In the first week of being in China, we did what any other tourist would do – trekking. You know one of those typical tourist groups, where people group up and move around taking photographs and enjoying the scenery. Yup! That’s us. We went to two different places to trek, one was a small hill around Xi Hu (西湖) and the other was Bei Gao Feng (北高峰).
Personally, it was the most enjoyable part of the week as I am one that really enjoys nature, the urban landscapes from peaks, the greenery and vegetation, the various caverns and geological formations. I appreciate being in these environments as Singapore, being a small country, has none of these places to visit. All these (almost) natural places bring about a perspective of myself in this world, how small I am in the grand scheme being. Essentially, it helps me relief stress, haha. Also, not forgetting the aerobic exercise we get along the way, which I try not to die to. Enough of me being pretentious, here’s some more images of our hike.
The other half of the week, we had trips down to a design exhibition in Liangzhu Dream Town and Zhejiang University’s achievements and history gallery. It was a tour that brought context into the country, its latest designs, the various ideas it has. Similarly for the Zhejiang galleries brought more insight towards the school’s history and greatest achievements. It is insane though, how much richness and history Zhejiang has that they could afford a gallery for showcase.
We also had our buddy day on this week’s Saturday. Ranging from plan A-I, we chose one plan that interest us and are accompanied by 1 fellow Zhejiang local student, and partnered with another SUTD person. I chose a plan that brought us to various museum trips, which was what interest me the most. The bad thing was, my buddy was not well versed in English, so I had to struggle with my Chinese to speak to her. Sadly, we did not have much conversation going on, even though I’d really wish to know more about the Zhejiang life. All this just reflects how sheltered I am being in Singapore, where language barrier was never much of an issue. I do wish to improve my Chinese through the course of ALP, but language has always been the bane of my existence. Now here are some pictures of our buddy day adventures.
Anyway! Thanks for reading this post, it was one of the enjoyable weeks I had. Next up, Shanghai :D!
