Day 4 - Outing trip 10/09/11

Today we had our first outing in China; we went sightseeing in a historical site and a museum. The historical site is The Temple of Marquis Wu (Wu Hou Temple); it is a temple to worship Zhuge Liang a renowned minister and military strategist for Emperor Liu Bei of the Shu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period in China. I learned many new knowledge of the Chinese history through our tour guide. The temple was named Wu Hou because Zhuge Liang was granted the title of “Wuxiang Hou” (Marquis Wuxiang) in his lifetime. The temple also contains numerous statues to Emperor Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and other officials of the Shu Kingdom. Some of those historical figures are made famous in movies and books; one of these movies is “ChiBi” (Red Cilff). We were leaded through the temple in 3 hours. After visiting the temple, we went to JinLi Street right beside the temple, as explained by the guide; JinLi Old Street is one of the oldest and busiest streets in the history of Xishu. The Street features many unique culture of ChenDu. We tasted the flavours of old Chengdu by seeing the age-old street, official residences, folk residences, teahouses, inns, wine bars, stages and handiwork; we even got to get a taste of authentic Chengdu flavours by trying local snacks and specialties (Too salty!! LOL).

The next stop of the day was Huan Hua Xi Gong Yuan ( HuanHuaXi Park ), we took bus no.82 a public bus to the park. The public buses in China were actually better then what I expected. We (Malin & I) even chatted with a friendly uncle we met on the bus. He told us that his daughter was a student in Nanyang poly back in Singapore. Our conversation ended after 6 stops, we alighted and was briefed on when and where to gather. We were given a choice to go to the park or the SiChuan Museum. We (Group TC11) choose the park. While walking to the park, an unexpected rain forced us to change our course. We went to the museum instead. The museum contain many artefacts, this artefacts includes paintings, porcelain, bronze and clay art pieces. There is this one particular art piece that interests me; it is a painting of a famous scholar TangBoHu. I was interested in his work because he is one of the four most famous scholar of JiangNan (Jian Nan Si Da Cai Zi ).

After the visit, we took the coach and came back to campus. During the ride, Joel, Malin, Daryl and I played poker cards. We played throughout the journey and we had fun. Back at the campus, we (TC11) alighted near ShangYeJie and decided to have our dinner there. The restaurant we had dinner in is a Muslim stall, the food was acceptable but it was a little too salty & oily. After dinner Joel and i headed to Malin, Grace & Ying Ying’s dorm and chatted. We went back to our dorm at 12+ only to found out that the entrance door was locked. We rang the bell multiple times before the management lady came to the door. She told us that there is a curfew and the door will be locked at 11. That’s all for the day and I’m glad that I still can still write this and not be denied entrance to our dorm.

Cheers,

Jerry Neo.