The day started with a breakfast at one of the university’s dining halls. I had hot dry noodles, a specialty of Wuhan. It costs 1.30 RMB and is a simple noodle dish with sesame paste and preserved vegetables doused on top. A cup of coffee costs 3 RMB here, more expensive than main dishes and is actually a Nescafe 3 in 1 coffee bag… This is a bit of culture shock since beverages usually cost much less than food back in Singapore.In the morning, we had an orientation lecture where we were introduced to Wuhan University’s rich history and given an idea of what specialties the university has. We also paid our registration fees for the program.

Shortly after, it was lunch time. We had our meal in another dining hall, and we paid using a stored value card after putting all the food we wanted onto our individual trays. I took some pastry only cos I haven’t even digested my breakfast yet.

One thing I noticed here was that there are many local students eating noodles from paper bowls while walking somewhere. This is something we don’t do back home. Of course, they walk at a leisurely pace here, unlike Singaporeans who are the world’s fastest walkers.

We’ve got nearly 3 hours of lunch time everyday, so there tends to be lots of free time left after eating (especially since I don’t eat much at lunch time here). So after lunch we went out to a street just outside campus, a 5 minutes walk away from our guesthouse. I bought a SIM card for 50 RMB, and then we went to a “matchmaking street” nearby that was really interesting. They had posters on the wall giving the biodata of prospective dates, and anyone interested can then leave a note into a box and the message will be passed on to the person for consideration.

In the afternoon, we had a campus tour on foot. Actually, we only visited a few places near our guesthouse, as the tour was by foot, with the exception of a bus ride to an adjacent campus that was too far to walk to.

We first visited a Geosciences research centre which is supposedly the best in Asia. There, we were given a formal presentation on the achievements of the centre and we also watched a 3D Virtual Reality show about one of the centre’s more famous projects.

Thereafter, we had a welcome dinner at a restaurant in another guesthouse on the campus. It was a 10 course dinner of typical, unpredictable Chinese food and we enjoyed some performances by students as well as played some games.

After the dinner, some of us chose to walk back to our guesthouse while others took the bus back. Enroute, we had the opportunity to drop by one of the student volunteers’ dormitory. It was very cramped and hot inside, and each room is shared by 4 persons. We also learnt that some of the older/cheaper dorms have limited power supply up to 11pm.- hot summer night cannot even have a fan

I am now sitting in my room at Wuhan University’s hostel for foreign students/guests, situated in the campus. It is pretty much like a 3 star hotel, except that the ensuite bathroom isn’t in a very ideal condition. Otherwise, it has all the works - air conditioning, cable TV, fridge, water heater, kettle, disposable slippers, etc.

It’s been a long day, starting with an early morning flight from Singapore to Guangzhou. There, I cleared immigration and customs rather quickly. I was stopped for questioning by a China immigration official. Having been in and out of China several times in the past, this is the first time I’ve been stopped.

The conversation went something like this:

Official: Where are you from?

Me: Singapore

Official: What are you doing in China?

Me: I’m going to Wuhan University

Official: How many of you are there?

Me: It’s just me alone

Official: 3 others just came earlier and said that they are going to Wuhan University too

Me: Maybe they are from another university?

Official: Which university are you from?

Me: NUS

Official: How many from your school are going to Wuhan?

Me: About 6, but I’m not sure

*Official waves me on and I get my ass out quickly*

I still don’t understand what’s the point of the questioning, when I do have a valid visa.

The Guangzhou airport hasn’t changed much since I visited it last spring, except that now there is a spanking new Novotel hotel beside the airport. It’s supposed to be a transit hotel, but at the price of about S$120 a night (after discount), it certainly isn’t a good idea for the 8 hour layover I will be having when I return next month.

I had lunch at the King Long restaurant operated by the Baiyun Airport management. I had a set meal of Roast Goose with watermelon juice. It was pretty good (I think it’s much better than the overrated food in Singapore), except for the usual Singaporean complaint - too oily. The meal set me back by 60 RMB or about S$12, which is pretty costly considering an average bowl of noodles here in Wuhan costs RMB 2.50.

Apart from the expensive food, the prices for snacks, souvenirs and other products are actually pretty reasonable considering how much other airports in China (i.e. Pudong) marks up prices by. A bottle of distilled water costs just 3 RMB.

And oh, it’s the season for my favourite fruit - LYCHEES! The airport had lots of stands selling different species of lychees, and some even come in a gift box. I’m gonna buy some back if they are still in season when I return. I’ll also get some of those weird vacuum-packed foodstuff and also I saw a keychain that I want to get as a souvenir for my mom.

After a 3 hour layover at Guangzhou, it was onward to Wuhan on a Hainan Airlines flight. I was pretty impressed by the standards of this airline. It is so much better than China Southern, yet cheaper. The aircraft is quite new, and the service crew were very professional and committed to safety (a rarity in China). Safety reminders were given more than a dozen times throughout the flight. Quite naggy, but a must especially when there are lots of Chinese people who don’t seem to appreciate the importance of safety precautions on an aircraft.

I was met at the airport by student volunteers from Wuhan University, who arranged for transfer to this hotel that I will stay for the duration of the trip. After a quick shower, I was rushed out to have dinner with a number of other participants together with 2 student volunteers. We had a 9 course dinner at a restaurant on campus and each paid 17 RMB (~S$3.50). The dinner was quite good and to Singaporean tastes, however, I would expect that a campus dinner should cost less, considering I had a meal in a Shanghai hotel’s restaurant for just 38 RMB for 4 persons.

There are about 30 participants for this program, and one of them impresses me - he’s a 63 year old Canadian man who is taking his Masters in a Canadian university for fun. Apparently he runs a business with dozens of employees. Yet at that age and with his status, he’s still passionate about learning and is currently studying Chinese Philosophy.

That’s all for now, I’ve got a few photographs but I’ll put them up another day. Time for bed.

Tomorrow, I will be leaving Singapore for a month long study trip to China. 3 months ago, I was overjoyed when I learnt that I’d been selected for this program. I could hardly wait for the departure date to come.  However, as the date drew closer, I felt less excited about it, even having second thoughts about going.

So much has happened recently. The day I came back from my vacation, my brother left to work in Cambodia. Not that I miss him, but I am sure my mother does and it is kind of a difficult time for her, especially since she has just quit her job and will be going for her much dreaded medical check-up next week without two of her three children around.

Nowadays, I’ve been bringing my mom out less often, since she had little time for me anyway. So on Sunday I brought her out to a nearby shopping mall, planning to do some grocery shopping and spend some time with her before I leave. Who knew that on this harmless shopping trip she had a tummyache so bad that she had to be rushed to the hospital. It was like a nightmare for us. To me, it seemed like a re-enactment of my late father’s stomachache episode that eventually led him to discover his colorectal cancer.

So we spent the entire afternoon in the hospital’s A&E department, everyone feeling rotten and pretty afraid of what might be the diagnosis. It appeared that the junior doctor on duty classified her case as a simple case of gastritis, even though we told her that my mom had a fecal occult blood test a few weeks ago that was positive. She simply said that even so, it was not an emergency and any further checkups would have to be scheduled on another date. So much for Singapore’s efficiency. Bureaucracy kills efficiency and there was no other option than to accept that my mom had to be discharged.

The next morning, just when we thought that everything’s OK, we had another nasty scare. My mom had fresh blood in her stools. So we rushed down once more to the A&E and to be fair, she was given priority to see the doctor this time (I presume since there was blood involved). Some time later the doctor came out and explained that she believed that my mom’s bleeding was due to excess friction from wiping the area… despite also knowing about my mom’s recent medical background. So after a 2 hour “observation”, she was discharged once again.

Thankfully, up to today she seems OK, but we are all worried about what might come next week when she goes for her colonoscopy. Hopefully everything will turn out well and it is just some minor aliment or colon polyps that can be removed easily. We are all afraid of the worst case where she might be diagnosed with what my father had.

It’s a nightmare for me. I’m not enjoying this, and it’s a moral dilemma for me to decide whether to go ahead with my trip or to cancel it. On one hand, I am seriously worried and would like to stay around my mom when she goes for her checkup. On the other hand, if I cancel my trip, she would feel guilty about it, and really, I cannot do much but just to stick around and show moral support (which of course is important too).

So I’ve decided to go ahead with my trip and to come back immediately if she has an immediately life-threatening problem (which we all pray will not be the case). If it is a minor aliment or early stage problem, I will finish my trip in full (although I will not enjoy the rest of my trip, I suppose I won’t be able to help much even if I come back quickly).

I will go to the temple tomorrow to pray for her before I leave. I really wish everything will be OK for her and she won’t end up like my father. I hope we can have her around to play with her grandchildren in the years to come.

Over the last few years, I’ve learnt through the hard way that financial and career accomplishments are nothing compared to having a complete, happy and healthy self and family. In the process, I gave up a well-paying business, lost my father and got hospitalised.

I’ve perhaps become more paranoid as a result - becoming more fearful of taking financial risks and more mindful of my health - to the extent that a few days ago when I had a mosquito bite on my wrist (for some reason mosquitoes don’t usually bite me), I was (and am still) afraid that it might give me dengue. In the past, I thought health and travel insurance were bullshit. Now I never leave Singapore without being insured.

I suppose it’s both good and bad - being more paranoid about health has helped me to quit smoking, drinking and I’ve been trying to adopt a healthier diet and lifestyle. However, this paranoia is so bad sometimes that I get depressed (like the fear of dengue I’ve been fighting with these few days). Also, being fearful of taking financial risks somehow does not help any bit towards my career goal of running my own business again.

Sigh. But at the end of the day, all I want is just for myself and my family to be healthy and happy. Money can come later. What is the meaning of life when you have money and career successes but don’t have the health and a happy family to share your successes with? I’m really tired about all these.