Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Urumqi & Turpan (吐鲁番)

南山牧场

The low starry night sky at Gold Coast was unforgettable; so is this clear blue sky, with fluffy white clouds...





























Horse-riding...
















































Visit to 哈萨克 home






























Check out the mobile restroom...I'm sure it's specially designed for tourists (as the homes are). The minorities are so in touch with nature! ;)




















On the long journey from Urumqi to Turpan...

World's largest tapping of wind energy for energy production. This place gets wind from Autumn to Summer each year....in other words, every day!















盐湖 (middle portion)




















Finally arrived at Turpan, the fire city (火洲) about 180km away from Urumqi. HOT!

坎儿井...tapping into underground water




















Grapessss







































Where they 晾葡萄干















In the evening...ok, it was at least 9pm at night, mama and I ventured out on our own. At the park nearby...

Happy people; Cheery kids... Young kids usually have shaven heads because of the hot weather.


































gRacE

Urumqi (乌鲁木齐)

Our first stop on The Silk Road was Urumqi, in Xinjiang Province (north-western part of China). Liang Zhou, mama and I departed from Beijing in the afternoon and arrived around 6pm. We were suppose to meet up with the other 6 in the group who flew from Singapore (transit in Guang Zhou). They arrive at 2am!!! Booooo...to China Southern Airlines.

At Peking International Airport...















The 5-star hotel in Urumqi...huge well-furnished room...not accustomed to such "luxury"!















Hmm, this is suppose to be the 黑鸡 you use in double-boiled soup lor...why issit white... =S















Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.... Lamb? Sheep? Ram?















天池 aka 瑶池

























































Rainbow! =)

















































Liang Zhou and Mrs. Goh-to-be ;)















Mama lovesss these costumes...




















and she became a "celeb" (with the Goh family) !















Downhill...from 天池











































大巴扎...World's biggest bazaar selling costumes, dried fruits, handicraft, knivessss etc.





























Promegranate juice...















SOURRRRR...! We paid 5rmb for the drink, but the 维吾尔 guys claimed we didn't...Grrrrr... Pissed. Bad joke.




















Basically, in Xinjiang, I didn't feel like I was in China at all.






















































As always, the tour guide recommended a 歌舞表演 that we should attend. Cost us each 180rmb, inclusive of a buffet...

17-year-old on a traditional instrument




















Dance















6-year-old ..空中小王子















Sadly, it was a thumbs-down. The performers were amateurish, and the entire theatre was stuffy and hot. Food...let's just say we were not accumstomed to local food.

Urumqi @ 22 30... Yes! 10:30pm!!















gRacE

Saturday, June 24, 2006

"Goodbye Shao Yuan; See You Peking"

现在是凌晨四点钟。或许是球迷的尖叫声,或许是房间真的热得难受;或许是刚回来的室友,更或许是心里感情的复杂多变。我终于比太阳早起了点儿,也许看得见北大的日出。

想定下心来写下离校感言,脑子里却又有一堆未办妥的琐事。从周四考完民俗学说起:考题问了地支与生肖,我背了,没问题;但看着考纸上的“天干”,我因为自己的疏忽,笑了。耳边响起了张学友等的“甲乙丙丁”,之后又记起了“戊戌变法”和“辛亥革命”。其余的四个天干我实在没法儿了,一点印象也没有。

交上卷子,也不知为什么,一心想在六点晚餐前找到沃尔玛 (Walmart)。绍帅给了我唯一的“线索”- 在知春路,靠近北航。就这样,我以东门为起点,开始了艰辛的路途!乘公交到了北航才发现自己又来到了五道口服装市场。心想:不远吧,就一直走着。问了不下五个过路人,不是告诉我那一带没有沃尔玛,就是听不懂 Walmart。哎...... 在路上甚至遇到了骗子,问我首都机场往哪个方向走,然后便长篇大论,说自己是山东人,车子坏了什么的。我没听进去,笑着逃脱了。幸好他们夫妇两没跟上。谁料到,没走开几步,迎面来了群男子,其中之一开口:“小妹,问问你......” 这回儿,我也没正眼看他,狠心地直走了下去。

从北航走了有半个小时吧,终于皇天不复苦心人,让我看到了沃尔玛的标牌。问题是,我们之间隔了条铁轨和一整座地铁站!难以置信,我还蛮乐观的,又笑了。

总而言之,我在沃尔玛找到了心仪的相册。那超市有三层,面积比家乐福大,货品看上去较为齐全,员工的“欢迎观临”也十分窝心。满意!

晚餐在一品粥喝粥,我们五个人点了六碗粥和三道菜。这是我第二次到此餐厅,也许也是最后一次。服务虽不错,但食物非一品。

晚上,把一直带给我温馨回忆的照片从墙上一张张取下。再加上粉色床单早已拿去洗,整个房间看似光秃秃的,瞬间有着此房非我房的感觉。

剩下周五了。一早帮奶奶把行李搬过来,整理一下,用了电脑,便乘车到红桥市场帮婶婶买护肤品。回返学校的一个半小时车程,北京天气感觉上至少将近40度吧,公交根本没空调!可恶!到站时,我的牛仔裤湿了......我是说真的。

成绩至今取了四门。87、86、87。爱的心理学我是用英语考的,谁知比其他科目考得差:84。但我真的知足了。

回返新加坡的机票傍晚送到了我的手上:

CA 969
06年7月14日
抵达时间:21 30


CA 969
14th July 2006
Arrival Time: 21 30


与健康和凯琴在乒乓球赛中度过了一晚。最后一局,健康和我从11分的比赛,一直打到了21比23!我再一次留意到自己的微笑,因为从未遇见过打得如此顺手的对手。我在北京找回了对乒乓球的热爱。勺园的地下室也构成了我美好回忆中重要的一部分。

刚洗完澡,勺园竟然停电了!靠着笔记本存有的电发出的光,和一个平日微不足道的手电筒,我开始收拾房间里剩余的一切。隔天一早便出发了,我必须把衣服洗了,赶紧晒干。好难忘,实在难忘...... 每回停电说是凌晨12点至两点,通常半个小时时间电源就恢复了。这夜, 一点半,我躺在床上,放弃了等待.....

终于写完了这篇博客。天亮了,室友也睡了。

说实在的,以中文来写,我知道没几个人会从头通顺地读到尾。但偶尔感性的我,觉得中文更能确切的表露出我目前的心情。

这回到丝绸之路及内蒙古后,我仍然会于9日前后再回到北京。奇怪,"Goodbye Shao Yuan; See You Peking" 该怎么译?“永别勺园;再见北京”?

我在中国的旅程尚未结束,敬请期待下回“分解”。

gRacE ;)

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Gloomy Clouds

I hope I haven't painted an overly rosy picture of my exchange. God is good and this has been a worthy experience, to say the least, but there have been the downs too.

The last thing I want is to leave PKU with the slightest unhappiness or discontentment. "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me" - Absolute nonsense. Words will not have power over you if the content is untrue, or if the person does not matter. Who cares? Maybe some would view it as living in denial or just being fearful of facing up to the truth, but I stand by...Ignorance is bliss.

I miss my close friends as I write this. Friends whom I can run to and know that I am valued for who I am.









gRacE

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Thanksgiving: Tribute to my Teachers

The highest temperature of Beijing reached 38 degrees centigrade on Sunday. Beijing Observatory issued a high temperature orange early-warning signal on 2 p.m.. Xinhua

Got my first-choice for my Year 3 subjects! =)

English News Writing: Prof. Li Kun
When PKU withheld my acceptance letter, Prof. Li was the kind saviour who footed the 400rmb in advance for me. In a sense, I knew her before I even arrived in Peking, and certainly didn't wasn't expect her to be the teacher of my core replacement subject. Ours was in fact her first undergraduate class (she's been teaching graduate students). Although English News Writing & Reporting in CS would have been more tailored to my needs, Prof. Li was my motivation to read the news and really pay attention in class. Hee... Oh, and she got me the school's fifth anniversary tee too! =)















中国文化史:王锦贵老师
I went for his first lecture, and thought, "Yes! This is for me!" There was no way I could really go in-depth into the study of Chinese culture, so this module gave me a good overview. However, in the weeks that followed, the lectures got dry especially on topics like materials used in book-production...and pictures in his first lect never appeared again! Then again, I had to hang on...and I believe it paid off. I learnt a lot through the textbook during exam prep, more than all my other subjects. One thing I will remember of 王老师: He's VERY proud of China!!!















东南亚文化:吴杰伟老师
老乡!吴老师's from Fujian Province... =) Maybe because the class was small, there was never really a lecturer-student hierarchy with him. There's humour in his candour and I remember what he said about us being free to do anything if we think it is more beneficial than listening to his lecture. ;)















爱的心理学:李同归老师
English ppt and Chinese teaching. To be honest, 李老师 still feels distant...its as if the ice never broke between he and the class. But I was thankful the jigsaws finally fitted together during the exam prep, and I now understand the Attachment Theory he stressed so much upon.















英译汉:孔宪倬老师
From the English department... Before she starts lecturing, 孔老师 would say, "Ok... there goes the bell. Let's begin." In actual fact, nobody heard anything. ;) At the end of taking this Translation module, I find the theory portion a tough bit for Singaporeans. When we translate, most of us go ahead with our feeling and what we've been used to, in hearing and speaking. This module had a part on rhetoric, where to position the subject, verb, adjective in each language etc. Chimmm...















中国电影史:李道新老师
The movie guy! I guess teachers like him possess this artistic flair...They not only notice the technical skills ie. angle, movement, but also the abstract meaning and theme in films through character portrayal. With a lecture of 800+ students, and there was no way I would voice out my opinion on the films in Chinese, 李老师 remains a distant respectable teacher.















民俗学:陈泳超老师
As I'm typing this, his subject is at the back of my mind. My last paper!!! The others told me that 陈老师 is the most well-versed in Folk Lore in PKU, so it is somewhat an honour to be taught by him. He's the kind of teacher who can crack a joke keeping a stern face, but reprimand students (yes, even at the uni level) when need be... Amiable!















乒乓:吴飞教练
How God works huh... I signed up for her ping pong class right from the beginning, but she ended up switching slots with another coach. And so, I spent half a semester under 顾玉标教练 (whom I thank for laying my foundation)。 After the Labour Day holz however, being on a ping pong high and with much persuasion from Jian Kang, I began attending her 8am class. She's cool...really, being in the national team herself. Remember her showing her disappointment once to the class when many ponned, some came late, and one girl came in high heels...Aye...















自卫防身:张锐教练
The Power Woman! 张老师 totally reflects what I expected a Chinese teacher to be. It wasn't just self-defence that she taught. It came as a package to help us bring what we've learnt in that 地厅 out into the world, and her vision for the course was to 保护生命和健康。Haik!




















I found all my teachers approachable and genuinely concerned about their students. 十分亲切!They have played a huge part in contributing to my rewarding exchange experience in PKU!

致敬!

gRacE =)