Day 3- 6th March (Shopping!)
It is yet another free day for us :) The air conditioned seems to be giving out colder and colder air :( There is no warmth in the room at all! Anyway we heard from the guys that it snowed for 30mins early this morning. But we missed it! We had their local buns that is sold by the streets, for breakfast :) Im still wondering how the stall vendors can withstand such harsh weather conditions!
After our breakfast, i took my very first bus ride in Wuhan! It was an experience, totally. They do not have bells in the buses and good drivers are supposed to stop at every bus stop to see if anyone wants to board or alight. However the driver that we encountered was very reckless and seemed to be rushing for time! The buses in Wuhan are different from the SBS buses we have in Singapore. Be it the seating arrangements, the design, the advertisements and all. The types of advertisements pasted on the buses in Singapore are all related to the country or the bus services alone. However, the advertisements in the buses in Wuhan are all commercial and business advertisements. The route of bus 702.
It was an hour bus ride from a street near the school, to the largest shopping center they have in Wuhan. I swear it is larger than Ion and Vivo. Plus im not sure if it is considered an indoor or outdoor shopping center because it is not fully sheltered and we were literally shivering while shopping!
This is the printer ink that is used to print the neoprint that we've taken. The 'neoprint machine' is the traditional kind where we have to choose the backgrounds manually. A whole new experience :)
The 'neoprint' we took!
So after our shopping, we had dinner at this small shop in the mall. There was a large variety of food for us to choose from!
宫宝鸡丁.
We entered to arcade after having our dinner. 1RMB for 2 tokens which is rather cheap! :) The games are all similar to the ones in Singapore. As we wanted to rest for the night, we took a return bus ride back to the school and it was back to our dorms to rest for the night :)Bought Beard Papa for our hosts :) Overhead bridge. The tickets we won from the arcade and 'neoprint' :)
Reflection
Adapting and getting used to the habits and culture here are quite important factors to live well in Wuhan. I feel that we, Singaporeans are fortunate to have such systematic traffic and well trained bus drivers. The bus drivers here do not really care about the safety of their passengers and the drivers on the road are as reckless. This makes it really dangerous :( The crowd and squeeziness we experience during peak hours, are what they experience every bus ride. At any time of the day, the buses are as full. This is because they do not have the MRT, unlike Singapore. On the other hand, the people in Wuhan take care of the school's safety well. This is taken outside the school. I believe it is to prevent outsiders from entering the school. The shop owners that i encountered are quite friendly so far. They do try their best to serve their customers, us, to the fullest, till we are satisfied. I believe Singapore salespersons are weaker in this aspect. I think i should be able to adapt to the life in Wuhan soon! :)