My temperature in the morning was 38.7 degrees celcius and I was told to rest in my hotel room after breakfast until we left the hotel. We then headed to the Confucius Temple. Many of us had already fallen sick and so, some of them stayed in the bus. My temperature dropped a little, and I decided to go along with the class. It was raining heavily, so we walked around the temple with umbrellas.
The huge wall we saw in the temple had a picture of a dragon, which was seen as an auspicious animal by the people, in the body of a horse, with each leg carrying 'meaningful' items such as a scroll, a bottle (壶), a tusk with the word '王' on it and a jade. These items each have their meaning of why they were in the picture, for example, the scroll signifies education.
Also, it is believed that the left hand was more auspicious than the right, so in this picture, a soldier is holding his weapon in his left hand to fight.
Afterwards, we watched a 4D movie about the Confucius temple and its history. Every year on September 28, a ceremony with traditional music and stylish dancing is held at the temple in honour of Confucius, on his birthday. There were effects such as smoke being sprayed off from our seats and we totally enjoyed it. I also learnt that the Taipei Confucius Temple was built in 1879 during the Qing Dynasty when Taipei was established as the capital of Taiwan. When Japan occupied Taiwan as a colonial state, the temple was demolished. It was later rebuilt in 1930, to preserve the teachings of Confucius. I could not doze off in during the movie because of the effects such as air being blown at my calves from the bottom of my seat. Also, a strong gush of wind was blown against my face and my face felt watery! There was a part of the movie whereby there were 3 children going back to the past to receive the teachings of Confucius.
The visit taught me to be an upright and righteous person, and by learning some of Confucius' teachings, it taught me how to appreciate learning and education more. For example, '学无止境' means that there is no end to studying, and even to match up to Confucius' level of education is almost an impossible task, so we must out in our best to learn, as there is always more ahead for us to learn and discover.
When we left, we stopped by a pastry shop whereby I bought sun cakes and pineapple tarts. I could not try them as I was sick and had persistent coughing...
The next stop was Jinguashi, whereby there is a lot of gold displayed there. I did not go in because I was not feeling well, so as some of my classmates. We rested outside the museum. However, I asked Ming Han to help me take photographs of the gold in the museum. There were fine gold and even sponge gold where they were dug out from underground.
We then went to Chufen Old Street to buy some food to eat and also, to bring back to Singapore. Mr Chng and Ming Han, the first aider, accompanied me because I was not quite feeling well and also there was nowhere to rest. I bought some tea, cakes and souvenirs for my family and relatives back in Singapore. Chufen Old Street was a very long street high up in the high hills and we were at the same level as the low lying clouds. We then headed for dinner after 'shopping' at Chufen Old Street.
After dinner, my temperature had not dropped and we were flying off the next day. The teachers brought me and 2 other girls who were also sick, Xin Yi and Sze Min, to see a doctor and we took the medicine.
I slept early again... Hoping that I would recover in time for tomorrow's flight back home. We had to wake up at 4.30am for the 10am flight so we all had to sleep early.
I really want to thank my friends who have taken care of me while I was sick, especially Shi Rong because he took care of me the whole day, and also Ming Han and Wen Hao who were BRILLIANT first aiders. I feel that the way they took care of me could be part of my process of recovery (haha), and so I really want to thank them. From this, I can see that between friends, such friendship can be forged by helping or caring for each other. I hope that in the future, I can also help them out. :D
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