Day 1 - Trip to Wuhan

Cheers to all who came!

A cool breeze struck me on a great Tuesday morning. I reached Changi Airport Terminal 1 at 5.30am, and most of my friends had already arrived with huge luggage filled with all the necessary equipments to sustain them for a six-week immersion program. Our destination is to Guanzhou, for a transit flight. As I cleared my way through the first boarding gate, I felt saddened as I parted from my loved ones. It took me great courage to stay strong and keep my emotions in place. But I knew before hand that this was going to happen, and was a little prepared for it. In this instance, I told myself that during this trip, one of my motives is to be independent, and to take charge of my own survival.

Guangzhou Airport

Graciously walking through the departure hall was a group of Ngee Ann Polytechnic students. At the same time, I noticed that goods were duty-free, and do not require tax payment. This encourages tourists or even locals to purchase these goods. It ranges from clothes, to food items, and alcohols, however only to a certain amount. There are also Goods Service Tax counters which refunds the GST of 7% to local buyers from official outlet stores in Singapore. This increases the shopping happiness for tourists visiting Singapore.

Making my way through the boarding gate was an exciting one. I got on China Southern Airlines 737 for the first time in five years. Although the flight plan is in columns of six, the seats are still reasonably comfortable. However, the leg room offered is not suitable for long flights, as I had leg cramp there after I got off at Guanzhou Airport. The service levels of the flight crew were not of high standards, as some of them had a stern faces and did not smile. In contrast to Singapore Airline standards, I have to say that I am remarkably proud that Singapore service levels are kept at a high benchmark.

Luggage Pickup

The sight of a crowded airport in Guanzhou was a memorable one. Huge waves of people were exiting the airplane and headed towards the checkout counter. Thankfully, a passionate China airport staff gathered and helped us check out from the gate quicker. However, there seemed to be a problem with my clearance as I lacked of an “Arrival & Departure” card which was distributed in the airplane while I was asleep! Therefore, I had to fill up the card at another booth and queue all over again. From that instance, I told myself that I will always counter check with my friends and see if I have the same required documents for custom clearance.

Guangzhou Airport Food Outlets

Hunger took its toll at last! The bland meal I had on the flight to Guangzhou was far from satisfaction. Our group, including our trip leader, went on a mission to find our first good meal in China. Most of the food outlets in the airport were quite costly, priced around the same as Singapore's. A simple bowl of meat ball noodles costs 40yuan (S$8.50). I always hear stories that food in China is very cheap, but definitely not this one at the airport!

Guangzhou to Wuhan

After four grueling hours of wait for the next flight destined for Wuhan, most of us were not too excited to get on the connecting flight. However, as I was clearing the counter, my boarding pass was declined due to some errors. I discovered that my boarding pass lacked of a number combination above the bar code. The reason for this is because I did not collect my pass from an eTicket, and my name was printed wrongly. The name Roy is not registered under my Identification Card, but was accidentally included in my boarding pass as Tan Zheng Wei Roy. This mistake was corrected, but needed verification by the customs officer to proof that I am the rightful owner of this pass. Therefore, my trip leader, Mr Loh, settled the problem by showing an evidentiary eTicket pass, and I managed to make my way through.

However, nightmare was not far from over! A couple of steps later, I was pulled up by the X-ray security officer claiming that I had a knife in my hand-carrier bag. I was totally caught by surprise, as I am completely sure that I had no such item in my baggage. Scouring my bag for the item, I soon remembered that it was a butter knife I left in my bag after cutting a kiwi fruit. It came to me as an immediate thought that China airport security is more précised, dedicated, and passionate with their job. I learnt that one can never be too certain, and always check their carrier for unauthorized contrabands to prevent unnecessary trouble. Fortunately for me, they only took my fruit knife away. However, I wondered, why wasn’t I stopped at the Singapore customs clearance? Were they too complacent due to our country’s sense of security?

Dinner Feast!

The landing of the second Boeing-737 was not as smooth as the first. I prayed hard as I made my way through the final customs clearance, and it came true! We lugged our trolley bags out to the coaches which are heading for our final resting ground for the next six weeks. The one hour bus ride brought back memories of how I took Singapore’s street lights for granted. I used to complain about the amount of lampposts our government erected on the streets, and always wished for Singapore to blackout so that I could experience the joy of total darkness. And it am sitting in the middle of it all! It was not at all a joyous ride. I felt unsafe as I could only see at most 30 feet ahead. We should never take what we have for granted, and appreciate it.

Final destination – Wuhan University of Science and Technology. We had our first dinner here in the campus’s canteen. Soon after, we were group into our sleeping groups and were well accommodated. Lights out and an exciting day await us!

REFLECTIONS

It took me great courage to face the fact that I will be leaving my comfort zone for 42 days. I will have to stay mentally focused because if I don't, I may risk having mental breakdown. This is a good opportunity to train me for National Service in Singapore as I am under someone's jurisdiction. I came to a point to understand why Singapore won the award for having the best airport. It is clear that Singapore's service standards, facilities, system, and turnover rate are at the top notch. Singapore's airport staff can speak a variety of languages ranging from English, Chinese (Mandrin, Cantonese, Hokkien), Malay, Tamil, etc..

My first encounter of food in China was at Guangzhou Airport, where the foods, customs, cooking style, are different from Singapore's. My friends and I were very afraid and wary of strangers standing too close to us as we were warned of pickpockets. I appreciate the safety of Singapore's streets as a sense of security is already established.

Men do less than they ought, unless they do all they can.
-Thomas Carlyle