Reflection on punctuality

Before writing on my reflection, I would like to apologise to the staffs of WUST present at that time, the bus driver, the MDE and ECE students waiting for us in the bus and Miss Neo for delaying the entire trip and taking up all of your time while waiting for us.

Before climbing up to 金顶, the tour guide told us that we were to gather at the foot of the hill at 1pm. But later it was pushed to 1.30pm.

I feel very remorseful that I had to keep the whole group of MDE & ECE students,staffs and the driver to wait for an hour. I feel that what I’d done,keeping them waiting is very irresponsible and has caused many impacts.

I think that there will be many different perspective of how the people there will think of us for keeping them waiting.

For the WUST staff, they will probably feel worried for our safety, wondering why we were’nt able to reach there at the meeting time and where we were at that time. I think that during their wait, they will have a bad impression of us. Time is very important when it comes to group trips. Because they had to wait for us, their schedule will be affected. We were scheduled to reach school by 7. In the end we reached at 9. The WUST staffs have to work the day after and will probably have other things to do before that.

For the MDE and ECE students there, they will probably feel very hungry at that time because they waited for us and didn’t go and eat anything before that. They might feel angry that they have to wait for us before they could go and eat.

For the driver, he will feel very mad at us. This is because he has to wait for us before he has to head off. If delayed, the trip will prolong. It is very difficult to drive at night and the lives of the people in the bus are endangered. Morever, he has to work the day after too.

For Miss Neo, I feel that she will feel very worried for us and also she has to settle many things just because we were late. I think that though the situation is rather complicated, Miss Neo has remained very calm during the entire situation. I think that she may be angry at us at some points of time, but I know that she was in fact worried about our safety because we might encounter some mishaps on the way.

Once again, I am really very sorry for making the WUST staff, MDE ,ECE students, the driver and Miss Neo to wait for us. All of you had to wait for us before all of you could eat and has also reached back to WUST later than expected.

There are many consequences of being late.

If we were late, people will have a bad impression of us. We are ambassadors of Ngee Ann polytechnic and also at the same time carry Singapores name. For what we had done, our behaviour will not only affect our school’s reputation, but might also put a bad name to Singapore.

Also, we delayed the entire trip. The time wasted has an impact on every single person in the bus who were waiting for us. There are many things that they could do if they were to arrive earlier as scheduled. They might even have plans based on the actual schedule and their plans might have been canceled or delayed just because we were late.

Us being late will affect us in many ways in the future. People will see us differently in the future after this incident. They might treat us differently because we were unable to meet the schedule and cause them to wait for us. It may seem that the WUST staff were seem okay with us but I know that its because of common courtesy.

If we were late and the bus left, more complications may arise. Another arrangement of another bus may have to be necessary and we will reach at a different time. This may affect the schedules in the future. This will result in extra costs there wouldn’t be neccesary if we were not late.

It will also cause trouble for the tour guide because she was there with us all the time. She most probably has to work the day after and if there is a delay in the trip, she may not be able to work. This will have a great impact because her job might be at stake.

If I were given a second chance, even though I feel remorseful, I will still choose to help my friend but the only difference is I wouldn’t buy the souvenior there. We went down the mountain around 12 and we will reach on time. It was difficult to get down the mountain because some people were uncomfortable and there was a point where by we stopped at a souvenior shop to get something. It was at this time whereby it took most of our time. We thought that the meeting point is just upstairs the souvenior shop and the time was around 1. After getting the things, we climbed up. We climbed up and had to stop to rest some times throughout after climbing a level of stairs. Even if I went ahead without helping my friend, I will also be irresponsible. I am really sorry that I caused the people on the bus to wait for me. Even if I reach the bus alone, my friend will still be behind. Therefore, I will still rather help her then go ahead alone.

In conclusion, I learnt that punctuality is a very important thing. Be it 1 minute or 10minutes, it is still late. Imagine if 33 people were to wait for us for 1 minute each, we are like wasting the time of what 33 people could do within that 1 minute.They had to wait for us for an hour and that’s a lot. I am very sorry that I had caused many inconvience during this event and in the future, I will be punctual in any events.

I also learnt to be more responsible in the future. Every action, be it good or bad, will not only reflect on my personality, but will also link to where I come from. It will reflect badly on my school and my country. That’s why, I have to be more careful in the future on my actions because there may be dire consequences if I don’t think carefully before I act.

Day 23

Small intro of traditional Chinese philosophy from wikipedia

Chinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought. Chinese philosophy has a history of several thousand years; its origins are often traced back to the Yi Jing (the Book of Changes), an ancient compendium of divination, which uses a system of 64 hexagrams to guide action. This system is attributed to King Wen of Zhou (1099–1050 BCE) and the work reflects the characteristic concepts and approaches of Chinese philosophy. The Book of Changes evolved in stages over the next eight centuries, but the first recorded reference is in 672 BCE.

How traditional philosophy originated

Early Shang Dynasty thought was based upon cyclicity. This notion stems from what the people of the Shang Dynasty could observe around them: day and night cycled, the seasons progressed again and again, and even the moon waxed and waned until it waxed again. Thus, this notion, which remained relevant throughout Chinese history, reflects the order of nature. In juxtaposition, it also marks a fundamental distinction from western philosophy, in which the dominant view of time is a linear progression. During the Shang, fate could be manipulated by great deities , commonly translated as Gods. Ancestor worship was present and universally recognized. There was also human and animal sacrifice.
We were released early today because our afternoon lecture had combined with our mornings lecture. After that we went for lunch and headed back to our rooms and rested.

Reflection
Today during lessons, we were taught about some teachings about Confucianism. There was a saying that felt very meaningful to me.
The saying is’ it does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop’
There are many phases of life. As we grow, we experience and learn more new things. There will be points of time in life whereby you’ll experience hardships you think you never will be able to handle. However, if you just give up on life because of that obstacle, it definetely is a waste. When you fall, just get back up again and continue moving on. As long as you do not stop, you’ll see that your efforts are paid off in the future. ‘It doesn’t matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop’.

Day 22

We had PM test in the morning today. After which we were let off early because Miss neo thought that we had study hard for the test and could have a break for the afternoon.

After we got ready, we went to guang gu to shop for things.

As usual, the bus ride was very long but luckily there were seats. After we arrived, we headed to lao shu jie. The stalls in the place were something like bugis street in Singapore. Some of us felt that the clothes were not suitable for us so me, wen jie, ron and wei qin went to another mall. We had been to the mall before and the name of the place was guang gu.

Reflection
Today, there was one weird thing that we experienced today. Usually in Singapore, when the traffic light is green for people to cross the road, the cars will stop and wait for people to cross. In china, its very different. When people cross on a green light, some cars still won't stop for you. Be it red light or green light, the cars will still drive the same way. And if this is it, what is the traffic light for? Most drivers do this in China and I'm very shocked. Peoples lives can be put in danger because of this inconsiderate drivers. If there were laws that drivers will be fined if they continue driving even at red light, I think there will be changes. This way, people will be much safer when crossing the road.

Day 21

Today, we did the last assignment on pert for project management in the morning. We were given time of in the afternoon to study for our project management test which is tommorow.

After class. we headed to MacDonalds for our lunch.

There was this person who made a fool of himself in there. He said that we gave tips to the person serving him but she still ended up ticking him off.

After that, we headed back to study for our test.




Reflection

Today, i was really taken aback about how the person who created a commotion in Macdonalds. He claimed that he gave the person serving him tips and he was outraged that she ticked him off even after taking his tips. He made a fool of himself by criticising the person serving him in front of all the customers there. The manager gave him 10 rmb and asked him to go away. The guy then walked off and flaunted to people there about that and also continued to criticise about the bad service provided. Little did he know that all hes doing is make a fool of himself. The truth is that he gave the person serving him a phone card with 10 rmb. The person serving him then took the card and broke it. After which, refused to serve him. The man then began ranting at the person serving him. It was something like that from the place I was standing at. I was disgusted by the grin he made when leaving the place. I think that he was just out to take money from the staff at MacDonalds by his small act. I am appalled by his very behaviour and didn't expect that he would do such a thing just to get money. People like him give his country a bad name. Is money really worth the humiliation?


Pictures credit to google.

Day 20

Today we had project management lesson in the morning. We learnt about PERT today.

It was kind off like applied statistics.

After lessons we went to have dinner at The Greenery Cafe. The restaurant looked very grand but the food when ordered isn't as nice as expected.




After that we went back to our rooms.

Reflection

Today in the restaurant, the menu there was very funny. The translation of the food in the menu were mostly directly translated from Chinese to English. Here is a picture of a dish which was translated directly.



I feel that though it may be funny to me, other foreigners may not feel this way. Ever since the Beijing Olympics, more and more China people has improved themselves by learning English. However, there are still many things that can be improved. Imagine you're from a Western country and you come to China for holidays. You walk into a restaurant and look at the menu. You don't understand Chinese and can only read the english words. You may not be sure what the dishes are because of the direct translations and might end up getting something you don't like. Morever, when you order, it may sound wrong to you and when you order it may be kind off awkward too. This may be just a small translation. But foreigners who patronize the restaurant might have a bad impression of it and won't come back again. Not only that, he or she will have a bad impression of the stay in China just because of the experience had in the restaurant. Therefore, I feel that restaurants should not underestimate the direct translations. They should hire people to give proper translations of the dishes of the menu.

Day 19

Today we had IS lessons in the morning and the topic today was about introduction to business in China.

I found somethings very useful from today's lesson. For instance, why should we expand our business in China.

China is quickly transforming into a mass consumer market and some people may even say that it is even going to overtake the USA. Whether you have been in business for a long time or a short time, if you ask an experienced person when is the best time to enter the china market, he'll definetely say now. This is because China's market is slowly growing. Be it in the service industry or product related industries, it is wise to enter China's market now.

As Chinas population is one of the worst largest, expanding a business here will prove to be a good idea. Labour costs and manufacturing costs wouldnt be as expensive as doing business in Singapore because if you want to expand your business in Singapore, the facilities might be more expensive to built and morever land is more expensive in Singapore.

There are three major growth industries in China. It includes the exporting of education, processed food and wine products. They have many potential in generating even more profits as compared to other industries here.

Do all of you know what kind of businesses can be set up in China?

There are a few, representative office, joint venture,etc.

Let me briefly talk about them.

A representative office is just a subsidiary of a foreign company in china. If you are looking for a company, which needs a local presence to manage services or coordinate outsourcing business activities or research developing chinese market, then a representative office will definetely be the right choice because it is useful and inexpensive for establishing a presence in china.

A joint venture is business where a foreign firm goes into businesses with local chinese partners. Joint venture is usually established to exploit the market knowledge, preferential market treatment, and manufacturing capability of the chinese side along with the technology, manufacturing know-how and marketing.

Even if you know what businesses you want to set up, there are many things to consider. How will you want your company to be known?

You may want to choose technology transfer or E-commerce. But personally, i think that E-commerce will be a better way because now, E-commerce is being used almost all around the world for businesses.

Technology transfer is an initial market entry approach used by many companies. It offers short- term profits but there is a risk of creating long term competitors

E commerce: the e-commerce environment is still fairly immature due to the lack of defined regulatory powers over the industry, effective chinese certificate

I think that in China, though e-commerce is still fairly immature, it will be more popular and used more commonly with the passing of time and it will do great for businesses who want to enter China's market.

After IS lesson, we headed back to our rooms.

Reflection
Today, we were told by our teacher that an average graduate earns about 1.8k-2k rmb per month for their starting pay. It was rather shocking to hear that. In singapore, an average university graduate's starting pay is about 2.5k and above sgd, that is about 12.5k rmb per month. I feel very lucky to be born in Singapore. Even though Singapore is a small country, it is rather well known throughout the world and its currency is also strong. Singapore is our homeland and I'm very proud to be a Singaporean.

Though doing a business in China may prone to make profits, there are also disadvantages of doing businesses in China.Here are some disadvantages.

Firstly, the language barrier. In China, even though its main language is Chinese, it will be good to be able to be able to speak english. This is because usually when people do businesses, they tend to converse in English because english is a universal language. If you do businesses in China, it is best to speak simple english if the people you are working with isn't very good in english. This is to avoid misunderstandings that might arise due to communication issues.

Secondly, quality. Things may appear to look attractive but the material which is used to make the product may not be of good quality. Therefore, it is better if you understand what materials products are made from before buying them and selling. Normally, quality is a normal disadvantage in doing business in china that people has to stress over and over again.

Day 18

We had our breakfast at 6.40am today and after that we left the cruise at around 7am. After that, we headed to the site where it shows how the three gorges dam is built.

Here is some information about the three gorges and why the three gorges dam is built which i got over the internet

The Three Gorges is the general name for the Qutang, Wuxia, and Xiling gorges. The Three Gorges area begins at Baidicheng in Fengjie County, Sichuan Province, and ends at Nanjinguan in Yichang County, Hubei province, a distance of 193 kilometers. The Three Gorges area, well known for its precipitous terrain and numerous scenic spots, has been listed as the best of the top 40 scenic spots in China.

The idea of building a dam across the Yangtze river to control flooding and to and to harness it for hydropower has been the dream of several generations of Chinese since the time of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, forerunner of China's democratic revolution.The principal advantage of the project is to generate power to keep pace with China's economic growth. It is estimated that China's power output must rise by 8 percent annually to keep pace with 6 percent annual increase in gross national product.

After we reached the place, we were brought around by bus to some places and we alighted to take some snaps. Here are the pictures taken today




The dam is just behind us;)











Reflection

The three gorges tour was really a wonderful experience. The first day passed very quickly as the day is mostly travelling to the cruise ship. For the second and third day, it was lots of fun. There are many things that I've never seen before I made the trip. For example, the crossing of the dam by cruise. It was really a wonder how the ship can cross the dam. The designs of how the ship crosses the dam by the use of the elevation of water is very ingenious.

What I liked most during this trip was the scenery. The scenery seen whether from boat or in the bus was stunning.It was really an eye opener to me as I never seen such wonderful sights before. The sceneries which I liked the most was the viewing of the mountains from the boat and the grass plains from the bus. In Singapore, you'll never get to see sceneries like this.






Overall during the entire trip, what caught my attention the most was the boat trackers on the second day of the three gorges trip. They wake up very early in the morning just to get to their workplace and start work. Although their labour is very high, their pay isn't very high. They get about 30 rmb just to get people to and forth the Shengnongxia stream. Their annual income is about 5000rmb per year. Seeing them work so hard to support themselves made me realise the importance of money. It made me realise that I'm very lucky and this has made me learnt to treasure money even more.

Even though the time taken during travels took up most of the time of the trip, I think that it was worthwhile after experiencing all the wonderful stuff after reaching the various destinations.

Day 17

Today morning we woke up early for breakfast at 6.30.



After that we alighted the ship and took a bus to 白帝城.











We headed back to the ship and headed to our next destination which was Shengnongxi. We watched tv while at our room to pass time. We had our lunch not long after we were back on ship.

We reached our destination and took a small boat along Shengnongxi.













After the boat ride, we rode on a smaller boat which is pulled by five people. Four of them will roll the boat while one will guide the direction of the boat. The tour guide there had a very clear explaination about the place and even sang a song for us. Along the way, the scenery was simply stunning. The entire journey along part of the stream took around 45 minutes to an hour.

After that we headed back to the ship.

We took some snaps on the deck of the ship.














At around 10pm, we were told that we were going to cross the first dam of the three gorges.It was very cold at that time and most of us were tired. But I was still anxious to see the ship pass the dam because this is the first I saw a dam and was curious how the ship will pass the dam. We waited for about 45 minutes but the dam still didn't open. After some time later, the dam finally opened. Here are some pictures that were taken there.


After that we headed back our rooms to sleep