Christmas in Singapore

About a week before the holidays we decided to go to Singapore for Christmas and New Year. Because Singapore is one of the most expensive countries in Southeast Asia and since we wanted to meet some new people, I decided to try couchsurfing. This is a website where people from all over the world offer their couch or a spare mattress to travelers. After sending about 40 messages to people in Singapore, we were lucky that Sven (from Norway, but living in Singapore) offered his couch for the first couple of days of our stay.

We arrived there at the 23rd in the late evening and apart from sleeping we didn't do much. But the next day we prepared for the Christmas party that took place in the evening. I cooked a curry while Sairozi and Sven made 2 different kinds of cookies and a cake. It turned out super-delicious and I ate way too much during the party.



The next day some couchsurfers had organised a tour through the city. At the moment there is a campaign to protect elephants in Singapore and you can find elephant figures all around the city. The aim of our tour was to see as many different elephants as possible. Here you can see my favourites:

Course evaluation

Today was the last class before the holidays and the exams and it's about time to give some grades. As students we're getting grades all the time, but today it's the other way round.

Thai language (C+):
In the beginning of my stay I found this course very usefull, because we learned many words that we could use in everyday life such as different dishes, fruits or numbers. What I didn't like was that within 3 months our teacher changed 3 times and they all had very different teaching methods. Personally I found it the hardest with the second teacher so after studying Thai for 1,5 months my motivation was lost. Even though I enjoyed the 3rd teachers classes I decided to drop out of this class 2 weeks before the christmas holidays, due to the fact that I will be unable to attend the final exam.

Marketing (B-):
I like the subject so I was quite motivated to take Marketing. The teacher was trying really hard to make everyone understand the subject, but unfortuntely the English of some of the Thai students was still quite limited so it often took a lot of time to finish a topic. That made it a bit boring sometimes. Another thing I didn't like was, that we were supposed to have a quiz on every topic, but often the quizzes were canceled or postponed. The course syllabus said that only the ten best scores of the quizzes would count for our final grade so less quizzes means that we cannot improve our grade, if we didn't do well in one of the quizzes.

Strategic Management (B+):
Looking back at this course I must say that it was one of my favourites, even though I wasn't so sure about it in the first place. I liked that we had group discussions and short presentations instead of quizzes, because we could practice our presentation skills and got feedback afterwards. The pace was a little faster than Marketing, which was good as well. During the last two weeks we played a simulation game during the classes. In the beginning I was a bit sceptical but that quickly changed and I got really motivated to win this game with my group. In the end we got 2nd out of 8 which is not too bad either :)

International Business (B):
I give this class a B because we were talking about a lot of things that I've heard before so sometimes it wasn't as interesting for me than it could have been. However, some of my friends said it was their favourite class. It was definitely the one were we had to do the most work. 3 case studies, lots of homework, inclass exercises and at least 1 quiz per week made sure that we were busy during the semester.

Bureaucracy

The last week has kept me really busy. As I have written before my home university requires me to make learning agreements BEFORE I start studying abroad in order to transfer the credits for the courses I attend. However, since the classes I intended to take were sceduled at the same time I decided to take International Business instead of Human Resource Management. Unfortunatley I didn't have a learning agreement for that class, which got me a little stressed out last week. In the end I wrote I really nice letter to my university begging them to give me a learning agreement even though I was 2 months late... and it worked! Two days later they had send it to my mom's address, which means I don't have to take the same course again in Germany :D

Apart from the learning agreement more good news awaited me last week. We got our grades for the midterm exams and they turned out really well. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to celebrate because back home a couple of case studies waited to be finished.

I must say that I'm pretty surprised how much work needs to be done at this university compared to my courses in Germany, where there usually is one final exam which counts for 100% of the grade. At PSU the exams (each, midterm and final exam) usually count for 20-30% of the grade. Apart from this we need to submit at least 1 case study and we get grades for either group discussions and presentations or quizzes (about 10-12! per subject). The Thais really know how to keep someone busy!

Midterm exams

During the last week of November we had our midterm exams, which count for about 30% of our final grade. So I was quite busy studying. Luckily the exams turned out to be not too difficult and I'm looking forward to getting the results. Apart from the midterm exams we have to submit several case studies (1 for Marketing, 3 for International Business and 1 for Strategic Management) that kept me busy even after the exams.

However, last week a friend of mine visited us in Phuket so I had an excuse to postpone working on the case studies and do some fun stuff instead :) We went to play badminton at the university and spend lots of time at the beach, which was heaps of fun. I also found some time to make an advent calendar for Sairozi and I bought myself a small one at the Big C supermarket. It was even made in Germany!

Snakes, research week and visa extension

The last 10 days have been quite eventful. It started with a Tuesday morning when Sairozi was driving me to my Thai language class. However when we entered the university the street was blocked by a huge snake (around 2 meters long and 15 centimeters thick!) and a security guard tried to catch it with a black plastic bag. The snake then quickly crossed the street so I was only a couple of minutes late for my class.

The following events at the university were luckily not as frightening as the snake. From Wednesday until Friday we had research week. However, most Finnish students used the time to conduct some beach research in Bali. Since Sairozi and I were staying in Phuket we decided to attend some of the discussions, workshops and presentations offered by the university. The Thai cooking workshop we joined was lots of fun for everyone (except for me cause I was feeling a bit sick that day, but the food was super delicious). They also offered a cocktail mixing workshop that we missed, because we went to another presetation. We also met some other interntional students who are studying full time at the Prince of Songkla university.

On Friday we didn't go to the research week, because Sairozi needed to extent his 60 days tourist visa. Equipped with a his passport, a photocopy (you can make photocopies there for 2 Baht/copy) of the front page as well as a copy of the page with the visa/entrance stamp, a photo and 1900 Baht (ca. 50 Euros) we went to the immigration office in Phuket town. If I remember correctly the opening hours were Monday-Friday 8.30-12.00 and 13.00-16.30. After filling out the application form it took us less than 10 minutes to get the visa extension for another 30 days and the staff and volunteers there were very friendly.

Loy Krathong

Yesterday was a holiday in Thailand, Loy Krathong. Our university teachers had recommended us to go to a dam close to the university to see the festival because it would be less crowded than in Patong or other places on the island. We went there at around 7.30pm. The first impression was amazing. People let little boats made out of leaves, flowers and candles float on the lake and ballons where lighting up the sky. It was a truely magical experience.



The week before Loy Krathong a friend of mine visited us in Phuket. Actually he is staying in Bangkok but he left the city due to the floods. His visit gave us the chance to visit some other places in Phuket that we hadn't seen before. On Sunday we took him to Kamala beach. We hadn't been there before either but I was pleasantly surprised by it. It had a really relaxed and laid back atmosphere. However, the restaurants were totally overpriced (120 Baht for fried rice in a very simple looking place at the far end of the beach!). But if you just want to hang out there it's a really nice place.
It is also very close to one of the main attractions in Phuket. When we had a walk around on our search for affordable food we ended up at Phuket PhantaSea. They have daily shows there with an all you can eat buffet (show only: 1500 Baht, dinner only: 800 Baht, both: 1900 Baht.... so not in our budget). From the outside the place looked touristy but nice. However, two other exchange students went there and said that they weren't too impressed by the show and the food.
In the end we went to Patong to have dinner at a nice Isan restaurant (Isan is a province in Thailand) with live music. The singer tried his best and even sang an English song, even though it took us a while to figure out that it was English :) In the end it turned out to be a really nice evening.

Halloween

Thailand was celebrating Halloween and the exchange students decided to have another pool party on that occasion. Everyone got creative to have a great costume. Check out the results:

Free time activities

Besides studying we also have lots of free time and Phuket offers lots of activities to spend your time and money. Going to the beach is always an option and there are plenty of beaches to choose from.

Patong beach is closest to the university (15 minutes by motorcycle) but also the most crowded beach on Phuket. It's full of tourists, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and people selling all kinds of stuff. If you're looking for entertainment it's the right place to go but for swimming and relaxing on the beach there are better places. There are also many water sports available in Patong.

Karon beach is located a 10 minute drive to the south of Patong beach. It's a large beach with a volleyball field and when we went there it was not too crowded and the sea was perfect to swim.

Kata beach is just 5 minutes south of Karon beach and a very nice but expensive place. There are lots of activities you can do there such as jet ski (people told me that you shouldn't try it on Phuket, because there are lots of scams, who will charge you hundreds of Euros even if there is just a small scratch on the jet ski), banana boat, surfing and para-sailing. The scenery is also very beautiful but take your own lunch because a simple Pad Thai can cost you around 200 Baht (5 Euros) on Kata beach.

Kata Noi beach is at the southern tip of Kata beach and has been my favourite so far. It's a lot smaller than the other beaches and there are also a lot less tourists. The wave were quite big when I went there and it was great fun playing in the water and diving through the waves.

Photos: Patong, Karon, Kata, Kata Noi

Apart from just hanging out at the beach there is lots of other stuff you can do here. Last week we went bowling (60 Baht/person/game)and two weeks ago asiaexchange arranged surfing lessons for those who were interested. It cost us 1000 Baht (25 Euros) for a 1,5 hour lesson (it might seem like a short time but trust me, it's more than enough!) and we could use the boards for the whole day. It was lots of fun but the next day my body felt like I got run over by the All Blacks... ouuch! Of course we've also had some pool parties since around half of the people are living in two houses which have pools. So don't worry about feeling bored in Phuket, there is always something to do here.

Courses

My first two weeks at PSU are over and so far it has been a great time here. All of my courses have been very interesting so far and I think I will learn a lot during my semester here. Especially when I look at the books that we got from PSU (they are included for asiaexchange students) this semester is going to be quite some work.



Originally I had classes from Monday till Friday but luckily we could persuade our lecturers to move the Friday classes to other days, so we can have a long weekend.

Principles of Marketing (Mr. David):
It's a mixed class with Thai students as well as exchange students and we're around 50 students in that course. I really like this class because the teacher is quite funny and he explains everything very well. The course hasn't been too difficult but I still think that you can learn quite a lot there. Another plus is that the teacher is a native English speaker (maybe British?) so I can improve my English at the same time as learning about marketing. (He is also teaching leadership and management). I can really recommend his classes.

Strategic Management (Mr. Somjate):
This is another mixed class with Thai and foreign students and it's about the same size as marketing. This course is a bit more demanding than marketing but since there is lots of group work involved you get to practice everything quite often. Even though the teacher is Thai his English is very good so there are no problems to follow his class.

International Business (Mrs. Mary):
This class is foreign students only (around 20 students) and so far it has been my favourite course. The teacher is American and she shares lots of experiences she has made in the industry with us. This makes her class very interesting. We have quizzes every week and the first one hasn't been too difficult so I think if you put some work into this class it should be possible to get a good mark.

Thai language (Mrs. June):
You learn a lot in this course but it is also very demanding. We go through the capters very quickly so it is necessary to review everything regularly to keep up with the vocabs. Unfortunately we don't learn how to write Thai in this course.

Koh Phi Phi – "The Beach"

After the orientation asiaexchange had organized a trip to Koh Phi Phi, the island next to where “The Beach” with Leonardo diCaprio was shot. If you are now thinking about the quiet paradise island that you can see in the movie – forget it. The place was so crowded that it would be impossible to build another small shop on it and even though it was low season, the whole island was full of tourists. At night the beach turned into a dance floor and you had to keep a distance of at least 70 meters to the bars to be able to have a normal conversation. If you are into partying, don’t mind being surrounded by other tourists and want to spend a couple of Baht more on food & accommodation compared to other places in Thailand (we stayed at the Harmony House and paid 400 Baht per night for a very basic room with bathroom, fan and cold water), Koh Phi Phi is THE place to be. However, even if you’re not a party person, Koh Phi Phi offers beautiful scenery and if you charter a boat for a daytrip you can go to less crowded but still very beautiful beaches.

On Saturday we all went on such a trip and it was definitely worth the 250 Baht we paid for it. First we went to another island and spend some time at the beach. We could also go snorkeling; however you could hardly see anything (i.e. nothing at all) due to the recent rainfall and the rough sea. Hanging out at the beach and playing in the water was lots of fun though. Afterwards we went cliff jumping and some of the asiaexchange students were brave enough to try it… I wasn’t one of them. In the late afternoon we arrived back in Koh Phi Phi.

That evening Sairozi and I had a nice dinner at the beach to celebrate our 3^rd anniversary. Even on Koh Phi Phi we could find a quiet place and we had a wonderful evening. The next day it was already time to return to Phuket, because the following day university started.

Phuket - orientation, accommodation and course selection

After lots of travelling we finally reached Phuket on September 27. Phuket welcomed us with heavy rain that wouldn't stop for days. But luckily Gerard, who I met on facebook, offered to pick us up at the airport and drive us to the university, because he had brought his wife to the airport the same afternoon. He runs a business renting out motorcycles in Phuket so the first thing we did was getting a motorcycle. It cost us 2,500 Baht (around 65 Euros) per month including 2 helmets.
Gerard and the other asiaexchange students recommended us the Ormthong hotel for the first couple of nights. It's located within 10 minutes walking distance of the university (2 minutes from Baan Maksong, another accommodation option) and costs 500 Baht per night (1 room/2 people). The rooms are quite large with fridge, aircon, TV, internet, hot water and a small balcony. After the first night we decided to stay there for the entire month which costs us 7,000 Baht plus water and electricity. So far I'm glad that I've made this decision, because the staff has been very friendly and when we had problems with the internet they did their best to fix it as fast as possible.


The next two days I was busy attending the asiaexchange orientation. Unfortunately, I had missed the first two days when the important stuff was discussed, so I had to figure things out on my own. Luckily, the other students were very friendly and helpful, so in the end it wasn't too difficult to e.g. buy the school uniform or get the fotos for the student ID taken.
I also had to change some of the courses that I selected because Human Resource Management was at the same time as two of the other classes I intended to take and International Economics wasn't offered at all. In the end I decided to take the following classes: Marketing, Strategic Management, International Business and Thai language.

Singapore

After we had collected our visas on Friday we decided to visit Sairozi’s aunt in Singapore. On Saturday we went to KL Sentral to buy our tickets. Two 2^nd class tickets for the 6 hours journey from KL Sentral to Woodlands ciq cost us 68 ringgit (34 each). We also bought the return tickets at KL Sentral because tickets bought in Singapore are more expensive than those bought in Malaysia (even though for the same train!!). It’s also more expensive to start your journey in Woodlands, Singapore (34 Singapore Dollars/ 88 ringgit/ 20 Euro) than in Johor Bahru, Malaysia (33 ringgit/ 8 Euro). That’s why we bought our return ticket from Johor Bharu to KL Sentral. We took the night train at 11pm and reached Singapore in the morning at around 6.30am. The train station in Singapore is located right next the border to Malaysia so we had to take a bus and the LRT to go into town which took around 40 minutes.

Sairozi’s aunt met us at the LRT station and took us to her employer’s house. We received a very warm welcome and they had already prepared some maps, public transportation tickets and even food (Sushi… yummy!) for us. Then we headed into town to see Marina Bay. However, it was a bit difficult to go around the city because the Formula 1 race was held in Singapore that evening so many roads had been closed. Luckily, we still managed to find our way thanks to the security staff that was everywhere around the F1 track. Singapore and Marina Bay left a very good impression. It was extremely modern, clean and everything was well-organized. In the evening we went back to meet Sairozi's aunt and have dinner together. She had prepared some delicious Chinese-Indonesian food for us. Unfortunately we only had one day to visit Singapore because the next day we already returned to Kuala Lumpur to catch our flight the following day.

Kuala Lumpur visa run

On September 21 it was time to leave China for Malaysia. Even though I enjoyed staying in China, I couldn’t wait to board the plane to Kuala Lumpur and finally meet Sairozi :D But before I could go onboard I had one last “China experience”. When the immigration officer checked my passport, all of a sudden his computer said something like: “Bitte warten sie einen Moment, Ihre Unterlagen werden geprüft.” It was difficult not to burst out laughing (that would have been really embarrassing), but I couldn’t suppress a giggle. Who would have thought there were German speaking immigration computers in Hangzhou?? Certainly not me!

The flight took about 4.5 hours and at 7.10pm I arrived in Kuala Lumpur. Sairozi was already waiting for me. We then took the shuttle bus from Kuala Lumpur airport (LCC-T) to KL Sentral which takes around 1 hour and costs between 8-9 ringgit (2 Euros). KL Sentral is the main train station in Kuala Lumpur and from there we only had to take the LRT to Pasar Seni (1 station) to reach our accommodation. We stayed in the Le Village Guesthouse (Jl. Tun H. S. Lee 99, 50000 Kuala Lumpur) which is one of the cheapest places in KL (double room for 35-40 ringgit/ less than 10 Euros for 2 people).

The next day we had to arrange our visas for Thailand. We took bus no. 79 to Jalan Ampang (1.5 ringgit) which took around 30-40 minutes due to heavy traffic. The Thai embassy receives visa applications from 9.30-11.30am and you can pick up your visa the following working day between 14.30 and 15.30. After our visa application we decided to walk back to our hostel and do a little bit o sightseeing. We went to the Petronas Twin Towers, visited Pasar Seni (art market) and did some shopping in Chinatown. Afterwards we enjoyed some delicious Malaysian food for dinner. On our must-eat list are: “Nasi briyani ayam”, “roti canai”, “nasi lemak”, "penyet" and to drink “teh tarik”.

Shanghai

After the summer university had ended, some of the students decided to visit Shanghai before returning to Germany. Since my flight to Kuala Lumpur departs from Hangzhou, which is only 1-2 hours by train from Shanghai, and the weather was getting colder in Qingdao, I joined them. On Sunday morning we took the train and after a pleasant 6.30 hours journey we finally arrived. The first impression of the city was very good… 26 degrees! The hostel we stayed in turned out to be more like a hotel and it was definitely one of the best (if not THE best) hostel I’ve ever stayed at. It’s called “Shanghai City Central International Youth Hostel” and room rates start from 60 RMB. It’s located within 5 minutes walking distance to the Cao Yang subway station (line 4).

The next morning I went to Huangpu bus station, from where a daily shuttle bus to Xiaoshang airport (Hangzhou) leaves. The ticket cost me 100 RMB, which is a little bit more expensive than taking the train, but has the advantage that Huangpu bus station is located right next to the Nanppu bridge subway station (line 4), which means I didn’t have to change lines (which can be quite a hassle due to the lack of elevators in some stations). The shuttle bus takes around 3 hours to Xiaoshang airport and drops you right at the international departure terminal.

After I had purchased the bus ticket I went to Shanghai’s main tourist attraction – the Bund! I went there at 5 pm to take some photos of the skyline while it was not dark yet. Then I went for dinner in a nice and small restaurant, where only Chinese were eating. The food was quite cheap compared to other places in that area (even though pretty expensive if you compare it to other cities in China). But 15 RMB got me a great dinner… at least that’s what I thought then. At 6.30 pm the sun had set and I went back to the Bund to take more photos of the skyline at night. It’s amazing how different the place looks at day and night.

Pretty exhausted I decided to return to the hostel, but somehow my “not-so-good-anymore dinner” didn’t like that plan and got me desperately looking for the nearest restroom. Luckily I was well equipped with the most important thing that everyone needs to bring when travelling in China… tissues! It’s fairly easy to find a restroom but 99,9% of them don’t have any toilet paper. So always have some tissues in your pocket. What’s even better are “German quality tissues” (deutsche Qualitätstaschentücher) which soon became a rare good in Qingdao. In the end of the summer university they traded 1:4 against Chinese tissues.

On my last day in China I went to an underground “fake” market (of course, the shop owners insisted that their products were not fake at all). “Wanna buy a watch? Rolex? Cheap, CHEAP!”, “Chopsticks only 40 RMB (4,2 Euro… that’s more expensive than in Germany!), very cheap!” … even though it got quite exhausting at the market I still had fun and got some great bargains. It might be a good idea to bring a friend though, because having someone on your side when 4 shopkeepers are yelling at you simultaneously can be very helpful…

Jinan, Taishan and Qufu

After having studied Chinese for 2,5 weeks a reward was waiting for us. This weekend we went on our 4 day trip to Jinan, Taishan and Qufu. On Friday we left for Jinan which is the capital city of Shandong province. Even though we didn't spend much time there we had quite a lot of fun, because a meeting between the participants of the summer university and local students had been organized. After they showed us their university and had some singing performances we had a large "hot pot" dinner together. It was super-delicious and the Chinese students were lots of fun. The next day we left early to climb the Taishan mountain. It's a holy mountain with lots of shrines and temples. But before we could visit the temples 2 hours, approximately 1 million stairs and even more Chinese tourists awaited us. But it was definitely worth climbing all the way to the top of the mountain as you can see on the picuters.

Our final destination was Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius. We stayed at a nice traditional chinese-style hotel which was located right next to the Confucius temple. The temple was really nice but unfortunately I didn't learn much about the history of that place due to our tour guide. In the beginning I thought he was speaking Chinese but when I asked a Chinese friend what he was saying she told me that she had no clue either... because what had sounded like Chinese was supposed to be English! It could have been a nice tour but since I didn't understand a word of what he was trying to tell us it got really boring in the end. Afterwards we went to Confucius' grave which was a really cool place. It's in the middle of a huge graveyard where only his family members are buried. The place could have been out of a horror movie cause it had a really eerie atmosphere. It's definitely worth visiting!

Qingdao

After two weeks of studying Chinese and exploring Qingdao I have more than enough to write about in my blog. Even before the summer university had officially started, we were brought to the beer festival in Qingdao. As a group of Bavarian students who are used to the Oktoberfest in Munich it was great fun. But before we got our well-deserved "Tsingtao" beer (which also comes with pineapple flavour!)we had to walk in a small parade. However, we didn't get too much attention since we were walking right behind a group of Brasilian dancers who wore less than I'd wear on the beach! Needless to say that (not only) the male audience loved them. Another interesting thing about the beer festival was that they were selling beer in plastic bags! Unfortunately some people had a little too much of that beer and I got quite annoyed with two Chinese guys who wanted to invite me for a drink. Even after refusing for at least 5 times they wouldn't accept it. So in the end I was really happy when we finally left.

 After the weekend our Chinese classes finally started. The 3,5 hours reminded me of a singing class, cause we had to repeat the four different tones at least 50 times... ma, ma, ma, ma! And now, after having studied Chinese for 1,5 weeks I still have problems with distinguishing the different tones, but it's getting better.

When I'm not studying or sleeping (both of this takes most of my time) I go into town shopping or visit the beach. At first I was surprised by the prices here in China, cause in the malls everything is just as expensive here as it is in Germany. However, when we visited the night market, I could finally makes some great bargains. I bought a dress and a thin jacket for around 8 Euros (together). I think that the clothes here in China look a lot better than in Germany. It's so easy here to find a beautiful dress or skirt... the only problem is that I'd have to lose at least 5 kg to fit into most of them :(

Beijing

Last week I finally left Germany to attend the BayChina summer university in Qingdao. However, before my classes began I had two days to explore China's capital Beijing. I stayed with three friends in the Happy Dragon Hostel, which is a nice and affordable place. The staff was very helpful and their English was quite good too. For a bed in a four bed dormitory we paid 80 yuan (around 8 Euro). The hostel was quite close to the Dongsi subway station so we could easily go around the city. The first day we visited the forbidden city (palace museum, entrace fee 60 yuan). The whole area was larger than I expected but what impressed me the most were the people. We were surrounded by thousands of Chinese tourists and I think I have never seen that many people in one place before.
For the next day I had booked a tour to the great wall. My hostel offered different packages starting from 180 yuan until 260 yuan. The cheaper tour was to the Badaling wall and included shopping. This part of the wall can also be reached by public transportation which is a lot cheaper than taking a tour. Some friends of mine visited this place and said that it's full of tourists and that it's quite difficult to get a nice picture of the wall without heaps of people. I decided to visit the Mutianyu wall (260 yuan). This part of the great wall is further away from Beijing and there are less tourists. For me it was the right decision. The wall was not too crowded and the landscape in that area was breathtaking.



The next day I had to leave Beijing to catch the train to Qingdao were the summer university will be held. My hostel had booked the ticket for me and I paid 250 yuan for the 5.30 h long journey. The train was new, the seats very comfortable and all trains were on time. The only difficulty was that noone spoke English. But I arrived early at the train station so I had enough time to figure things out. After this experience I can really recommend taking the train in China.