My Post-China Diary in 2007

Originally from Secondary 2 Shanghai Scrapbook. 
(We had to make a scrapbook post trip, and I remember that I totally forgotten about it. So when I was in school I called my mum for help. On the phone, I told her to switch on my (Windows 98) computer and find the folder which already contains the chosen photos, transfer it into a thumbdrive and print the photos for me. I think I printed 100 photos for SGD$40? I selected 100 photos that I wanted to go through again later, but I didn't have time so I had no choice but to ask my mum to print everything.

Page One:
当初我真想去北京，结果投票后上海明显胜出了。我内心感到很失望。但上海出乎我意料之中。那儿又好玩，天气又凉爽。回到新加坡后得知北京的温度竟然高达 35度！天啊！我好幸运啊，我可不想变成 ？呢！(There's a missing word here. 烧猪？)

我们（从新加坡）搭了凌晨1点的飞机。（在飞机上）从窗口往下看，天空实在好看极了！我们在飞机上睡觉，吃早餐。到了上海已差不多是7点钟了。我们收好行李箱，第一次和导游碰面。他姓张，名叫凯凯。

Picture of a blanket of clouds taken from the plane window.


细香葱蛋包以（及）鸡肉香肠，番茄和嫩马铃薯。

Picture of breakfast on the plane.

凯凯带我们到机场的肯德基吃东西。接着，搭了旅游巴士到了上海博物馆。在博物馆看到了各种中国艺术品，精品之类等等。如：中国古代陶，青铜，少数名族工艺等。

Picture of the Shanghai Museum.

到了高桥石化宾馆，我们换成校服，吃过午餐才由巴士带大伙儿到竹园中学交流。我很紧张也很兴奋，不知道和对方能否沟通。
踏进校门口的第一时刻，我们一瞬间感受到竹园中学的热情。认识了最后第二天要在他（她）家住一夜的同学。她的名字叫陈咏纤。我们交换礼物，她给了我自己写的书法，我呢给她一盒巧克力。(I think it was chocolates that were shaped like the merlion)
班里的同学为我鼓掌，我差点儿呆住了幸好及时反应，向老师行礼。

Two blurry pictures of the school taken from the Internet because I didn't print any.

就如在新加坡一样，吃完早餐便到竹园中学上了 5 小时的课。然后我们抵达城隍庙。最令我们整班兴奋不已的是小笼包！我和朋友到了第二楼买小笼包。
你看！16粒＝18人民币！
比在新加坡买到的便宜许多！小笼包以外，我们也叫了一人一碗鸡丝汤。

逛啊逛，看到了许多吸引人的东西。但时间有限，买到的样儿也不多。既然有人买臭豆腐！我还不赶快尝尝。

Picture of 2 baskets of Xiao Long Bao. One basket has 16 pieces.
Picture of the small bowl of soup with shreds of pan-fried egg.

Picture of me wearing a straw hat and eating a piece of smelly toufu on the bus. I remember the picture was taken by Pearlyna. 

晚上，凯凯带领大家来到东方明珠。下车后，天气和下午完全不同。好冷呀！东方明珠外貌壮观，闪闪的灯光带有非常特别的吸引力。在外头拍了几张照片然后就得进去了。东方明珠电视塔有468米那么高。是亚洲第一，世界第三。

Picture of me and Pearlyna with the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower in the background.
Picture of me, Pearlyna, Jiaye and Clara with the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower in the background.

这就是我在主光层拍下的景色。

Picture of the night view from the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower observation deck.

早餐就在上海解决，接着就开时到（开始）苏州的路程。苏州的天气与上海的大有分别。这里就像比较凉爽一点的新加坡。半路，经过了和谐园区。听说他们是代表和谐的铜像。
到了虎丘，我们和新导游碰面。他叫 Jay Chou.

午餐后我们游览寒山寺，它现为佛教活动。
这棵树应该是给（祈求的人，他们先）在红纸上把愿望写下来然后泡（抛）上去希望愿望成真。

Picture of Clara, Jiaye, Pearlyna and me in front of Han Shan Si.

Picture of the tree with multiple red paper stuck on it.

早上的第一个地点是苏州最出名的丝绸厂。因为是早上，所以没几个人影。那天很特别，每个人都只能购买最多三件丝绸。Jay Chou 向我们详细讲解蚕成长的过程。我们到处参观，看看丝绸是如何制作和形成的。

Pictures of multiple processing of silk at the factory. E.g. silk balls boiling in water.
(Thinking back, I'm still quite surprised that they allowed us to walk around ourselves, it really was like a factory and the equipment were all in use.)

这是蚕宝宝所吃的叶子。

Picture of leaves.

午餐吃得饱饱地，游览乌镇后继续到杭州的旅程。在上海和苏州之间，杭州的天气是最热的。离开了我们，又有一位新的导游。名叫？？
明清河坊街好多东西可以买呀。眼前的事物简直琳琅满目。听别人说，来杭州不买天堂伞等于没来过杭州。所以我也买了一把。杭州的羊肉是出了名的，我和朋友各买一串试一试。果然好吃！ (The mutton skewers were bought from the street vendor along the street and it was REALLY good. It was juicy and marinated and sprinkled with herbs like cumin.)

惨了！巴士抛锚了，结果大家得下车一起推。(I think this was quite ridiculous hahaha the bus really broke down, and we all got off the bus to push from behind while the bus driver started the car. Obviously a bunch of kids are not gonna be able to push the entire bus forward... We just got clouded in thick black smoke that emitted from the exhaust, that's all. In the end we had to walk to our destination which was just a couple hundred metres away?)

西湖之夜果然值得一看！表演者非常认真，杂技表演实在太精彩了！如果有机会的话，我一定会在观看一次！

Picture of the acrobat performance.

第五天了，早餐后游西湖，游船。下一个地点是龙井问茶。村长的女儿向我们讲解茶叶的材质，另外还能试喝。泡出来的茶很爽口，在舌头上留下干干的味道。(I think I meant 甘甜。)
龙井茶还有降低血压高的作用。

过后，前往上海。

Picture of Huang Pu Jiang. And a giant teapot in the river, pouring water out from its spout.

第六天！又要会（回）学校上课。上完课得游外滩，黄埔公园。然后游黄浦江。

放学了，书城游（有）七层楼高！逛了两个小时接着到南京路的步行街。我买了三片光碟加上一本英文书当时觉得很满意。但现在觉得那时候应该买多些。步行街什么也没有，只是吃了三块猪肉白菜饺子，味道和小笼包有点儿类似。一级棒！


已经是最后第二天了也是 xiè chéng (Nicholas) 的生日。凯凯买了一个很的（大？小？）的蛋糕庆祝。除此之外，这一天跟其他天大有不同。放学之后便要和你的拍档回家去。我和咏纤搭了德士，我发现德士司机的周围有一片塑胶盖子。原来这是以免打劫。到了她家，感觉真的很奇怪。因为她的妈妈还在烧饭所以我便跟她到楼下的公园散步。途中见识到抓鱼的技巧。那些鱼儿跳啊跳，好像充满了活力似的。他的父母亲不断的叫我多吃，其实我已经很饱了！离开之前，咏纤给我一个妈妈自己亲手串的（礼物。把）珠子串成一个盒子，可以装卫生纸。

我一夜没睡好。因为担心自己起不来，所以不敢入睡。早餐好丰富啊！有鸡蛋，蛋糕，点心，热牛奶，饺子等等。吃的我肚子都肿（？！）了起来。咏纤，她的爸爸还有我一起搭德士到学校去。下车后就告别了对方。=(

Picture of the entire class in front of the Han Shan Si wall. I'm seated on the floor in the middle with my legs sprawled out in front and I remember my mum chided me for doing that because it makes my legs look shorter.

Gastric Flu/Viral Gastroenteritis...

WARNING: This post contains a lot of words like nauseous, vomit, and diarrhea.


What is gastric flu?
The viruses that cause gastroenteritis are spread in several ways, including:

1) eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated.

2) Touching surfaces or objects that are contaminated and then placing their hand in their mouth.

3) Having direct contact with another person who is infected and showing symptoms (e.g. when caring for someone with illness, or sharing foods or eating utensils with someone who is ill).
---


Never did I expect that it would be gastric flu, in my mind I only suspected indigestion and food poisoning.

Tuesday Night/Midnight

The first symptoms began on the night of 28th February (Tuesday). I had had dinner with my sister at a cafe near City Hall mrt and we returned home after. However I didn't wash up and rest immediately upon reaching home. I used the computer till late (about 2am?) before going to shower and prepare for bed. But that was when I felt the symptoms coming. Before, I was so engrossed in watching 2 Days 1 Night that I didn't notice any other discomfort in my body besides feeling rather thirsty. It was only when I decided that it was terribly late and I needed to shower when I realised that my stomach was super bloated and I was terribly thirsty and when I stood up I immediately felt giddy and slightly nauseous.

Thinking it was indigestion, I got my things and headed to the bathroom. Took a shit (a normal one) and I hoped that all the discomfort would go away soon since I unloaded myself. But nahhh it just got worse!

I hoped that it was indigestion so I drank some water, popped a probiotic and tried to get some rest.

I did not get a good night's rest.


Wednesday

I was slipping in and out of sleep most of the time and whenever I was conscious I could feel the pain creeping into my stomach and I just wanted to escape the pain so I kept sleeping until I couldn't sleep anymore and woke up at around 1pm.

I felt terrible but I knew I couldn't sleep any longer. My mouth was dry, the same symptoms I had the night before had worsened and I knew I had to get it out of my system. So I went to the nearest bathroom and had diarrhea.

Then I went over to the other bathroom to wash up and when I was cleaning my tongue, I had that gag reflex and I knew it was coming, I held it back just enough to rinse the toothpaste out of my mouth and wash my toothbrush before letting it all out over the toilet bowl.

It was disgusting. It's more disgusting when you haven't puked in a long time and you have forgotten how it feels like. It's even more disgusting when you smell your own puke and you feel like puking even more.

Smells like food from last night...

Immediately, like legit immediately after puking, my stomach eased up and my nausea lightened. I thought I was going to be all right from then on but apparently not.

From past experiences, usually if it's food poisoning, the main symptoms would have gone away once you have pooped and vomited the bad stuff out but this time round I remain status quo.

I was dizzy and nauseous and couldn't stand straight because the moment I stood straight, I felt like I was going to puke. Of course, I had no appetite as well. So I forced myself to drink some water and laid on my bed.

Feeling nauseous is the worst feeling ever because you can't stand up, you can't walk around and you can't lie flat down as well. I had to lie in a 30 degree position and my mind still continued to swirl.

Still suspecting that it was indigestion I told my mum about it and she gave me an indigestion pill. But it didn't work.

Despite being dizzy, nauseous and in pain, I even did some leg lifts and squats naively thinking that it would allow me to pass out the toxins in my body.

Every time I drank water, minutes later I had to poop but it was always a lot of gas and liquid.
So I felt like maybe I had to eat to be able to form solids and get things out of my system. I didn't know what to eat, nothing at home seemed easy to digest but I know I shouldn't ingest dairy so I settled on a small apple.

I can't remember the sequences of the day clearly anymore but my mum gave me another pill and I remember eating a banana for dinner.

But I was tired of the repeated diarrhea and nauseating feeling. I could feel like there was something existing in the middle of my chest and my stomach... So I purged and gave myself another round of puking session.


Thursday

I know my mum kept checking in on me. Somehow I wasn't really resting. Every time there was movement in my room like her coming in to touch my face or to open my windows or to ask my questions I would open my eyes. When I finally did wake up and my entire torso was in pain. I think that was the scariest part because I've experienced nauseousness before but not such pain in my torso.

It didn't feel like a stomach ache, it felt like my intestines were aching too. I was also having a back ache and it also didn't feel like a surface ache, it was a dull pain. I googled and pretty much started scaring myself because the net states it might be virus in my kidneys.

I couldn't lie down, I couldn't sit up, I couldn't stand. No matter what I did, it just hurts so bad. It's like the entire area below my chest has cramped up. Like someone punched me repeatedly and it's all aching and bruised. It has already been going on for 1.5 days so decided I'm going to see the doctor.

I washed up, changed quickly and walked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame to the clinic downstairs, my fists were clenched in my pants' pockets.

"Gastric flu." The doctor said after I told him all my symptoms. He checked my temperature, "And a slight fever, 37.5 degree Celcius." I was a bit doubtful when he diagnosed me so quickly and also dismissed it as indigestion or food poisoning. But he was the doctor I went to since I was a kid, so of course I do believe him.

Famotin (gastric)
Dhamotil (diarrhea)
Dimenate (Vomit/giddiness)
Allumag to chew (stomach acid)
Panamol (fever)

Damage: $40

The first few medicines that I took after getting home was the... famotin, dimenate and allumag... (memory getting blurry).

It didn't kick in immediately of course, so I laid back and waited for the effects to come. But it didn't really give me much comfort. 15 minutes later I took the Panamol and the dhamotil. I think the Panamol worked it's magic? I'm not sure but somehow after waking up again, all my pain was gone. I could finally walk normally.

The doc says I could only eat soft foods so my mum cooked oats for me. And I ate that on my bed before slumping back onto my pillow.

I think my mum came back in after to feed me more medicines because it was a 6 hourly time belt thing but I know I woke up at 7ish for dinner. More oats~

After dinner I just craved for so many savoury and spicy foods. Instead of being burdensome, it was quite a relieve though because the previous day everything I smelt or think about was revolting. I remember sitting in the toilet and the smell of sweet and sour pork wafted into the toilet window and I wanted to puke. It just didn't sit in well with my nauseousness.


Friday

I woke up feeling pretty healthy. Didn't feel any pain at all. It isn't easy to forget the experience I had but it really is so easy to forget how much pain I was in. Being able to get up feeling no pain at all is so normal that I can easily forget how much pain I was in for the past two days.

I had breakfast at 9ish, 10ish in the morning — vegetarian kway chap — I tried to eat little but maybe I still overate because after eating, the giddiness and nausea came back and I immediately regret slurping the last bit of kway.

I took the nausea pill and laid back down to sleep. The whole day consisted of sleeping and waking up and sleeping again with random toilet trips in between.

Mum and dad went grocery shopping nearby and came back home. That was when I woke up again at about 3pm. I felt hungry so I ate two digestive biscuits, breaking them into parts and nibbling on them.

Then I went to use the computer and it was soon dinner time.

At about 5.30pm, I was sitting at the coffee table having chau zhou fish porridge from downstairs. It's real comforting when you're sick. But I think I ate too much again? Either that or it's because I finished eating and I didn't walk around to aid the digestion but sat back in front of my computer because soon after I felt a dull cramp in my stomach again.

Irritated, I popped Famotin and walked around...

I really wish I can be fully well again tomorrow morning. I read online that usually gastric flu lasts about 1 to 2 days in adults. Why am I taking so long? Is it because I didn't see a doctor immediately and somehow the virus created more havoc in my body?

Urgh. I don't know. But. Yeah. #firsts. #pleaseneveragain.

P.S. According to the piece of information about gastric flu that I got off the net, it seems like I must have gotten it from somewhere or my hygiene was bad. To be honest I seriously suspect the cafe that my sister and I went to because that was the last thing that I ate. We had truffle fries, steak, baked cheese. Yeah a lot of food for 2 people, which was why I initially thought that I had indigestion! But I didn't like that place, it didn't feel clean enough. I don't know... trust your instincts?