So backtracking to the last day of my exams – 18th
June 2012; we finished Land law test and it was a few hours away from boarding
the plane to Guangzhou, China. We arrived around 12 something in the night and
it seemed like forever before we finally reached our hostel in South China
University of Technology. It was 3am when we finally settled down and started
unpacking our stuff in our rooms. Although there was no sense of homesickness
on my part, there were some things I could not adjust immediately to like how
we used a wooden plank instead of a mattress for our bed, or how the food
tasted so similar and yet couldn’t quite put a finger on how it was different,
or even the number of Chinese people walking around everywhere. On the surface,
I looked just like anyone of them. But it was only when I opened my mouth, did
people realize that I am an alien in this land.
20th June 2012
The programme started off at 2pm with the introduction of
the buddies. Each of us are allocated a ‘buddy’ who will be directly in charge
of our welfare throughout the trip. Later did I realize that every buddy is
different – some can be extremely good, while others just abandoned their buddies
for almost the entire trip.
How I got to know my buddy was a funny coincidence. Michelle,
Pei Ling and I were sitting together and being Michelle, she started chatting
up with the people around her while I was asking Pei Ling to translate the
itinerary for me. We were all given a list of our names along with our buddies
and I could only read that my buddy’s name was “风采”. Suddenly, Michelle got
all excited and told me my buddy was the guy sitting behind me.
Feng Cai. On the surface, he seemed like a typical guy. But
the first thing he did was offer his hand to shake. I found that quite formal
because I didn’t see anyone else doing that. But anyways, things became to warm
up after that. The next session was for our buddies to show us around the
campus. Feng Cai took me around the faculty of intellectual property (his
faculty), and then later brought me to the main library. His choice of tour
actually revealed quite a bit about him. But nvm that. After the library, he
tried to settle my SIM card problem before taking me along to meet his friends.
It was indeed an experience. I wonder what his friends think of a Chinese girl
not being able to speak Chinese.
We had the welcoming dinner after that. Food was fair but
was a little disappointed that our buddies were not allowed to join us. After
the dinner, we had our own session of ‘sao kao’ (a.k.a. barbecue).
21st June 2012
First breakfast: Pau and some fried bread.
The day started off with an academic talk on Human
Rights. I was not very involved with the academic and intellectual side of
things here, unfortunately, due to my inability to understand. And most of my
friends would often find me dozing off during lectures or cross-stitching. This
isn’t something I am proud to admit, in fact, I wish I had a stronger command
of my mandarin because it limited me in many ways throughout the trip. After
lunch, there was a session to introduce all the law societies in the two
respective schools. And guess who represented ALSA? ME. Of all people. I
intended on presenting my slides in a mixture of Mandarin and English but
somewhere along the lines, the facilitator told me I can just present the
entire thing in English. How embarrassing! But I managed to pull through,
despite the fits of laughter I garnered from people due to my awkward behavior.
That night, we went to Pei Kang. A popular hang-out spot in
SCUT campus. They have their own mall and pasar malam. And the selection is in
no way limited. I had ma-la noodles for dinner. And found it surprisingly tastier
than the ones I have had in Malaysia. It did not taste as choking and “up-your-nose”
and yet, was still spicy.
22nd June 2012
The awaited morning tea - dim sum. And it did not let down either. The place was crowded and everyone
was scrambling for the dish that they wanted. I enjoyed their egg tarts and radish cake very much. After the dim sum session, we proceeded to the Guangdong Science Centre. It reminded me very much of our own Petrosains. Very big and there was a lot to see. But somehow was not very much in the mood as most of the stuff were kiddie entertainment.
After lunch, we went to the Guangzhou University Commercial Center better known as 广大. This is a shopping haven as there are lots and lots of clothes to buy. And this was also the first time my buddy along with Chuanlin (Hong Mei’s buddy) accompanied us. I ‘warned’ my buddy we were going shopping (guys never like to accompany girls shopping, it is a universal fact). But he and Chuanlin still came along. Although most of the time was occupied with us girls shopping, the two of them hardly showed their boredom. One of us would occasionally say something and it would somehow make everyone laugh.
There was also an incident where Michelle and I got cut-off
from the group (too enthusiastic about finding stuff to buy). When we somehow
reunited with the group, Chuanlin simply came over to ask me if I had my phone.
It didn’t occur to me that my disappearance had made my buddy look up and down
for me and when I later checked my phone, there were several missed calls. And
yet, when he finally came to speak to me, he never mentioned anything. Only
asked me what I bought. I came to know about it through my friends. I began to
see my buddy in a different light after that.
23rd June 2012
We went to Whampoa Military Academy in the morning. And also
went to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial. My legs had already been attacked by China mosquitoes
by then, but the trip to Whampoa military Academy made it worse. More mosquito
attacks! 
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| The people in the military had beds made of wooden boards too! oh that felt better for us! lol |
24th June 2012
I still remember that it was raining in the morning that day. The trip to 陈家祠 was postponed and there was a possibility that we had to skip 沙面. But thankfully the rain subsided and the plans of that day went on as planned, although a little later. 陈家祠 had a lot of arts and crafts. My buddy took me around the place and explained to me stuff when I was not able to read it for myself. Later we went to 沙面 with Chuanlin and my friends. It turned out that my buddy and Chuanlin were roommates. So it made us a very close group. Had lots of fun posing for pictures and visiting the various buildings in 沙面. After that, we proceeded to 上下九路 also known as Shang Xia Jiu Pedestrian Street. It is a busier and more crowded version of our Petaling Street. Chuanlin and the rest seemed to be going quite fast and I could not due to my feet which were aching. I was grateful for my buddy who was always there to slow down to accompany me or to check if I was still following the group ever so often. We had our dinner at this restaurant along Shang Xia Jiu. According to Chuanlin, it is one of the most popular restaurants in that place. But to us, we found the food alright only and the service was poor. But what was memorable about the dinner was something else that I will keep in my heart.
25th June 2012
A free day for us after class. Went cycling. My first ever experience
of cycling a two-seater bicycle. Do not be fooled! A two seater is so much
harder to cycle. I don’t know why but it is. Needed to get the hang of things
before I started cycling it. Cycled to Pei Kang where all of us bough shoes for
our poor abused feet as well as had take-away for dinner.
26th - 28th June 2012
The next few days were a blur. Pei Ling planned almost all
of the activities and we followed. I do recall going to this place and that.
But I am not able to remember the names, especially because they were in
Mandarin. We would normally have classes from 9am to 11am each day and then we
would rush of to proceed with our plans for the day. I remember going to a
small village using a ferry. It started raining heavily and we were actually
there to hunt for dumplings! Pei Ling eventually entered a clinic and asked the
doctor for directions to the dumpling place. Another joke that kept us laughing
for days! The doctor was in his coat and even had a mask covering his face when
he came out to answer Pei Ling’s queries.
On the 27th,
we had group presentations – all on issues of family law. And on the 28th,
there was a badminton competition.
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| special steamboat.. |
*coming up next: the trip to Zhaoqing, Shenzhen, and the continuation of my exchange programme in SCUT.
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