Shippies Take China - CSIV 2017

Our final day in China. And what a day it's been! After our social activities last night, bright eyed and bushy tailed is not an expression I would use to describe my course mates in any capacity! However, with all due credit, we all managed to attend breakfast, eat something, get packed and get downstairs in time to get the coach. The coach took us to the same University we went to yesterday, HUST, where we were to get involved in some practical activities. Our first stop was the towing tank that the University use. Now I feel at this point I should clear something up about Southampton's very own towing tank. Yes we have one. It's 136m long. Yes the wave machine works. No, it doesn't tow anything because the motors haven't been delivered yet. So back to HUST's towing tank. It's 175(ish)m long, and does tow things, albeit at a slower rate than Boldrewood will do, with a top speed of 8m/s (Boldrewood will do 12m/s). We all climbed on board the carriage a...

Day 10 has been our penultimate day in China, and it was a good one. We started off at HUST, another University who were keen to show us their facilities. We firstly split down into two groups, so that we could see the facilities better. My group was taken to the ship simulator, which was a room with some ship-style control devices, a hole in the wall, and beyond the wall a large screen with what looked like some very misaligned projectors showing a container ship. However, it soon transpired that these were actually showing a 3D display, and when handed 3D glasses we could see how much clearer the simulation was, particularly with regards to depth perception. Just behind this screen there was a small motor and rudder assembly, so that engineering officers could work on the simulator at the same time as the bridge crew, with the same hands-on level of experience. We then saw a 6 degrees-of-freedom machine, that allows researchers to manipulate anything in controlled circumstances t...

Day 9 commenced with a visit to the WUT University, who were the key partners in making this entire trip possible. We first had a formal welcome, where we all sat in a conference room and were talked to about how both parties were grateful that the trip took place. Amongst the numerous faces, it was quite clear to spot that there was one professor from WUT who was not Chinese; indeed upon hearing him speak it was apparent that he was Welsh! This was Prof Price, originally from UoS, and a colleague of Prof Tan! We were then taken around certain facilities, including their engine room simulator (with actual engines!), small bridge simulator, and their driving simulator. As Ship Science students, you may not think that we'd be very interested in a driving simulator, however seeing our friends attempt to drive in a manner akin to the Chinese drivers we have seen, and then end up catastrophically careering off a cliff into the unending abyss below, certainly had its appeals. Side...

The previous night, prior to going to bed, we were posed a question, which was phrased "Who would like to go on a tour of the city tomorrow morning?". Around 5 people raised their hands. This then somehow led to the decision that we should all go on the tour, much to the chagrin of those of us who were looking forward to the first and only lie-in of the trip! The tour itself was less of a tour, more of a stop-off at a local pagoda-style building. This one was originally built in the Ming Dynasty, but was then demolished, and rebuilt in 2012. After (many) obligatory group photos, we were allowed entry to the building. Whilst it was only built 5 years ago, it did feel slightly ancient, and when viewing the nearby mountains and city from the observation platforms, it was obvious why the pagoda was built in that location. We then headed off to the airport, where we boarded a flight to Wuhan. The flight was uneventful, with the exception of those unfortunate to be sitting near...

Day 7 - "Set a goal, never say no"  The day began, as it has done on a number of occasions now, with getting up early so that we could have breakfast and get ready to go to the CIMC Raffles shipyard. One thing that has surprised me for most of this trip, is how well we're coping, as students, with getting up really early, having long days, and then going to bed late on mattresses as hard as rocks! I think the time difference does help, which is why I have a feeling that upon return to the UK we shall transition back into student mode, and struggle to wake up yet again! Our first stop was at the CIMC Raffles Offshore Engineering R&D building, which is a large glass structure about 30km from the shipyard. Once there, they showed us many models of the various different rigs and ships they've produced, and gave detailed explanations about each type. It was very useful to be able to see a 3D model whilst the particular rig was being talked about, as we could use it t...

Day six of the CSIV experience began with a nice early start (earlier for some than others though) in order to board the coach for a nice trip to the airport so we could catch our next flight. The coach journey was uneventful, or as I should say, as uneventful as Chinese driving can be! Upon arrival at our next airport, we made our way to Weihai, a sweet coastal city with a delightful beach. As you can imagine, by this point we have all been wanting a proper chance to unwind, and so the free time given to us to explore the city and relax was extremely welcome. Afternoon activities included: swimming in the sea (no heavy industry nearby so we thought we'd risk it!), football, sunbathing, hole digging, people burying, escapology (from aforementioned hole) and some minor incidences of drinking. The hole was relatively deep! We then decided some food was in order, and so headed into town and found a nice restaurant that seemed to serve nice food. Unbeknownst to us, this was a...

Day five of the trip brought with it the long-awaited trip(s) to the Great Wall. Being woken  at 6:30   by an alarm is bad enough, but being woken   at 5:30  by one of our course mates pretending to be a banshee, and then inviting us on a walk, is not an enjoyable experience. Having no educational experiences planned for the day, we became full-on tourists, as evidenced by the numerous bum-bags and cameras that were carried by us all. Our first stop was the point where the Great Wall begins, where it stretches around 7m into the sea (at high tide, at low tide there is exposed land between the sea and the wall, but not much). This area was also very tourist-y, hence why we had to get to the site at an early time. The site itself was rather large, as the Chinese tourism board clearly realised the potential for business, and so included whatever they could in the area, hence why there was the wall itself, a maze, a garden, a castle, a pagoda, and several other sma...

Day four of the trip was probably one of the most anticipated of all of them, as we would be visiting the CSIC Shipyard, which contains the largest dry dock in China, and is made up of four sections: Repair, Maintenance, Construction and Offshore Structures. The first thing we had to contend with was the breakfast at the hotel, which consisted of something akin to a croissant that had been squashed and then deep fried, and then removed of all flavour; in addition there was a bun with weird stuff in it, and an egg. (I will state for the record, I am not the most adventurous of eaters, and hence any descriptions of food might be slightly negatively biased. However they are accurate.) The trip to the shipyard was next, and for the first part we were all rather grateful. For all the previous trips, the organisers seemed to have forgotten that, as human beings, we all have legs, and hence are able to perform ambulatory motion to transport us from location A to location B. In other w...

Day three arrived, and brought with it a new set of adventures! Our goal for the day was to be transported from Harbin to Shanghaijuan, where we would be spending the next few days. However, we were not going to fly there, we would instead take a high-speed train! The train itself was approximately 30 minutes drive away from the hotel in a coach, but it so happened that it was the same coach we'd been in all the time we'd been there, as driven by "Angry Man", who seemed to honk his horn and get angry at people at any random point depending on the shape of the moon, what your favourite colour was, and whether he'd shouted at the security guard at the gate recently! Some traditional buildings There were some nice bits of scenery that we saw along the way, and a few references to Western culture, such as a few McDonalds and KFCs, however these did little to dissuade our attention from Angry Man (TM)'s driving, where we ended up making all the noises used b...