Finally got the time to blog on my trip... Get ready for a very long long long post now and I'll let the photos do most of the talking...!

It's 8 november! Finally got to this day! We all gathered at Terminal 3 row 5 by 10.30pm but things got messy when the leaders had to start taking attendence. WanChin was late!! Aiya but cant blame her la. She had to rush from the Campus Superstar competition. I was so so happy that she got in!! Woohoo! MeiChee and Alicia from the ShanDong team got in too!

Anyway, here's my awesome Team A which comprises of 12 of us! There's RuiTing, WanChin, Lynn, Angela, JiaYing, YuQian, QianHui and Shawn! Then there's our two photographers for the group, JuenTein and Nelson and not forgetting our deputy leader, Daniel!

So yes, before we left, we had a group photo at the airport! =)


Awesome isnt it?! So yes, we had our passport checked and had some time to spare before our flight at 12.55am so we went our own ways. Daniel leader was with the six of us, RuiTing, WanChin, Lynn, Angela and JiaYing. In the end he was talking about himself, the servant, having to serve the six princesses. Haha!

Sorry it's blur but ya, clear enough to see our poor leader 'serving' the princesses la! Muahaha!

Here's the six princesses: (From left to right) JiaYing, Me, WanChin, RuiTing, Angela and Lynn!

DAY 1

It's been great but was tiring and sian-ed cause we spent more than half the day travelling. Our first stop was at ShangHai where we shopped abit and took a bullet train.





So there goes our 8 minutes journey on the bullet train and this is our tour guide in ShangHai. Yet, honestly, still cant compare to our wonderful tour guide in ShanDong!

So ya.. The place is nice! However, the traffic is... kind of scary. It's unlike in S'pore where cars look out for people. The cars there will just move. So do watch out if you ever go there. So ya, our day continues as we stop by to have lunch. RuiTing and Daniel helped us order food while we stayed at our table and tried to keep people-who-came-to-sell-us-things away. They could be old, deaf, dumb or anyone. In just a few mintues there, we already had about 3 people who came by to try to sell things le. Sadly, they seem ok, as in able to work. But according to JiaYing, she was saying that it is super hard to find jobs in China, that's why they had no choice.



Then, just before leaving, RuiTing and WanChin even bought 冰糖葫芦! They say it's sour. I didnt dare to try. But in the end, our tour guide advise not to buy that next time because the way they handle the food wasnt hygenic. Not that you cant eat la, but just not too often pls...



So, before I continue... To WanChin: So sorry!! I post your unglam picture but I though it was rather cute! Really!! Well, if you want to kill me, feel free to! xD

Anyway. The day went on. Still must say, pity the guys in our group but really want to thank them too. Many things, like loading luggages, were mainly done by the 11 guys in our group (including MrTan too but mostly the rest though > <). So yup! Thanks all!

So we finally took a plane to ShanDong. Things got quiet in the plane as it was delayed for 1 hr. So ya... Finally, a good rest for me. So, the first thing on my mind when I got off the plane: OMG!! I love the scenery! =D



It's cold... Cold cold cold...But we had a really nice dinner at this wonderful place! Nice place and their services are quite good too! One thing we realised. Services in China, if they are bad, they are really bad but if they are good, it's WOW! Haha... Now, before I continue, let me show all of you... 现代韦小宝!! Muahahahah!!

So ya la. Hahaha... Our Team A leader - Mr 韦小宝! Well, he often helped all of us with the serving of food. So once again must thank him! Hahaha!



So yes! We were quite surprised that by 6pm, the sky become as dark as though 10pm in S'pore. So the day ended as we returned to our hotel. The reason for the closed eyes is due to the camera flash. You can see two black faces behind them too. > <

Then we got to know that Lynn, my room mate, and I were away from RuiTing and Angela they all. Our room was a level above the rest of the girls'. Mr Tan was just a few room away. Luckily the girls came to 闹房 so the night wasnt too boring for us. However, lights out at 10.30pm.

DAY 2

The morning was COLD! But still ok... Super excited!! We were going to 山东实验中学! This means that I am going to die soon. You'll see why... Anyway, I was amazed by the big red banner hanged at their gate to welcome us!! =)

The school is really big and due the students having exams then, we were unable to buddy with them. Still, we got to see some of them during lessons like during PE. Woah! They are really organised la.





Our first stop was at the conference room where they gave their welcoming speech and a short video to introduce their school. Then, we went around the school. Like I said, big place... Big big place...



Then we went to their library which is super! The following photo shows the three level building that is their library! Wow!



But from this, we can see how much they love books and how hard working they can be. So, we should learn from them!! Haha! Then we continued to their hall, studio, computer room where I post my first ShanDong post and bio lab.







For your infor, we were told that those are specimens, that is, of real animals de. I was really upset about it. Maybe.. Just maybe they can afford to do that so they dont mind. But.. It's just so cruel... ='( Why cant the animals just die in peace..? -.-"

Haizz.. Sry about it. Oh well... Never mind la! The rest of the day was great though!






We also got the chance to visit their school's history! They got a place specially for it! Well, what can you say..? Long history what.. xD



Then, we got to learn to 包饺子! Woohoo! The teacher even praised that our group is fast and that we did better! Woohoo! Team A rocks!!



After that, we got to eat what we made. Muahaha!! Not too bad la. xD Then, we had abit of free time!! See what we found that made me go OMG?? In the computer room I was still saying that sadly I didnt get to eat ice cream and... Muahahaha!!



It's CHOCOLATE + ICE CREAM = hyper ET!! Super NICE and super CHEAP! Less than S$1 la! Wow. It's really a kind of experience to eat ice cream in such cold place!!

After that we learnt chinese painting - paint prawns! And following that was music lesson where three pretty china students performed for us and some of our friends were called up the stage to learn some simple dance moves. What comes after that was scary... Super...





So.. the final thing for the day... Scary thing... There was a little performance for all of us and in return, we had three groups performing for them. I'm in the 大合唱 group. Well, kind of excited and nervous. In the end, didnt go very well either due to insufficient mic. What's worse, last minute, just about two groups before us, Adeline, who will be playing the song from laptop, said that our music cannot be played. Luckily WanChin had the song in her phone and we can still have our music. Haizz... Ok la. Got the support from many of them: Lynn, Angela, JiaYing, Daniel, Jake, Adeline and Nixon so it's not too bad. Thanks! =P





Our dinner was 饺子宴! Some are really nice!! But some are scary.. > <

DAY 3

This was a long, exciting and fun day! Not only did we went to 趵突泉 but also the awesome 千佛山! =) The morning breakfast was fun. Yes, fun is the word for it and this is why...

Well, the master pieces were done by our dearest WanChin while our leader was busy reading notes on this China hero 蔡公时. The trip to 趵突泉 later will be accompanied by reporters from China and they may interview our deputy leaders on 蔡公时. However, luckily, in the end they didnt. So, we started the day with lessons. The first lesson was on Chinese Opera then on history of Jinan. I paid much attention, especially on Chinese opera. Be surprised, I am interested in it. > <

So the lesson ended and we were off to 趵突泉! IT IS BEAUTIFUL! =D





It's really awesome there! So while waiting for the reporters to come, we took many photos near the entrance area.



So as soon as they arrived, we moved inwards to this place which introduces 蔡公时 before going to see the statue of a female poet 李清照.









So yes! Finally it's the 趵突泉! =D



What greatly excites me came after that. That is the climbing of 千佛山!! Woohoo!! However, many of them didnt even try to climb till halfway to summit and sadly, I didnt have time to climb to the top. Oh well. =( It was tiring though but very nice! =)



Just a little info. Saw the photo of me with RuiTing and WanChin and another with Jake by the door thing? That is the 友谊之门! Super nice and super meaningful!









So yes. In the end we only managed to climb till half way and met Lynn, Angela, JiaYing, HinSan and Daniel there. Jake continued climbing up though it's going to be our meeting time soon . The rest of us rushed down but we were still late. MrTan got quite angry. =( Also, he got upset because amongst those who were late, that is those who at least climbed half way up, there were 5 leaders. Adeline, Nixon, Jake, Daniel and me.

This night, Daniel set the rule that only male leaders need to write reflections on their experiences in the school. The female leaders cheered abit while the male leaders complained abit. Haha... But it's only one more reflection needed to be written as we will only visit the school three times throughout this trip.

DAY 4

So, this will our last morning in Jinan already. This afternoon, we will be heading to 泰山! Woohoo! Our first destination in 泰山 will be 实验中学的东区学校! Similarly, it's big and beautiful!



We were just in time for their morning jog around the stadium. They were in their classes, in very neat rows. We saw, and we joined them. However, only for one round only though. It's fun to run in such cold weather and not sweat though we are panting. =D

Then, we moved on to their small garden. Not that small though and it's really nice and feels calming.





After the tour, we were ready for one last lesson. We were suppose to choose from one out of the three lesons given: 书法，剪纸 and 打中国结. I was interested in all! In the end, few of them agreed on calligraphy so few of us went. To our surprise, the whole of Team A chose calligraphy! Woohoo! Team A! So, other than us, there's HinSan, Adeline and Stanford with us. I was so so touched cause the teacher even gave me a piece of writings done by her!





After school, we had our lunch. An OMG lunch that shocked all of us!!









This was a treat to us by our school director, Mr TanChengGay!! He even had his factory here. Gosh la! 海参佛跳墙，鲍鱼，生鱼片，鹿肉 etc etc... There were even more than 20 dishes!! In this VIP room, we were all stunned when we got our dishes. Also, I had my first sashimi. -.-" I didnt dare to try one before but this time was forced by our leader sitting beside me. It took me quite some courage to put that thing in my mouth lor. I heard that it was good la but.. Haiz.. Not only did leader added wasabi, he added vinegar too!!! Gosh. Amost died. RuiTing was shocked when I grabbed her hand all of a sudden. Maybe without the vinegar may be better but... -.-"

Anyway. there were far too many dishes. When they stopped serving for awhile, we thought it finally ended hence we were all full and ready to leave. Just then, more dishes came but we really couldnt eat anymore so few dishes were left untounched. So, the next stop will definately be MrTanChengGay's factory.

After that was a 1hr 30min bus ride for us. There was a great sunset then. And of course, I forgot to introduce the most important person on this trip! Our tour guide Mr YanLiang!! He's a super nice guy and super kind!! The photo is not clear but will have more later!

Our first stop was at a crystal shop. This was when everyone heard about MrTan's love for crystals. xD Some of them bought some crystals back as gifts. However, being someone whose parents sell crystals, I know that if we are not familiarwith it, we will not be able to differentiate real and fake crystals thus few of us didnt buy anything.

So, we were back on the road shortly after that. This time, we had a 'Karaoke' session on the bus! Though it's getting late, most of us were in high spirits! The girls were exceptionally high especially when it comes to Jay Chou's song! Haha! Then, it was dinner time for us. =)

So we ate and headed back to hotel. Of course, the 'Karaoke' session continued. =D

Alien on the loose! Guess who is she? (Hint: She bought a very cute teddy bear!)

Day 5

We are going to climb 泰山 today! Woohoo! So yes! Reveal answer! Introducing WanChin's teddy bear!

So, early in the morning, we took the bus to 泰山. It was super cold! Heard that temperature was about -7'C! It's the lowest we had experienced in ShanDong. Then, we took a mini van up the mountain to take a cable car half way up the mountain before we really started climbing. The reason for the mini van is because our tour bus is too big. Since 泰山 is very high and is much higher than 千佛山, we took the cable car first. Anyway, it was really nice and the scenary was really awesome!!

So yes. RuiTing, WanChin and I were in the same cable car as Mr YanLiang, Nixon and Joel. It was very nice because we get to hear many things from Mr YanLiang. Things like there used to be many wild animals on the mountain and people had to fetch water from the foot of the mountain regularly to the summit thus mineral water there will cost alot more. This is also why we were told to bring our own bottle of water up the mountain.

Finally, all of us reached. Though it's very cold, everyone seems quite excited! And of course, we took alot of photos!



The bottle of water got cold very quickly. Even though we were holding it, it seems that we just took it out of the fridge! And it mantain like as long as we are on the mountain. Cold and nice! =P









Very quickly, we get to the summit as most of the climbing was already done by the mini van and cable car. It was awesome up there! There is also a temple selling locks. It is to somewhat 'lock' our wishes in the temple.











ZhengGang looks much stronger than me in the photo la. I'm 'holding up' the rocks with two hands but he's only using one. Haha! xD





Of course, there were many shops that sells food along the path to the summit. We got quite hungry and stopped by to buy some hotdogs. It's really nice to be able to eat something so warm in the cold weather. =)

See the 大佛珠 MrTan bought? We were all shocked and amzed when he walked towards us, wearing it. But quite nice though. =)

After this, we went to have lunch in our new hotel. There is only three storeys as the building around this area must not be taller than 孔庙. We did not check in then. Also, there was a performance for us to see but no one really paid attention to it though. We were all hungry. xD





So, after lunch, we headed striaght to 孔庙and 孔府. Sadly, I forgot to charge my camera the night before hence after the trip to 泰山, my camera died when half way through the at visits.

At the temple, we even got a piece of this 'wishing' wooden tablet which is specially for people to write their wishes on it then hang it up. Few of us all got one to write and hang up! =) So, straight after that, we visited 孔府.

Of course other than the really old buildings, there are really old and big trees too!

At 孔府, we got to see this creature called 贪, which means greed. Even though this creature got hold of the eight treasures of the eight deities, it was not satisfied and even wanted to own the sun. The reason for putting up the painting was to constantly remind people not to be greedy.





So soon after that, we went on shopping by the streets. Nothing much interest me so I was just walking around with HinSan and Jake who did not plan to buy anything too. However, even doing nothing but walk around is dangerous. There are bicycles and carts moving so in the end, we stayed at our meeting place and I started telling them a funny story about what happened on one Christmas when I was young. MrYanLiang was sitting there listening too. ^ ^

However, the day did not end happy as JiaYing was cheated of her money while buying a pair of carved stones. The man told her it was RMB$10 without telling her that it was the cost of each word not inclusive of the RMB$1 stone. As a result, she ended up paying RMB$81. What's worse was that not only did the guy gave a huge discount to others, he scolded JiaYing when she confronted him. She was crying when she came to us.

Luckily, she did not lose more than I did in NewYork. I even told her my story, hoping she would feel better as I had encountered worse. During the trip to NewYork, I ended up paying US$70 for a bottle of US$3 drink. I was stupid enough to pay with US$100 note and the uncle gave me US$30 change. He even denied his mistake when I asked him.

So in the end, I told JiaYing that we had no choice and had to take this as a lesson learnt and be glad it was just a small portion of her money. After hearing from JiaYing, MrYanLiang was so nice that he even went to that guy but still, he couldnt get back the money too.

So we all went back to hotel and checked in. Lynn and I was quite far away from the majority of the group. Beside our room were rooms of some China tourists. What freaked me out was the glass door of the escape route right in front of our room and the dark corridor. To make things worse, there were two large mirors in the room. Being someone who is really scared of ghost, I got freaked out.

Then, Lynn and I still did not like the feeling of the room so we left quickly. We even met China tourists quarrelling very fiercely with their tour guide. Soon, we met the rest for dinner and told them about it too. So after dinner, the whole group actually went to our room to see and even helped us with moving our luggage. I troubled them too much already.

RuiTing, WanChin, Angela, JiaYing, HinSan, Adeline, Daniel, Jake and Joel went. On our way, we met Karen and just nice, MrYanLiang came by and he said he could change with us. Our bus driver, ShiFu, also didnt mind. So we went there instead. The feeling of that room was much better!

This night, I felt safe. I am also very very fortunate to have this group of friends. Super nice, super caring, super awesome!

Day 6

We started travelling again early in the morning. The initial plan of going 孔林, cemetry was cancelled due to the rain. Gosh.. It's really cold. So never mind. We forward our plan and will be going to 杨家埠. It is famous for kite making and of course, we will make our own kite and go kite flying!! Woohoo!



Yet, before that. We alighted at this place with a whole corridor that is like a gallery of statues of famous people.





It was super super cold!! Gladly, soon hwe went back onto the bus and headed towards 杨家埠! The bus ride there was very long though. By the time we reached there, it's already in the afternoon.





We went to see the process of printing first. It really surprised me when I see how an old uncle print pieces by pieces. Woah...



Of course, we had time for a little shopping of gifts and souvenirs!



Our kite-making process is very simple. Just paste the paper onto the frame. Haha. Even so, the kite-flying process did not went that well. It is very cold, but no wind at all.







In the end, sadly, I find it too troublesome to bring it back so got Daniel to 'destroy' it for me instead. Time flew. Soon, it's time for dinner.






Very quickly, the day ended for us after our dinner.

(To Be Continued...)