Day 27: Reaching the Golden Summit, Conquering Mt. Wudang

What a tiring day. Why tiring? Because... We successfully climbed up Mt. Wudang, through the hot sun, cold winds, rain, fog, cigarette smoke, sweat, tears, cramps, aches and more.

Along the way up, we experience true teamwork, and compassion for others. Although my group started off quite late compared to the others, the 4 of us slowly took our time up and down the many flights of stairs. On the way up, we met up with Group B and Group D, where we saw Edward and Yuchuan displaying their Moral Values by helping an elderly-looking man carrying heavy loads of snacks, water and other stocks up the mountain all on his own. Seeing them give their all to help a stranger really touched the rest of us, so we also helped out. I even tried to carry the entire load, but could not manage more then 4 steps, so we decided to break the bulk and have everyone carry a little of the load up the mountain.

We're ready to conquer Mt. Wudang!

on the way up, one step at a time

our 2 strongmen helping to carry the heavy load

us helping to carry the broken-up loads

halfway to the top! exhausted but determined

group B and Group C, together up the mountain

first 2 groups to reach the entrance to the Golden Summit! All the way!

here we stand, on the Golden Summit!

carrying our hopes and wishes for us & our families - fortune locks

now we can proudly say, We Came, We Saw, We Climbed, We Conquered Mt. Wudang

Reflection:

Climbing up the mountain, although technically we were climbing and walking up and down stairs, was not an easy task, but I believe that because we made it up together as a group, encouraging and taking care of each other, time went by faster, and the challenge became easier.

When we reached the rest-pavilion about 1/3 of the way up the mountain, we saw Edward and Yuchuan helping to carry this very bulky load on an old man. Seeing then struggle and putting in their utmost effort to help a complete stranger really touched me. While the 2 of them took a rest, I too tried my hand at shouldering the load. My tired legs, exhausted from carrying my 80kg body up so many flights of stairs, couldn't bear the extra 100kg or so, and the carrying pole slipped off my shoulders and I collapsed after the third step up a flight of stairs. Luckily, Group B had also showed up, so together, the guys of Groups B, C and D helped to distribute the boxes and lighten to load on the carrying pole to make it easier for Edward and Yuchuan to carry the remaining cargo up.

While carrying the boxes, I thought of how my ancestors might have experienced similar hardship, working as coolies on shipping docks carrying sacks of grain or other cargo on similar carrying poles. Life must have been really tough on them, and on the old man who had to carry such heavy loads up the mountain everyday to replenish stocks for the shops up the mountain, while earning only a measly sum per day.

Unlike yesterday, today I am grateful to have experienced 2 things, climbing the mountain with friends, and experiencing a tiny fraction of what life must have been like for many of our ancestors who worked as coolies along Singapore's shipping docks.

Day 26: Meeting Mt. Wudang\武当山

After enduring a long 5 hours bus ride, we finally reached the township at the foot of Mt. Wudang, and after lunch we went up Wudang to take a look at some of the attractions because we won't have enough time to tour these locations when we climb the mountain tomorrow!

Have a look at some of the pictures of me & my group at some of the scenic spots.

Reflection:

Today, I felt a little disenchanted when touring Mt. Wudang. Before seeing Mt Wudang with my own eyes, I imagine it to be a very mysterious place that is untouched and unspoiled by modern technology and practices. However, when I saw the rows of souvenir shops and stands, I could not help but feel how commercialized the area had become, especially since Mt Wudang is considered one of the holy sites of Taoism, a religion that preaches simplicity in life and freedom from materialism.

However, I also noted that despite the commercialization of the area, modern technology has also been used to protect the environment, such as Green Buses , and good practices such as ensuring that the buses are filled before setting off to maximize the efficiency of the bus and cut down on the pollution more buses would give out.

Thus I feel that although it is a pity that Mt Wudang has given way to the forces of tourism and capitalism, at least they make conscious efforts to preserve the environment, such as using Green Buses, banning Smoking on the mountain and putting up signs to remind people to prevent forest fires, and painting messages on rubbish bins to encourage people to throw rubbish in them instead of littering and even separating recyclable and non-recyclable waste compartments on the rubbish bins. In this area, I think Singapore's parks can learn from them, instead of putting up signs to inform people of the possible fines, I think we cna do with more positive encouragement.

positive reinforcements work better? note the left and right compartments, one for recyclable and non-recyclable rubbish

Day 25: Practical, Project, Popiah

PRACTICAL TEST TODAY!

And boy, am I glad I slept extra early last night, and woke up early today to prepare breakfast.

Why so? Because this Practical Test really demanded an alert and fast mind.

On the whole, it was quite okay, so I hope I did well enough to cover for my written test.

After Practical was project rushing time! Because we are going to Mt. Wudang tomorrow and the presentation/report/video draft are all due on Monday, so everyone is rushing to do their projects. The funny thing is, in everyone's mind, they had 2 deadlines. 1 for the Project, and the other for Shopping. So around evening, almost everyone had enough and went shopping.

For myself, I decided to do something different. Do you remember those Popiahs I was talking about in my previous post about the vegetarian hotpot? Well, I called the vegetarian boss and asked if I could go and learn to preapre and cook the ingredients for the popiah filling. And displaying the typical Chinese hospitality, he readily arranged a time for me to go over at night.

the ingredients

the final product, all cooked, mixed and ready

Last of all, the campus is finally alive again! After a whole week of peace and quiet, the place is finally bustling with life again!

Reflection:

Through a little white lie about our origins, the boss knew us as people from his hometown (Fujian Province actually, so technically a half-life), so he was very friendly towards us. When we finally revealed that we were Singaporeans, he was very envious of us, especially our attitudes towards smokers. More than that, his willingness to invite us into his kitchen and demonstrate the preparation and cooking methods for the filling after I told him that I liked it and wanted to learn how to make it really made an impression on me. Not only did he not take any offence, but he got very curious and took even greater care of us. When I offered to pay for the cost of the ingredients, because the big bowl of filling the chef cooked would very likely be wasted, the chef and the boss both told me that as friends, this is nothing, and don't be so calculative between friends. Although awkward, this really gave me the full impact of their hospitality.

Day 24: Barbecue Today

Today our fantastic hosts, the local students organized a barbecue for us! Kudos to them for choosing a considerably nearby and scenic location to hold the barbecue. Of course, this being China, nearby means an hours walk, but I'm not complaining.

At first glance, their barbecue is really different, but when it comes to the real thing, their is no real difference. Have a look:

Chopping and skewing Chicken Gizzards, which I have never done or seen in Singapore for a barbecue. Regardless, I straightaway stepped in and joined them in skewing the gizzards, which wasn't every easy at first, but it got easier later on.This is their barbecue pit, which is really very different from the ones we commonly use, but it certainly looks more professional, since this is what satay-men use also. But what was very strange was that they barbecued all sorts of vegetables! Mushrooms, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, spring onions, enoki mushrooms all skewered and cooking!

The seasonings they used were also somewhat different from us, such as oil, salt, chilli powder and some sort of mixed spices powder. And instead of marshmallow, the large, white, fluffy-looking things I'm cooking are actually mantou.

Overall, the food today was excellent, in fact, I think my barbecues in Singapore will never be the same again, because I'm going to be too influenced by their way of barbecuing.

After that we had some activities, and I tried my hand (or feet) at roller-blading, something I had not tried for almost 10 years. Unfortunately they didn't have the roller-blades in my size, so I had to squeeze my feet into them and try. However, I really couldn't do it, so a little while later I gave up, body exhausted and feet in pain. We also spent some time in the community centre where there were free sports equipment for use so we played badminton, table tennis, billiards and basketball. Finally, 4 weeks since arriving here, I was able to play some table tennis with the local students. And then the sun set, and it was time to go home.

Reflection:

I'm really grateful for today, because it gave us real time to interact with everyone, and through preparing the food, cooking the food, eating the food, and playing games, we got to know everyone a little better.

Through the barbecue, we can see that our cultures might be different, but at the root, we are all the same. Although their equipment and how they cook and what they cook is different from us, the atmosphere and the end result is the same. This proves that no matter how we do things, as long as we do it with sincerity, we can still achieve our goals.

Day 23: A Haircut Day

Today, finally found the time to go and get a haircut. Liangxun and I went to 建设商场, the shopping center that housed the supermarket and on the students' recommendations, went to a salon called 发源地. Apparently this is a very well-known franchise that has outlets nationwide, so we felt quite at ease because we are assured that this place has some standard at the very least.

The process was somewhat efficient, first a junior staff would bring you to an area where they will wash your hair, then they will enquire if you have any stylist in mind. If you do you will be asked to wait until the stylist is available, if not they will find whichever stylist that happened to be free to do your hair. The stylist (each assigned numbers) would then come and ask what styles you are looking for.

So I told my stylist that I had no preferences, but was looking for something like this:

My stylist took a brief glance and said sure, but because my face is longer (and bigger) he would just trim my hair at the sides. And here is my new look:

Not much difference right? But still looks good, although I must really learn to style it.And here is Liangxun and Me right after we finish cutting. Check out his extreme makeover!

Anyway around 5pm, Joanna, Weilin and I set off for 电脑大世界at 广埠屯 which is some 23 bus-stops away, so we decided to take a taxi there.

Along the way, the driver related to me about how he and his friends used to walk from some hill to the East Lake and play, and they could even buy buns or a whole kettle of tea for just a few cents, but now the East Lake is so polluted and smelly and everything is so expensive. He also pointed out to me the campus of the Wuhan University where he and his bride will get married next year. He also told me how he met his wife-to-be, which was actually arranged and matchmake-d by his parents and grandparents. Soon, we reached our destination.

BUT IT WAS CLOSED! Wasted trip. So decided to take short walk around this new area before going to 汉江路 to shop, otherwise we would have really wasted the night.

We ate some food from some food stalls, such as this stall that sold all sorts of fried chicken and other meats, but nothing exotic.
We also couldn't this small bakery that had a strong banana smell wafting from its oven, so we tried its banana cake and orange cake. Very nice indeed.

Reflection:

Today, in a bid to be adventurous, the three of us set off on our own armed simply with knowledge of where we are going and what the place is called. Unfortunately that simply isn't enough, because we departed too late, and the journey got delayed somewhat by heavy traffic, so we ended up making a wasted trip. However every cloud has its silver lining, because we got to explore a new area and new food and other stuff, such as jaywalking across a 4-lane road with heavy traffic. In short, because we didn't plan and do enough research, we ended up going to the IT mall just as it was closing, but we also got the chance to see more of this huge, huge city.

Day 22: Really nothing to blog about

Exactly as the title says, today is basically a boring day, with no special planned activity, just pure studying and project work and stuff.

Went out after lecture to buy some stuff and saw a staple in period dramas: Candied Haw (冰糖葫芦), right outside the campus.

Also, I have been hearing this every morning, but yet to see them in action. When will I get the chance?We also had a main group photo taken in front of the WUST Main Building. We are really dwarfed by this building. If I'm not mistaken, we can see this building from the Second Bridge. I use it as my beacon if I'm lost just outside the campus.At night, I went out to dinner with the others. It has been a really long time since I've done that because most of the time I have been cooped up in my room and ordering vegetarian delivery or cooking my own dinner. I even remarked that it has been so long since I've eaten proper meat when the dishes came.
After dinner, we took a long walk around the campus to aid in our digestion. And guess what we discovered attached to the wall perimeter of the campus? A Condom Vending Machine!
I guess this is part of the government's plans to curb birth rates. Luckily they hid it in such a dark and secluded corner, otherwise I think no one would dare to use this machine out of embarrassment.

Reflection:

There really isn't much time left of our trip, so I should stop ordering delivery and start going out and explore the city at night. Beyond that, I also need to go and accomplish some of the things I set out to do, such as getting a haircut. Maybe tomorrow. For now, I think I'll just do some research, eh?

Day 21: Tests & Tribulations

OH MY! What is that?

Yeap. Today we had our first (and only) written test for Project Management. Which begets the question: Why did we even go to the Amusement Park yesterday? Not that I regret going, but I think the last ride that I took really knocked some neurons out of alignment because I made so many careless mistakes!

But regardless, we must move on from our own mistakes, because that is how we continue to learn and progress. And speaking of progress, today I tried a new food. In my 21 days here, I have tried a lot of food that I have not tried in Singapore even though it is readily available, such as Pig's Ears, and lots of Chicken Gizzard, and local delicacies that can't be found in Singapore such as the Fried Bean Sauce noodles(炸酱面) and Wuchang Fish. Today, Mr Chia introduced me to this!

no, its is not a snail or slug or some slimy creature

As proof of how foreign it is to me, I don't even know what its called. All I know is that it comes from some part of the Lotus Plant.
And this is how the insides look like, but as for taste, it is quite bland and generally tastes like lotus seeds.

Reflection:

When in Rome, Do as the Romans do. When in China, Just Do It. Well not exactly, but the message I'm trying to convey is that we should not let foreign stuff prevent us from trying it out, because we have not tried it before, so how can we say we don't like it, right?

Although the taste of this lotus thing wasn't to my taste, it was still quite an experience trying to crack it open and peel off the hard shell. If we come to China and don't try what the locals try, then why even bother coming here, don't you think so?