Day 19: Half-Day Shopping

Woke up at 9am, so I wasn't able to go to 江汉路at 汉口 with the others. But, I wasn't alone, because everyone in my room + Nicholas, Yixian, Agnes and Edward decided to depart on our own later. So what to do? Order some lunch and study in the meantime!

Anyway when we reached 江汉路 it was very different from when we first went. How so? Look at the 步行街! PACKED WITH PEOPLE!This was to be expected, of course, since this is the Golden Week Holiday where the locals have a whole week off to celebrate their National Day (termed the 10-1 Holiday because of the date October 10). And of course, what better way to celebrate the holidays with shopping? All along the 步行街 were shop assistants shouting, clapping or whatever to try and attract people into their shops, so to add to the sounds of the bustling crowd were shouts of "七折! 七折!" or "来本店光顾, 六到八折, 六到八折!". Very festive indeed.

After doing some shopping at Meters Bonwe, we went to explore the little alley right beside the 步行街. And although it was barely 6pm, the night market was already taking shape!

promoting their in-line skating school

Reflection:

Through this outing, besides shopping, I also got the chance to see more of the locals' lifestyles. Such as this picture of children playing with old tyres.

Because of the week-long holiday, there are now a lot of children roaming the streets, playing with each other without parental supervision, probably because their parents are vendors so that can't afford to keep track of their children all the time. For me to see them entertain themselves with such simple items, junk even, certainly is rare, because we don't see this in Singapore nowadays.

Through this we can see how lucky we are, because we have high-tech games to occupy ourselves when we are free, and also because our schooling hours don't occupy our whole day. Although we are able to enjoy our lives comfortably, we should never take it for granted, and also not complain about what we do or do not have, such as a week-long holiday in Singapore.

Singapore is our homeland; this is where we belong.
We treasure our heritage and take pride in shaping our own unique way of life.