theres a slideshow of all the pictures
all uploaded at photobucket...
perhaps theres some information of india that i wanna type here
let me take out my notebook..
at the airport before departing
we reach the airport at night
and took us 5+ hours to reach the hotel Mandawa..
so we reach the hotel to rest at 5.30 plus singapore time..
btw, singapore is faster than india by 2 and a half hours.
i should just write down what i have in my notebook and my own reflections.
we start india off at day 2.
Day 2 @ Mandawa
what the tour guide, mr chez say and what i observed:
1) there are cows blocking vehicles. cows are sacred to the country and drivers could not run then down. therefore, they have to press their honks everytime which makes us feel very VeRy VERY irritated at first. because when i hear honks be it malaysia or singapore, i get very tensed up cuz i will think there is going to be an accident approaching...
2) the climate in india:
- smog
- mist
- fog..
i'm still awake while others are sleeping already..
plateaus are common on elevated regions such as Northern and Central India. temp is lower.
pictures of hotel mandawa (i love this hotel.. the best one )
second floor bed!
staircase to second floor bed
our key .. so special rite? got bell de
Journey on the bus and on Mandawa Streets
there are gods
1) Krishnan - God of Wealth
2) Balakrishnan - couldnt catch what the tour guide is mentioning
get the architecture and paintings??
there are pillars supporting the upper area
2.5 to 3 feet thick walls
why?
- coldness cannot enter
- heat cant go out
keep warm and cold
this are called walls of Haveli
some resemblances of the paintings done:
rank of importance
1) king - will always be centre or back to provide the support
2) camels
3) horses
4) soldiers - fight/ bravery
photo taken random for yanting
stray dogs are so common in india!
this is a video of herds of sheep taken while i was on the bus
so cute and marvellous!
Some general knowledge from tour guide:
in the past: deserts
now: plantations and trees around india
therefore, there are semidesert areas, access to water started when people started to stay there
remote villages: very good telecom facilities, inter and mobile
Selone (govt facilities, just like Singtel in singapore)
people can communicate around very fast in around 2 to 3 years time when fibre optique cables are laid, broadband and banking are developed.
we went to an antique shop
people from Europe collect antiques at a very good price at Eu mkt
outside theres a man welcoming us with a song played with his instrument common in india, Raman (means instrument ) Uatha (means hand)
he sang us a song with the story:
deeply in love,
girlfriend: right now, i'm at well, drink water. i'm married with another man (forced to)
next we went to Joshi middle school ( some sort of village primary school in india)
GK again:
primary -> middle -> high -> higher secondary -> university
thats how the education system in india go
Joshi Middle School was established 140 years ago
the current principal is of the 6th generation, Mr. Bajanla Joshi
Sendira Joshi bought this land (great great great grandson)
1952 recognised again by British
there are trees and cooling environment, with birds chirping
fully subsidized by govt
pleasant kids!
in the afternoon
we went to Dundlod Public School
mistakes are the stepping tones, not the stopping stones
interesting rite?
these are done by the students to kickstart their day at school
They have similar facilities like us
Music room, science labs
some kids performing… so cute!
I love the math lesson!
They are learning differentiation, the teacher is so cool!
I like the accent, and he doesn’t need books to teach..
So interesting!
look at their complicated detailed periodic table!
看了你都怕！
I love this quote by the principal about the kids ( he is the man wearing orange)
“They should not know that they are learning, but in fact, they are learning”.
Isn’t this quite true? Singapore students study for the sake of exams and exams and stress ourselves out without enjoying the sweet process of learning
An interesting physics teacher ask us, “ how do you define time?”
Haha time 就是时间lor! Got definition want meh?
And students learn computer and programming language as a subject
Donno what C plus plus language
How I wish we can learn in Singapore despite the freedom to choose the subjects though we have computing in JC
At least I can be more IT savvy abit hor yanting?
They do go for CCA too and they have to study during Saturdays
There is this place where we went to observe an Indian wedding ceremony.
I don’t know the name, maybe I overheard the tourguide or din catch it.
This is really nice.
I wanted the person to put the red dot on me.. so I purposely stand in front of him but he didn’t put. Hai…
Heres a photo of xinyu..
And then the meal there was all curry. I donno know how to eat lor…
But the utensils are made of leaves. I should have kop one of them back lor. Stupid me
We took a manual ferris wheel on ride.
Those ferris wheel most of u have taken before is operated by electricity, but then this is operated by manual.
I show u the photo once I have it.
Quite exciting.
Jazmine kept shouting, “oh my god!” (errr.. haha)
Ok sidetracking
Time for geography lesson in India…
6 types of land
1) flat land (common in Southern India – Indian ocean for agriculture purposes)
2) plateaus (800m high – this is much higher than Genting)
3) mountain range (Northern India – Himalayan range)
4) Eastern and Western guards – river from Himalayas
5) deserts
6) forests
the holiest river is Gangliest River which flows from West to East
Animals
1) Tigers (normally for pouching – highest number in India, pouching is a sport or game there. However, there is a law passed to protect tigers, fine 500K rupees)
Currently there are around 500 to 700 tigers in India.
Purpose: bones are expensive as they can be made into exotic alcohols
2) Lions ( Africa)
3) Rhinoceros (Azam near Bangladesh)
4) Thar ( looks like deer, goat)
5) Hippopotamus (Azam)
Races
1) populian
2) Aryan (Indian – commonly vegetarians)
Majority: Buddhist religion
Buddhism flourished during 700 to 800 years ago.
From 500 BC to 400 AD, there wasn’t any sign of Buddhism
Whereas, Islam flourished in the West where this totally destroyed Buddhism ( took a downturn and went to Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, Japan)
Also, Hinduism took a upper hand and this influences ideal worship
3) D Divian (southern)
African --- West --- India --- East --- Australia
This was the location like 30000 years ago
Due to the movement of Earth plates, India move northwards to Himalayans where the present Indian ocean was the highest mountain range.
The End of British rule: British ruled for 350 years from 17th to 19th)
This shows that I’m listening to the tour guide k?
Day 3 @ Jaipur
Jaipur has a 3 million population, a 279 years old city
18th century 1876 when British colonialised.
The name Pink city was coined by the British.
Now it has become New City
The temple we are going to in called Birla Temple
Some background:
Last time, the king has 12 wives.
1st wife : arrange marriage
Subsequent wives: victory wive ( u mean they fight for marriages?? Haha interesting, complicated king)
Birnla Temple is made of White marble, example of modern architecture
Gods:
Brama: creator
Krishna: protector
Destoryer: Shiva
The colourful glass painting of Birla Temple resembles all the religion: Christianity, Islam and Hinduism
Actually in the temple we are not allowed to take photos but they say once you are outside the temple you can take. So I snap after I step out of the temple, but then there’s a “security guard” who shoo me off, so paiseh… sorry
(Picture of Birla Temple)this is the photo I accidentally snap.
We are now at City palace
These are amazing and magnificent pictures which I cant resist to stop taking even though the bus hasn’t reached.
(Pictures of city palace)In India, there is this Blue Cross Society to take care of pets (Singapore there is red cross society!)
City palace has this place: Push co where this is the holiest place for muslims and hindus
Made of white tiles ( palace, whites get the priority)
Since the king likes pink colour, all the buildings in Jaipur are pink in colour but there are still other colours like green as it is naturally from nature, colour of vegetables; this is how the idea is gotten
The first wive of the king is a Muslim, second Christian, third A hindu.
There are 25 cinemas in Jaipur.
This is a building I caught:
There are 199 windows!
we haven gone into the topic of City palace yet!
Lesson on the bus again:
- there are people straying along roads of Jaipur; if we need them we can just call them as they work from 7am to 10 pm
- there is a Darnish Temple which consists of 365 steps ( Hey the knowledge abit no link arh cuz we are on the bus mah so he explain those buildings and the things we saw as the bus is in motion)
- Jaipur is famous for blue pottry
- Ladies can’t show their face – showing the conservativeness for example, the tour guide Mr. Chez dad didn’t get to see the wife’s face even after 8 years of marriage as he only get to see her face on the day of wedding.
- Water palace – 18th century
(PICTURE OF WATER GALLERY)
- there are 95 elephants on New City
- the national park has 35 tigers ( Adventurer Wildlife is India’s attraction)
- there is a cut road from mountain (a road leading to Delhi)
(PICTURE OF THE SCENARY AS WE ARE ENTERING CITY PALACE
we are so excited as we are queueing for the elephant ride under the hot sun
So as we are queueing, there is this dog sleeping on the ground.
When he found out that he is not in the shade of the people anymore, he gets up to shift location. 聪明 right?
However, when it’s our turn, we are sad to know that the elephants cannot be used to take passengers up anymore as 5 rides for passengers in the quota. We should not tire the elephants out lor. I was quite inspired by what Suliahah said during the sharing session: Elephants are the holiest and sacred animal in India, but then during their ride up to the Palace, the men handling the elephant is so cruel to it as he uses a long rope or stick to beat the elephant to move on faster when the elephant stops for awhile to take a rest or what. And Sulaihah saw the elephant’s ear bleading. 听了心很酸!
At first I was quite sad since I didn’t get a ride on the elephant, but after hearing what she said, I was quite happy that I didn’t go up.
So 12 of us took a jeep ride up, we saw the different lifestyles of Indians
Quite interesting and the scenery was beautiful.
PICTURESmonkey posing
Ok.
I think for Day 4 onwards I stop to take notes
Day 4 @ Agra
Can’t wait for today to come cuz we are going to Taj Mahal!
Some reflections:
Yesterday we made great friends at the chalet hotel: Sulaihah and Sarah Ng from A06 as their rooms have many cockroaches and lizards. Also, we are proud of ourselves to put up in our rooms tgt despite knowing that there is a transparent window which makes us uncomfortable when using the toilet facilities
We stop at Amber Palace I think. There are a lot of places which almost look the same.. I can’t remember them.
Well, pictures speak a thousand words.
secret passageway for the king to visit each of his wives
cooling tunnels
water palace
a big container to hold the holiest water from Gangliest river for the king to bathe
can u see my reflection??
love birds.. so cute!!!
the cobra was moving!!
OK, we are at the entrance of Taj Mahal!
Haven’t go in yet and we are so excited..
Can u believe in? I actually stepped into one of the 7 wonders of the world.
Yay! I conquered one of the wonders already.
the entrance of Taj Mahal!!
Taj Mahal is all purely built of marble. I touched the walls engraved with intricate designs. These are done by workers who died innocently after they finished with the monument. I find it disappointing because they have their rights and how can people blind them after they finish building just to keep the secret and plans of building and designing the monument.
With magnificent architecture, like what Sarah Ng said: “I can’t believe I’m here!”
I agree with her too.
I couldn’t believe my eyes either.
Breathtaking.
Wow.
Also, what makes me feel happy about today is because we have gotten a chance to ride on horse carts as a “compensation” for yesterday as we miss the elephant ride. However, we do feel guilty when we add on the burden on the horses where animal’s rights should have been protected.
this is the horse that we rode on to the Taj Mahal
thats me, miss zaleena and szesze
After Taj Mahal, we went to Agra Fort. This time round the whole building is made of red bricks. My sentiments agree with Miss Zaleena cuz she said that Agra Fort actually amazes her, not Taj Mahal itself. The architecture of Taj Mahal didn’t really fascinated her.
Yes. The architecture of Agra Fort was much more in depth and fine. And then, they built many secret passages, cool ventilating tunnels using the knowledge of science and geography which one can never think of lor…
agra fort!
Overall, I think Agra Fort is nicer. I like Agra Fort more.
Day 5 @ Delhi
Today is much more 好玩 and relax. Cuz it’s just sightseeing as the bus is moving around the city of New Delhi. Also, there is shopping at evening at Delhi hut!
General Knowledge time:
Biggest cities in India:
1) Calcutta
2) Bombay
3) Delhi – 50 million population, metropolitan lifestyle
Let’s compare Old Delhi and New Delhi:
Old Delhi:
- urban poverty
- predominantly Islam
- lifestyle differs from religion to religion
- Hindus have different income which give rise to different class, they are economically low where as Muslims are rich
New Delhi:
- are of upper class
- have economically rich people (South Delhi area)
Ok back to some history:
In 400 BC Mauryan kings rule – Ashoka emperor (Sec one history remember?) rule the south continent (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan)
2550 years ago, Buddhism flourished.
After death of Buddha, stupas raised (kings in North India). Jade & Buddhism architecture have similarities.
Back to sightseeing topics,
Geog lesson again:
- there are slum areas in Delhi
- Forests look like rubbish. People pick up plastics to recycle for 150 to 200 rupees, tgt with other items for mineral bottle and papers to exchange for money.
Papers are recycled for packing in shopping spree because they are 1) bio-conscious, 2) can be biodegradable, 3) livelihood for people, retailing earns.
- There are policies implemented that are compulsory to learn about recycling uses for e.g., shops cannot use plastic bags or else they could be fined. There is a law passed down about making plastic for a maximum thickness. Also, propaganda declares zones as “no plastic bags”.
- Policy of cutting 10 trees, planting 100 trees declined.
2 successful things in India:
1) Family planning (2 children to 1 family). Counseling done by hospitals if have 2nd child
2) Public smoking is banned. Their public places mean anywhere in India whereas private places will be at their household.
If Mr. chez didn’t mention this I would not have noticed, nobody smokes in India except for some cases where people are too poor and desperate, they smoke opium. I wonder where they get the opium.
Or else, fined heavily. 99% of smoking in trams & platform are stopped. 50% of the population are aware that they are not supposed to smoke. However, policies are not implemented as there are not enough policemen to inspect and catch them.
Irony: pollution is a lot. Hai, people actually do not need to smoke to get lung cancer. Pollution in India is that bad already.
Average lifespan for men: 58 years
How successful is plastic recycling in India?
- NO plastic zones
- Advertisements to educate about dangers of burning plastics and it also create small jobs for poor people. People who are poor of course will want to earn for a living right?
Challenges:
1) talents
2) children don’t want to go to school
3) healthcare (Erh, I thought medicine is good in India?)
ooo, there isn’t enough government spending to purchase medical stuff though there are many hospitals.
Targets: 1/3 of India population to be fluent.
Education system in India (I took a long time to understand their education system, up till now I still blur blur)
ICE – International Certificate of Education
Similar to Singapore’s GCE O level
In India, they have 4 syllabus but most schools follow the state syllabus
5 years old: Standard 1
Til 15 to 16 years old: Higher sec school (JC)
17 years old: college (graduation) – plus 1 and plus 2 (similar to our J1 and J2)
21 years old: complete degree. Then post degree education (PHD)
No NS compulsory for guys, on volunteer basis.
So equal competition for both sexes.
Patriotism is high.
They do have NCC but limited seats in college
Selection process is difficult. (physical and attitude aspect)
For college, elitism poses problems to people as the subjects they are studying give rise to a intellectual gap.
A group: math, science, geog
Engineering. This group has advantages of entering into many different courses.
B group: Medical, Bachelor of Science (Phy, chem, bio) Zoology, Botany.
Bachelor of Literature, Bachelor of Economics, Bachelor of Biotechnology
C group: Accountancy, Geog, History, Econs
Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Economics, Bachelor of History
D group: History/ Geog
Background of India:
National flower: Lotus
National animal: Tiger
National sport: Hockey (Random comment: Shaun should go there ya?? Haha)
2 National days: Aug 15 – freedom from Britain
Jan 26 – Republic day
Ok, we reached the India gate:
Basically, there are 2 gates in India:
1) Mumbai – Gate way of India
2) Delhi – India gate built by government for people who sacrificed their lives in WW1. all their names were inscribed on the gate.
India gate
Sidetrack:
cute dog
Look at this Indian boy who follows us throughout. Actually its quite heart pain to see such scenes in New Delhi (a modernized city) itself. This boy kept begging us for food and money for the moment we got down the bus and till we got up the bus. Then, Frankie just gave him Singapore coins: 10 cent and 5 cent. But he chose the 5 cent instead. We guess because 5 cent coin is gold in colour which makes it more valuable ba. But, since it’s coins and worth value. Why don’t take both?
Children there are really 可怜 ba…
Also there is one more issue that I wanna rant about.
There is this particular guy here whom I shall not mention but I think most of u know who I am referring to ba. Isn’t very unreasonable and rude not to pay for the items after u have bargained for and grab those items away, not one item but many???
What makes us real puking is, “I rather shoot it up and leave it lying rather than giving to u!”
So I actually went to take those items away from him and play, but I just feel guilty that I actually took those things that are not paid for. My fault too.
Actually in India, there are a lot of cases like this (I meant the small boy). People wanting to earn money out from making souvenirs will keep following u and disturbing u to buy those things once u got down from the bus. Also, children will keep following u and touching u, begging for money and food. 看了很心酸。
Singaporeans are living well.
Well, it’s shopping time and today is the most ‘high’ day we had because of the items we bought. It was cold too. We made friends too, like Frankie and HuiXiang, also the A02 malay girls like Hanisah. Wow, she’s real good at bargaining so I got a bag at a cheaper price. Kinda regretted cuz I should have bought more things back. Well, at least I got a sari cloth and I love it a lot. Heehee.
Not like normal shopping centres where u can enter freely as and when u want, u have to pay for a ticket to Delhi hut. Also, very chalet and fun fair type of place. I like it a lot.
the most high day after shopping!
the distorted flag on hui xiang's hand
this is frankie. after the hanna. he look as if he just sprained his neck
Look at their hanna!
Especially HuiXiang’s, he actually wanted a Singapore Flag, but then the person donno how to draw. So we laugh and laugh.
And we celebrated mrs leong’s birthday!!!!
And during lunch today, I went to the gents to avoid the long queue for toilets. And so when I came out of the gents, mr sas shot me!!!! …. He said he caught me red handed??? And my photo will be put up concourse!!!
I said NO mr sas DELETE IT!
But nvm la..
At least I entertain people.. hee hee
Day 6 @ University of Delhi
We went to School of Language & Literature (Seriously not my area of expertise)
The professor of Indian literature was cute and I love his accent. He speaks well and very very fluent.
He specialized in popular culture like cinema, theatre and advertisements, inferring into literature, political science, philosophy. He mentioned about understanding the genre and time and don’t read it like a textbook.
that was mr sas
Next, we are proceeding to the IT industry in Delhi. This is the last stop we are visiting.
NIIT: National Institute of Information Technology
Active branch in Singapore for teaching
One of the top of India’s IT
Pioneer in the IT industry
Established 1981, 3888 education centers, 44 countries, all continents except Antarctica
Mission:
Bringing people and computers together successfully…
Trains 500000 learners every year
Robust industry Academia partnerships
Awards:
“Best Training Institution Award” by American society for training and development (ASTD)
NIIT was
Top 3 education brands in India
Top 50 most respective brands in India
Competence, innovation, reliability and trust
Much more info… but lazy to type. Bored at reading words rite?
Heres a photo
at NIIT
But … today is the worst night I have ever had
Yesterday was heaven.
Today was hell.
First, we are only given half an hour for dinner.
So we had to rush here and there.
I had gastric.. so cant wait lor.
And still we went to TGIF, not knowing it was happy hour lounge.
So we faster came out
Rush our dinner
And rush back to the meeting point.
Was already quite angry so I just walk back…
And things happen. (shall not mention here)
Since the gate was closed for the shopping malls, we took a metro train to a place near our hotel.
So sad!
I saw adidas, puma and so on.. shops that I wanna walk in.
But at least we got a ride on their train.
Thanks yongsheng for giving me their ticket for souvenir…
While shopping along the roads, it gave us a fright and scared that people might just threaten us off or what.
After half an hour, we rush to the meeting point again and head off to our hotel.
Walk a long long distance
Passing by so many hotels.. 30 and over but we still haven reach ours yet
Cars zoom past and even if u walk to the side of the road all the time, cars may just squeeze thru u and come in.
So walking in India must have 200% awareness.
Cuz there may be holes on the road, “gold” on the road, children coming to beg for money, and u have to be aware of cars zooming past and know where u are heading for.
One of our malay girls nearly got run down by the cars and so we shouted loudly.
Oh ya and before that, It was really dangerous when we cross the roads of the metro station.
I kept holding on tight to Xinyu.
My blood pressure went up. haha
It was hell experience
Luckily we reach the hotel and was given 3 hours to rest.
So Frankie and huixiang, eric and yongsheng, were darn bored so we played cheat at our rooms.. hee hee( I hope teachers wont read this)
And rich Frankie ordered soups..
It was fun lah.. at least better than the hell experience
One reflection:
We saw kids while we are on the bus as small as three to five years old having to earn money for a living through displaying their talents and performing on the streets. Where were we of such ages? Happily playing in the playground, studying in a kindergarten. And also 2 kids dash past the road of heavy traffic. This sight made Mrs Leong cried though its her birthday… she said, “I myself as a mother would not ever let her children run across the road just like that”. Where are their parents? Perhaps due to poverty, they have to bear seeing their children suffer at such tender age. Also take the example of the little boy following Timothy at the India gate, they have gone so poor to the extent that they wanted money and food so much that these things outweigh their self esteem and sense of upright.
Actually I gave a water bottle with water to one of those kids lah.. din give money of cuz. Cuz we scared they would run chasing after us.
Also wanna comment on one sight, me xinyu and sulaihah or grace I cant remember, were walking back from a toilet at a petrol station for a toilet break and saw a men holding a big rifle.
We were damn scared la… what if the person just shoot…???
then we are off to Singapore!!
well after this trip i learnt alot and i dont regret coming though i was the only one from my class and dont know much abt eng lit and my GP so lan...
at least i came back safe and sound, my gastric doesnt give me problem!
just that i find that i am not a typical girl who likes to shop and do whatever typical girl likes leh.. i just find that la..
i am a tom boy !
and also i miss my chi na culture for 6 days
though we speak english most of the time with my class mates (who are quite chi na),
but then it's still the comfortable normal way of english that we speak.
maybe cuz its literature trip ba, the way we speak and arts students are different.
theirs is : oh my god... haha perhaps some of u do not know i don like this phrase, parhaps it has already been a cliche in ur daily conversation and cannot be changed le. maybe religious problem and also my choir instructor doesnt like it. influence ba. not ur fault la actually.
just like our : wa lau eh
"ang moh" type wont like it also rite?
Some group photos:
with mrs leong
with timothy
xin sarah grace
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