(P/s: Really long post ahead; >75 photos!)
Today, we bid farewell to WUST, Wuhan, Hubei, and life here as we know it. To celebrate the last night of the trip, a bunch of us decided to stay up through the night and leave for breakfast at 旅大街 for one last round of street food.
So we stayed up despite being totally exhausted from shopping the day before; determined to spend as much time as we could together before this trip comes to an end...
...And also to clear all the snacks we had lying around the dorm room.
The 招き猫 / 招财猫 bell I bought to put on my phone yesterday. Love how adorable the cat looks! Have been told it looks like Yuchuan though, because of how he smiles. -______-
Our chef for the night: Yuhaw! Tried to finish off the Milo and buttload of Maggi instant noodles Yuhaw and Diyanah didn't want to bring back home.
Houngsheng with his injured toes. He apparently fell down the stairs and literally skinned half his toes alive. Ouch.
Milo in progress along with soda biscuits (that no one touched, haha).
So much for staying up late! Sheila and Eliza were the first ones to fall asleep. :/
...And on each other, too. Heh.
Yuhaw fetched his rice cooker for some serious cooking...
...of Maggi noodles.
Only on the very, very last night did I realise I could have charge both my phones at the same time with the power outlet I had next to my bed with this method.
Both outlets were the usual three-pin kind, while one of my chargers was a two-pin. The two outlets were too close to each other though, so the two heads would never have fitted together if placed horizontally. -___- I always had to charge the other phone somewhere else. Sheesh.
Yuchuan, who took forever to bathe, pack and come up to join us, with Michelle, and Houngsheng with his injured toes. They basically stole/conquered my lovely bed.
Dee and Jo! Jo had to seek shelter here since Nick fell asleep on her bed while doing project work.
Eliza still sleeping despite countless attempts to wake her up...
At some point, Yuchuan went off to bed downstairs, while the others took over our beds and slept in my room. Without a bed to sleep in, I went off to bathe, pack a few more things and prepare to leave for 堕落街 to get breakfast.
At 8, our bags were packed, and we were all ready to go. Seeing the room empty again as we’d seen it when we’d first arrived stirred up some emotions deep in me. When I’d first arrived here, I really didn’t expect to leave having so many feelings for this room. It may have been a short five weeks, but the memories made in that room will never be forgotten.
Empty again, just like we found it 33 days ago...
Everyone in a frenzy to weigh their luggages.
Buttload of trash! Lots of shoe boxes, food, indoor slippers, unwanted clothes and even a Spongebob balloon.
All packed and outside the school gates waiting for the bus.
Still in a frenzy over their luggages.
The guys loading everyone's luggages up the bus as usual.
So. Much. Baggage.
I fell asleep about two minutes after taking this photo, probably from staying up the whole night. Wasn't even able to see the bus pull out from WUST or from the streets we've came to know so well. ): When I woke up we were already 40 minutes into our 1 hour journey to the airport. Double ):
Location: Wuhan Tianhe International Airport
Flight CZ 3345, 1300
Destination: Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
The local students actually came all the way to the airport to send us off. This in front is Tang Shifu, who's the caretaker of the dormitory building.
Reached the airport early, so we had to wait a little more before we could check-in all our luggages.
On our way down to breakfast at KFC. We actually walked past the arrival area and the carpark where we arrived 33 days ago. Ah, memories.
At KFC, where I decided to treat everyone since it may well be the last time I'd be able to do so.
Our colourful passports and all-important boarding passes.
Waiting for everyone to be done checking in!
We spied with our little eyes, Eliza's pink luggage and Jo's black and white bag! This was on the walkway to the plane.
Nick trying to stuff his huge bag of food into the overhead compartment.
Guess it wasn't a very good idea to stay up the whole night before, since I fell asleep while waiting for the plane to take off, again. Didn't even feel the plane taking off, and even worse, didn't get to catch a last glimpse of Wuhan as we flew off. ):
When I woke up, there was already food in front of me. Not exactly sure what I was eating since I was still pretty groggy, but the dish had carrots and what tasted like chicken sausages.
Location: Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
Flight CZ352, 1815 (it got delayed, again)
Destination: Singapore Changi Airport.
Mr Chia pushing Yanfang from the LSCT batch around on a trolley, hur.
It amounted to more than RMB15. We wanted to use the coins to buy drinks from a vending machine, but it didn't accept 10-cent coins, so we ended up giving all the coins to Mr Chia as class fund.
Cabbage and fish that didn't taste too bad. Nom nom nom.
Nick's seat mate was a Chinese student who was on his way to Singapore on an exchange programme. Coincidentally, he was heading for River Valley High School's Hostel, which is about a fifteen-minutes walk away from my house.
Agreed with the others to sing Kit Chan's NDP song "Home" once we touched down!
Final photos in the plane.
Location: Singapore Changi Airport
Destination: Home.
Grabbed all our bags, phoned home, and we alighted the plane. A few of us went to the washroom first, and we all literally rejoiced at the clean, fragrant toilets. Oh we were home, alright.
Every time I return from an overseas trip, the immigration check is the place I love the most, which is so because I love the above sign. I haven't been to a lot of countries, but so far I haven't seen any of them with a similar sign. And in four languages too!
Being able to go through the electronic check is a really big plus-point too, muahahaha.
Unless you get trapped a little longer like Yuchuan and Nick.
Baggage acquired! It weighed 28.6Kg, by the way, and I still have no idea why it's so heavy. The other girls bought a ton more stuff than I did.
A final photo with the A-Team!
Last family photo next to the conveyor belt.
(Please note how I'm the tallest in the photo, hahahaha)
And so after five weeks, I went from the arms of my OIP family and returned back into the arms of my own family. It's been a great trip, everyone, thanks for the memories!
To everyone on this trip who had taken care of me, looked out for me or have made me laughed; I'm thankful that of all people to walk this five-week journey with, it was you guys.
I'm truly thankful I got to know all of you!
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Final Reflection
I think this trip has truly exceeded my expectations. For one, I didn’t expect to enjoy myself in Wuhan as much as I did. Not a moment here has been boring nor unmemorable and it's opened my eyes to so many things that had never crossed my mind before, like efforts made by the Chinese government to save the environment and conserve water.
While there may have been some moments were I would think about how Singapore has done so much better, it’s also made me appreciate how things are done in Singapore, and think about the What-ifs. Like what if the government hadn’t placed so much emphasis on being bilingual? Would Singapore have thrived as much as we had? Or what if Singapore wasn’t a green and beautiful city? What would’ve been our selling point as a nation then?
Plus, being in Wuhan and hearing all the praises for our little red dot, it's made me even more proud to be Singaporean. Like our first National Education messages says:
Singapore is our homeland; this is where we belong.
We treasure our heritage and take pride in shaping our own unique way of life.
I suppose what’s made the trip even more enjoyable is the company. I started out with this trip with skepticism since other than a handful of us from Logistics Management; everyone else were classmates from International Supply Chain Management. I thought we’d probably get left out a lot, or probably stick out like a sore thumb. On contrary, everyone welcomed us and instead, I emerged from this trip with new friendships made. Even now I still cringe at the very thought that I almost gave up this trip because of this reason.
Every moment here in Wuhan gave me a new lesson to learn, one I would never have learnt if I hadn’t taken a leap of faith to participate in this OIP. We may be the last MDE OIP batch to set foot in Wuhan, but the memories we've made together would never be forgotten.
MDE OIP, live long and prosper!
