StOrIeS

Wo Hui Lai Le!

Hey there. . ! I am back. . alive. .! 15 days. . past so quickly. . Wandering how Singapore had changed over these days. . How is v3. . How is my buddies, hasn't been hearing from rong and the others since i left. .

Tired. . Totally drained out of energy. . yet i still want to continue. . i hope i don't miss out any details. .

Landed at Changi Airport 2hour ago. . Wow. . The feeling was great. . Never have had the feeling of missing Singapore so badly. . Yet there was some uncomfort. . Everyone has their parent, family, friend there to fletch them back. . Only me. . As though left out alone in this world, to go home myself. . I can't wait to get myself out of the place as soon as i finished checking out. . Nevertheless, still endured the awkwardness for some time as we were asked to stay to take some group photos and well, my plastic baggage was torned and i went getting another plastic baggage from Waigang to hold the stuffs. .

I just 'finished' packing my things. . And i realised i didn't got many things afterall. . I don't think i will have enough to give to many, so sorry guys. . if some of you are not able to receive anything from me. . We were not given much time to shop, and there was limited things to buy and can be buy, though i must admit things there are really. . cheap!

How should describe this trip. . I wouldn't call it very tough, neither is it very relax. . There were fun times, yet there were also times where we really felt the hardships. . The first day was relax, just plenty of traveling and dining in a classy restaurant in Kun Ming. . The food was great, we all ate quite a lot. . Only reached the village on the 2nd day’s evening. . It was not as bad as we had thought. . in particularly for the toilets. .It was newly built, lay with tiles on the floor, looks clean. . though it still lacks a flushing system. . But the coldness was hard to endure, especially at night. . So cold that it's difficult to sleep. . Talking about sleeping. . 15 guys squeeze into a room of the size of about a normal classroom. . There are no beds for all, just straw mats. . The teachers bought blankets for us, which we lay on the map and slept on it. . Most of us had brought along sleeping bag. . Yet even with that it still can't prevent us(me) from shivering in the night. . The food there was salty and oily, but I deny enjoying them, at least for the vegetables, eggs. . Not the porky dishes because most of them were often served with a lot of fats. . Nevertheless, we decided to cook ourselves breakfast and dinner, so that it matches our taste. . Started working on day 3. . We were divided according to our different groups and sent to different house to help in their building of the toilets. . Carried bricks, bags of sand, sieving the sands, digging trenches. . . . Our group was sorta mischievous. . We went exploring an orange plantation and honey farm without the teacher’s permission. . We received a lecture from Ms Wee later. . But no one regretted it. . It was a fruitful and eye-opening trip. . We collected lots of oranges and honey! The taste of fresh honey was SUPERB! We appeared to be a slack group, but frankly speaking, we were really very focus and gave our 110% effort when it comes to serious work. . Ms Wee had witnessed that herself, and was full of praise for us. . OCIP 2004 Cultural Group is the best manz!
It wasn’t entirely about doing manual work there. . Went to a local secondary school for some sharing and exchange programmes. . Oh man the classroom was dynamic. . That was the conclusion I came out with, after observing the lessons. . All the kids showed me what passion for studies is. . Every question the teacher asked and they will answer it loudly and in unison. . A totally different scenario from Singapore’s classrooms. . Maybe we have took the chance to study for granted, and that results in our lack of enthusiasms and passions to study. . On the other hand, those kids in the village need to even fight for their chance to study, and that explains why they cherish this opportunity so much. . Human beings are like this, they start taking things for granted when they are able to achieve what they want too easily. . They will only cherish what they have if the things they want are obtained after putting in efforts and hardworks. .
Besides the exchange with the secondary school. . We also have the opportunity to teach the primary school children some hygiene knowledge. . They were a group of cute adorable, likeable kids. . Active, bumpy, shy, naïve . . . So like of me when I was a little boy. .
Got the chance to go to the village’s market on the last day of our stay in the village. .It was located some 8km from where we lived. . Got lotsa of things there. . Shoes, biscuits, sweets etc etc. . There was a lane full of bloody scenes. . Slaughtered pigs. . With their heads, organs, flesh hung on the stores. .
At the eve of our stay in the village, there was some party going on. . . Officials of the village were invited to a ‘feast’ cooked by us- curry chicken, vegetables, green bean soup. . I took care of the vegetables. . Oh manz, have to praise myself, I am good. . The dish won the praise of many. .
Then came the singings, dancings, performances put up by us and the locals. . Everyone joined in the fun except for me. . I was sorta anti-social, listening to discman, standing on one side, refusing to join in. . Actually I was keeping a look up for the girls. . Felt the need to do so then. . Just don’t trust the people, you never know what they will try to do. . Sounds lame. .
Departed the village on 6am the following morning. . I will miss the place I know. . There were memories which I had there, which I will not forget. .

Reached Dali city at about 9.30am. . Checked into a hotel there, went for tour in Gu Cheng, where I got lotsa of stuffs. . CDs. . They were cheap, just 10-12 yuan each, it’s original. . Also got shirt, tea leaves, souvenirs. . . Tea leaves, was cheated off my money by some con shop . . Sold me expired tea leaves. . Wouldn’t have know if not before consulting some expert, in a store specialized in selling such things. . Anyway, I bought two small cans of high quality tea leaves back. .
Went for some boring cruise trip on Er hai after that. . It brought us to few of the islands around the lakes, which I thought got nothing much to see or shop. . The scenery looked spectacular initially, but as time past, just got bored with it. . Not forgetting that we catch a performance by the local tribe on board. . We were served with 3kinda tea with different taste. . Bitter, sweet, bitter+sweet . .The last one tasted horrible. . The performance was alright, but looks a bit false at times. . The performers carried musical instruments which they appears to be playing but it was obvious they were not. . Their fingerings were all not synchronized . . There were some pretty female dancer, but I am not the least interested . .
Spent a night in a hotel in Dali before making our way back to Singapore via Kun Ming and Bangkok. . Bought more things on the way. . A crystal bracelet for my Mum and another normal bracelet for my buddy. .
So that’s how it ended. . 15days of OCIP trip to China. .

simply written on 9:40 PM
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