xXxYun JingxXx

Reflections:

Day 1:

Today, we gathered together at 1pm for the meetup before we proceeded into the boarding hall for departure, I was very excited.

At around 1.10pm, we all had checked in and were ready to board, though our flight would only depart at 3.30pm, the excitement was infectious.

The gates for the waiting hall before deaprture opened at exactly 1.30pm. We were getting more and more excited as the minute passed by. Me and my partner managed to be the first to get into the waiting hall.

Inside the waiting hall, we patiently waited for the boarding to commence.Some of us were looking and taking pictures and discussing about aircraft's physics.

The boarding commenced at nearly 3pm. We rushed ahead to board the plane when it was out turn. Soon we were all seated on the plane and waited eagerly for the departure of the plane.

At around 3.30pm, the plane (possibly) received permission to start the push back and taxi to the runway. I was very interested in this and watched the planes every movement on its wings. The slats and the flaps very extended for takeoff. And around 4 minutes after the commencation  of taxiing, the aircraft reached the start of the runway. By then, I estimated that we had taxiied about >4 kilometres.

After lining up with the runway, the plane started tbe takeoff roll 1 minute after. ~30 secs later, the plane successfully lifted off into the air.

I watched and waited eagerly adn eagerly to see the slats and flaps being retracted. After they retracted, we soon reached cruising altitude. The seat belt sign was off and we soon were served lunch. However, lunch was disrupted when there was a warning of a possible turbulence. I quickly finished up my remaining food and handing the tray to the flight attendant.

I spent most of the rest of the flight staring out of the window and monitoring the clouds.

The plane started descending at about 5.50pm. By 6pm we were nearing the airport and less than a minute later, we touched down at the airport.

We proceeded to collect our luggage and went out of the terminal with my partner. We met up with the tour guide and proceeded as a group to the restaurant for dinner. After that, we continued to the hotel.

Day 2:

Today, we woke up at 6+am upon hearing the wakeup call and the numerous alarms we had set the day before.

We showered quickly and changed before heading down to the restaurant for breakfast. I had a sumptuous and delicious breakfast of egg.

After the breakfast, we set off for the farm for the Royal Inthanon Project, aimed at researching more about farming and testing out different farming methods to improve the lives of farmers in Chiang Mai.

We took a 2 hour bus ride from our hotel to the Royal Inthanon Project. When we arrived at the farm, we started looking around and were fascinated by the huge plot of land dedicated to farming.

We could interact with some of the workers at the farm and learnt that the farm not only does research on the different farming methods but also produces crops that can be sold to the market.

I experienced the daily routine for a worker at the farm when we had to trek through the farm. The farm was establlished at the near-peak of a mountain, so we had problems trekking through the loose and uneven ground.

In this journey, I experienced how workers do their jobs at the farm learnt more about the history of Chaing Mai.

Day 3:

Today, we had an exciting day out as we were to team up with our Thai counterparts, to teach them how to operate and use a datalogger to test different nutrients in water samples we collected the day before.

We reached the school and were greeted and welcome heavily. We spent part of the morning listening to a presentation by our seniors and the welcoming speeches from both the director of the school and Ms Lee from our school.

After the speech, I proceeded to the chemistry lab with my Thailand counterpart and the rest of group B.

We first tested and worked on finding out how much calcium there was in the waterfall water collected yesterday. Our equipment seemed to encounter loads of problems and the results only returned 0.

We tried out the nitrate testing with another set of equipment and found that there were SOME results.

Thereafter, we went for lunch.

After lunch, we went back to the school to swap places with the other group of students and teach our Thai counterparts how to use and operate  the Arduino.

My Thai counterpart(s) could quickly grasp hold of how the Arduino works and were soon working into projects 10, 11 and 14.

I was surprised that they could grasp the technique of building a circuit and testing out their own little inventions.

Day 4:

Today was the last day we will spending at Yupparaj Wittayalai School.
It is also the last night we will be having in Chiang Mai. Tomorrow, we will set off for the airport and fly back to Singapore.

Today was an interesting day. We were briefed that we had to follow the Thailand counterparts to different temples to find out which factors affect the growth of the Lichen.

We found that the Chedis at the temple had a lot of Lichens and the side which had the most Lichen was the south side as it was exposed to most sunlight.

We also checked the surface material of the Chedi as the Chedi was made out of different kinds of materials which some did not house any Lichens.

In the end, we concluded that the Lichen grow best in damp conditions with sufficient amounts of nutrients in the material they grow on.

We learnt quite a lot during the outdoor expedition as we didn't know how useful Lichens could be in testing out the quality of the air.

After the outdoor trip, we went back to Yupparaj Wittalayai School and they taught us how to prepare and cook two different types of dishes.

I went over to learn how to make fried noodles. The lesson was understandable and interesting. After a short demonstration, we could try and cook our own fried noodles.

I managed to whip up a bowl of interesting noodles that the seniors tried(stole) it.

This is a new experience as SST do not integrate home economics as one of the subjects. We don't usually cook our own food in Singapore, so we were slightly stumped when we started. However, the instructors were very patient with us as we made errors in the cooking and corrected them slowly. Getting to taste our own cooking versus eating food that other people cook is different as we have to put our own effort and time to cook a simple dish, whereas compared to taking for granted what other people cook for us to eat.

Having said that today is the last day we will be spending with our counterparts at Yupparaj Wittayalai School, we have prepared a gift back in Singapore to give to them when it was almost time to leave. We took photos with each other and exchanged gifts and facebook accounts.

Soon it was time to leave the school, though we really enjoyed ourselves, all good things come to an end. We left the school, waving at our new-made friends.

We promised to willingly welcome them to our school and host them well if they visited singapore.

Ideation for possible projects:

1. Crops growing at different altitudes

Try to recreate weather conditions at different altitudes
Allow plants to survive in the conditions recreated
Measure the growth of the plant

The plant with the most growth will indicate that the plant at that altitude is the most suitable.

2. Traffic congestion

Main Cause: Excessive traffic entering Chaing Mai

Required items:
Raspberry Pi with camera
Lots of programmers

Possible solutions to problem:
Install cameras at hotspots to track traffic conditions
Use many programs that allow detection of cars
Automatic change traffic light signals with the flow of traffic

Events in detail at Yupparaj Wittayalai School:

Outdoor expedition:
We left tne school and walked to a nearby temple and checked out the Chedis at the temple. We found that Lichens were prosperous on the Chedis. We reviewed the direction of light, humidity, and whether the material used to make the Chedis were factors in the growth of Lichens.
We found out that the sides which face the east and west had the most number of Lichens growing on them. The area at the Chedi was damp and wet, and our hypothesis was that the Lichens made use of the water in the pores of the Chedi to survive.


Cooking class:
First we observed a seasoned chef teacher explaining to us the steps in cooking fried noodles. The noodles had to be soaked in water for a period of time to soften and give it a better texture when cooked.
Then, we could give a try to cooking our own noodles. Though the instructor made it look easy, it was still quite complicated. The steps were hard to follow as we had to follow a strict time limit to cook a perfect dish. The wok was also heavy and bulky. Heat was also a barrier. The fire was blown by the wind and the heat of the fire made my hand feel scorched.

3 comments:

  1. About Chiang Mai:
    Chiang Mai (Thai: เชียงใหม่ [tɕʰiəŋ màj] ( listen), Northern Thai: ᨩ᩠ᨿᨦᩉ᩠ᨾᩲ᩵ [tɕiəŋ màj]) sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. It is the capital of Chiang Mai Province, a former capital of the Kingdom of Lanna (1296–1768) and was the tributary Kingdom of Chiang Mai from 1774 until 1939. It is located 700 km (435 mi) north of Bangkok, among the highest mountains in the country. The city is along the Ping River, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya River. Chiang Mai means "new city" and was so-named because it was the new capital, founded in 1296, succeeding Chiang Rai (founded 1262) in the capital of the Lanna kingdom.
    In recent years, Chiang Mai has become an increasingly modern city and has been attracting over 5 million visitors each year, of which between 1.4 million and 2 million are foreign tourists (depending on the year).[citation needed]
    Chiang Mai gained prominence in the political sphere in May 2006, when the Chiang Mai Initiative was concluded here between theASEAN nations and the "+3" countries (China, Japan, and South Korea). Chiang Mai was one of three Thai cities contending for Thailand's bid to host the World Expo 2020 (the others were Chon Buri and Ayutthaya).[1] However, Ayutthaya was the city chosen by the Thai Parliament to register for the international competition.[2][3]
    It has also recently positioned itself to become a Creative City, and is considering applying for Creative City Status with UNESCO.[4]Chiang Mai is one of two tourist destinations in Thailand on TripAdvisor's list of "25 Best Destinations in the World", where it stands in place 24.[5]
    Chiang Mai's historic importance is derived from its close proximity to the Ping River and major trading routes.[6][7][8]
    While officially the city (thesaban nakhon) of Chiang Mai only covers most parts of the Mueang Chiang Mai district with a population of 160,000, the urban sprawl of the city now extends into several neighboring districts. This Chiang Mai Metropolitan Area has a population of nearly one million people, more than half the total of Chiang Mai Province.
    The city is subdivided into four wards (khwaeng): Nakhon Ping, Srivijaya, Mengrai, and Kawila. The first three are on the west bank of the Ping River, and Kawila is located on the east bank. Nakhon Ping district comprises the north side of the city. Srivijaya, Mengrai, and Kawila consist of the west, south, and east respectively. The city center—within the city walls—is mostly within Srivijaya ward.[9]

    King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai (meaning "new city") in 1296 on the location of an older city of the Lawa people called Wiang Nopburi.[10][11] Chiang Mai succeeded Chiang Rai as the capital of the Lanna kingdom. The ruler was known as the Chao. The city was surrounded by a moat and a defensive wall, since nearbyBurma was a constant threat as well as the armies of the Mongol Empire which only decades earlier had conquered most of Yunnan, China, and in 1292 overran the bordering Thai Lü kingdom of Chiang Hung.[6] With the decline of the Lanna Kingdom, the city lost importance and was occupied by the Burmese in 1556.[12]Chiang Mai formally became part of Siam in 1775 by an agreement with ChaoKavila, after the Thai King Taksin helped drive out the Burmese. Because of the Burmese counterattacks, Chiang Mai was abandoned between 1776 and 1791.[13]Lampang then served as the capital of what remained of Lanna. Chiang Mai then slowly grew in cultural, trading and economic importance to its current status as the unofficial capital of northern Thailand, second in importance only to Bangkok.[14]
    The modern municipality dates to a sanitary district (sukhaphiban) that was created in 1915. This was upgraded to a municipality (thesaban) on March 29, 1935, as published in the Royal Gazette, Book No. 52 section 80. First covering just 17.5 km2 (7 sq mi), the city was enlarged to 40.216 km2 (16 sq mi) on April 5, 1983.[15]

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  2. Or, you can go:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai

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  3. Hi yun Jin !
    I'm Mill. We were in the same group in the experiments. I hope you can remember me. I'm the one who observed you guys and did experiments with you. We got some problems,but I really enjoyed to do experiments. I was very surprised with your talents. Thank you for teach and visit us.
    Hope to see you again :3

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