quite sad cuz everytime we eat some delicious food, she can only look and admire while she eats her porridge. so sad to get sick during a trip. hope you get well soon!


yup so this is nicole. yeah. haha. someone who really LOVES to take pictures. she took 1000+ photos in this trip. omg. haha. and to think i took quite a lot already. haha but very nice personality as well. very friendly and outgoing person.


another pic with the 2 Macao girls.


nicole again.


and again. lol.


ok ermm... concentrate on the 3 girls in the centre of first row. haha. yup. those are the 3 HK popular people. haha. on the last day, we all (everyone in pic) went over to their room to play lots of random games like polar bear, indian poker (again), 小鱼大鱼, uno, cheat... yeah. haha. quite fun luh. very nice people also and they're yitao's 2nd eyecandy >< haha...


i couldn't resist taking a pic with this star from taiwan who led everyone in the cheerleading and who is damn pro in doing 台客舞. woah. haha. some damn pro and popular person luh... >< don't really know him much except for these though haha.

ok so let's move on to the SINGAPORE GROUP (excluding IP):


ok sorry forgot what school you all are from haha. but yeah very nice people also. esp. the middle guy! haha. damn funny. i thought he was from HCI at first cuz he chinese is damn pro but in the end he's from malaysia. >< haha. but very very nice to talk to and suan around. (: mm to the right also very nie person luh. haha. always smiling one hahaha...


mm ok. with NJC. errrr yeah all very nice people again. (crap i need to get some synonym for nice haha). mm. yeah. they sit near me and joel so play cards together at times (:


ok this is the famous photo. haha. long story. ok nvm. not very long. basically on the 2nd night we were playing indian poker and i seemed to be very pro (or lucky) at the game so i didn't lose at all while people like tian sheng had already lost 4 times? haha. but they forced me to lose on the last round and so yup... i got my forfeit. haha. to take photo with her >< ok luh. i thought quite easy at first so i just agreed luh. much better than the sin^2 cos ^2 thing haha. that's totally random. but on day 3, i started to get a bit worried like omg how to do it so malu! haha. but in the end, i managed to do it luh. quite simple also. so yay to me and muahaha to IPclub! haha. yeah so the whole day i was worrying about it but after that haha 可以放松了. (:


mm ACJC guy (yu kai) and AJC girl (janice). mm yeah. haha. i thought yu kai was some i dunno show off guy at first but in the end totally opposite luh. very 包容 type of person who keeps to himself most of the time and not the kind of trouble maker. in fact, less trouble maker than me haha. errr janice... i dunno haha nice girl ><


the NUS high team! woah. haha. i didn't really itneract with them except for the guy beside me and the guy 2nd from left. but yeah. they're DAMN smart. walao. they owned in almost every competition can! rarh. haha. some really smart people and very bonded together, probably because they all live in boarding (:


RV people. errrr rita is the kind of 乖 girl luh haha who always does things on time (like photos, contact lists and stuff)... hester is a girl who loves to smile A LOT but very nice too mm bully and suan. muahaha. errrr. yeah lost numerous times in indian poker >< woah. haha. good luck for concert.


lijie fron rjc. haha lijie's the typical RG girl who's cool, sometimes quite blur but usually quite smart luh haha. but lijie drops a lot of hair. >< too bad we were in shanghai not beijing. if not we can go see beijing 101. (: haha jk.


mm VJC group. haha ok a cool bunch of people luh. starting with yuanbo who seems like the very quiet kind of guy but cracks really lame and funny jokes haha. den michelle who seems very cheatable but always wins in cheat. ><><


another one.


and finally a singaporean boys group photo.

IP CLUB:

ok so after all this time, if you're not a IP club member, you'd probably ask, what's IP club? haha. simple. it stands for Indian Poker Club, set up on the 2nd day of our trip for people who love to play indian poker. ><>< yeah but we had loads of fun joking together and walking around together. a very close clique of friends.


so here's (from left) me, ernest, junliang, yitao. CRAP. why do i look so short. ><


junliang, ernest, tiansheng and me. hmm. junliang's a very nice guy who really really knows his limits. haha can be quite sick sometimes but yeah knows his limits. but a very nice friend who cares for everyone in the group. the closest friend i've made together with tiansheng there bah, and probably joel if you count him as a friend i made there. a very good player of Indian Poker and always has a nice smile on his face. haha. yeah very mature if i can say that. den ernest is someone who's really smart and very good in English but horribly poor in Chinese (haha sorry). but yeah nice friend as well. (: now i've got a very good impression of TJC. haha.


hmm tiansheng. haha. very funny guy! HCI no. 2 in academics leh. haha why never go RI! ok luh very knowledgable person not only in the field of academics, but also ahem. haha. very open person and yeah very nice also luh. doesn't mind being laughed at (esp. during Indian Poker) haha. very fun person to be with cuz can talk a lot of cock and can suan around yeah. (:


another HCI guy. mm quite nice guy also but quite quiet luh. hmm yeah that's all haha.


yitao! haha. some really good and nice senior who also knows his limits. yeah. very funny person and always lifts up the atmosphere wherever he is. some imba science guy in RI science club. no wonder can win the aerospace thing haha. and very active in CIP too. very nice senior to look up to (:



random yitao photos.


Joel. hmm. haha. as much as i'd wish to come with some friend i know, joel was a great friend too. he's definitely more mature than me and errrr... i dunno luh makes a great partner. we form a great duo somehow and RI's reputation didn't get tarnished unlike some other schools like H aheemmm C ahemmm nothing. haha. jk. but erm. thanks for your talk to me on christianity. i'm seriously reconsidering going back to church now. just give me some time to think it through (: thanks for all the help and friendship in shanghai, without which i'd feel much lonelier. great to know you!


me, yitao and joel!


IP club group photo.


random photo of some mirror on the ceiling with me, joel, chuming, yitao.


defender position ><


more defender position ><


yeah group photo. too dark though. ):


lol what yitao laughing at. oh and xiangyu ah finally. haha errr nice guy luh haha. very sporty kind of person.


everyone salute the general of IP club!


shall end off with my favourite pic of the trip. this trip epitomises everything in the trip. the background scenery represents all the new stuff that we've seen and learnt in shanghai and in the foreground, the friends that we've made. it's just amazing how 5 strangers from singapore suddenly come together at 上海滩 and take a picture together. it's a wonderful kind of feeling to have so many friends with you in some foreign land. friends are wonderful.

Reflections:
yup. so the 6 days are finally over. i've learnt loads of things along the way and here are the takeaways that i've had. shall write in point form for greater clarity.

1. FRIENDS
Once again, must emphasize that this trip was a great opportunity for me to network with many others whom i'd never dream of meeting. everyone who went seemed to be a great friend and i'm glad that i could fit in nicely as well. many thanks to ernest, junliang, yitao, joel, tiansheng, xiangyu, lijie, hester, rita, pauline and all others who've made this trip so wonderful for me!

2. AEROSPACE
haha. ok. this trip was an aerospace trip so of course i must have learnt something about aerospace right! ok. i must admit i didn't learn really that much probably because of the language barrier and probably also because i started off from zero. but sure enough, this trip has sparked some interest in me in aerospace stuff. the terms and history and categories are all quite interesting and although i don't think i'd remember them for long, i've at least gotten a big picture of the whole aerospace thing.

3. SHANGHAI
it's my 3rd trip to shanghai but everytime i go shanghai, i seem to experience something different. this time it was the weather. it was so really really hot. it was a whole new experience under that kind of weather. haha. and of course i got to see many other different places also like the school, aerospace stuff and 东方明珠. all these were new experiences.

4. Independence
I've always gone on trips with my parents or at least my friends. this time round, i went with no friends at all. in the end of course, i've made lots of friends but through this journey, independence was also something i learnt. i really think i depend too much on my parents and i've got to change that somehow. haha. must go think through bah. i think i'm just too forgetful sigh...

5. Courage
Ok. quite lame. haha. but yeah. the courage to make friends with strangers, the courage to stand up and admit one's mistakes and of course the courage to sneak out. haha. ok not good. and many others that i won't mention luh. (: but yeah. courage was something i learnt and of which i need to use.

6. Photography
hmm. i've learnt quite a few lessons in photography in shanghai. or rather i've seen a few things that i need to learn. 1. how to use a flash properly cuz all my pics look damn dark. 2. not to panic when taking action photos which i always do and causes the photos to either become blur or not nice (no perspective). i also tried exploring various perspectives and stuff so yeah. i really want to learn photography!

7. Language
haha. my chinese and cantonese has definitely improved there, talking to all the foreigners. haha. very fun luh. people talk to me den i suddenly talk in cantonese den they'd suddenly be very surprised haha like "你会讲广东话！ " haha... but yeah not bad. i think my 发音 is getting better and better. need to read faster now and be able to talk like the china people when they emcee haha that's imba.

ok a lot of other learning points luh. i've learnt how to be more self-confident and just do whatever i want to do (that isn't against the law that is haha). i've learnt how to fit in to different kinds of groups, adapt to different changes...

But at the end of the day, the most important thing was that we all had FUN! all the card games we had, the talking cock and stuff... this trip was a fun trip for me and i truly enjoyed myself. It's a wonderful trip. We didn't lose anything (literally as well as figuratively) but we gained loads out of it. it wasn't the kind of emo trip like those in taiwan. i still prefer the taiwan trip to be honest but this was definitely a good trip too. all the friendship made, the bold actions and stuff that we all have done. all these will remain as great memories for me in the future, great memories that could never have been created in 1 school.

And so the Shanghai Aerospace Camp ends... but the friendship and learning lessons will never be forgotten...

Patrick