Town on our own!

DAY 11

Today we had an OIE Module on chinese philosophy at 830am.This class was different from our other classes because this class was taught by a lecturer from the university itself.He is a chinese national however he could speak fluent english.Hence,we were able to understand him and learn alot from the class.He taught us about Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism!I got to learn more about these three topics which before this, I really have little clue about it.:)

Our OIE teacher!

In the afternoon, the whole class decided to make a trip to the town area to unwind and go for a short shopping trip!To go there,we have to take the public transport which cost 1 RMB(=SGD20 cents only!).The buses here are not as predicted as those in Singapore.They do not have an exact timing as to when they are arriving and so,we all waited more than 30 minutes for the bus 116 (only bus which goes into town from school) to come! Luckily, the weather was not as cold as before and so it was okay to be standing at the bus stop(even though we got a little tired from waiting!):)There is also no queue formed to wait for the bus, unlike in Singapore.The people just crowd around.

When the bus comes, it is the culture to rush and quickly board the bus.The bus driver closes the doors quickly too hence, speed is important!I got to experience my 1st public bus ride here.We boarded quite a packed bus so everyone was pushing and squeezing to get in.The roads here are quite bumpy so we lost balance a few times while standing.It was really an interesting experience for me (even though it was quite hard to breathe because there were too many people around)!:)This is different in Singapore where the bus driver will prevent anyone from boarding the bus once the bus get a little too crowded.Another fascinating discovery that I made during the bus ride was people can actually get on the bus through the back door and it is not wrong!This is different from Singapore where you only get to enter through the front door!The back door of the Singapore bus will not even be open unless there is someone alighting!haha!People who entered from the back will then pass their money or 'ez link' to the people in front of them and the card or money will continue to be passed until it reaches the person nearest to the entrance.The person will then help to put the money into the box or help to tap the card for them.After that,the 'ez link' card will then be passed back to the rightful owner in the same manner by pasing the card from person to person!It was really an interesting sight to see:)

Town!

A small exercise area there!