Movin' on down the Yangtze

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After Nanjing, I took a 3 hour train to Wuhan, another city on the Yangtze. Wuhan, along with Nanjing and Chongqing (where I originally planned to go next, but realized it was too far out of the way) are known as the "three furnaces" of China because they are so hot in the summertime. Fortunately in mid-May they still aren't too bad (although noticeably warmer than Bozeman would be at this time).

Because of the way my trains were scheduled, I didn't have a lot of time to do things in Wuhan. I got in around 5pm on Wednesday, after most places were closed, and because the new train station I arrived at is a bit far from downtown, it was after 8 by the time I actually made it to the hostel. I had to take a bus to another, more centrally located train station, and then I could transfer to another bus but it wasn't that far so I decided to walk. I also grabbed some dinner there, at a Chinese chain restaurant called "Mr. Lee's" which we had ate at in Beijing the first year and I remembered liking.

Well, I didn't remember what I had gotten that first time so what I ended up choosing were some noodles which I realized (between ordering and receiving) had the characters for "spicy flavor" in the name, and a peanut dish which turned out to be just peanuts, cold and slightly wet, and with some weird seasoning. It was a rather disappointing meal, but I managed to eat most of both dishes and get on my way.

On the walk to the hostel, I met a Chinese girl who spoke English. I was at first a bit hesitant to talk to her or tell her where I was going because often when a friendly-seeming young local approaches you and begins a conversation in English it's the beginning of a scam. However, she was walking a dog (never part of the scam) and guessed where I was going before I had a chance to tell her (she must have known based on where I was and the direction I was going, I was likely going to the hostel). She was headed there to meet a friend, so she volunteered to walk with me and show me the way and I decided she didn't seem likely to try to steer me into trouble.

We had a pleasant, if strange, conversation about the parts of American pop culture that had made their way to China, including various NBA teams (partially due to Yao Ming) and pop music (Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga, apparently doing very well in China). When we arrived she said she was going to stay in the courtyard where her friend was coming, and I went in to check in. I assumed she would be there for a few minutes, so after getting to my room I wrote down my name and e-mail address on a page of my notebook to give her. When I came back out to the courtyard she and the dog were already gone. I felt bad because I hadn't even said goodbye or thanked her for the conversation and guidance but I suppose she's stopped crying by now.

Thursday was my only day out in Wuhan, so I picked a few places I wanted to see and set off. The main one was the Yellow Crane Tower, a 1980s reproduction of a building that had been burned or torn down several times over the last thousand or so years. It's unique among historical Chinese towers of its type in that it has elevators! Most of them, being actually antique, only have stairs.

Also, on the 3rd floor there was a room with models of several of the previous towers, but I looked inside the model of the current tower and there were no tinier models inside its 3rd floor window. Fractal opportunity: missed.

Apart from the tower itself, which offered nice views of the Yangtze River and surrounding areas of town, there was a whole park with a large bell, some topiary in the shape of Chinese characters, and several statues and gazebos, so I explored the rest of the grounds before leaving.

Next, I wanted to take a ferry across the river to another of the town's districts, so I headed in that direction and bought a ticket (after a quick stop at KFC for a sundae...the heat was catching up) for the next ferry at around 2pm. Soon enough as we kept going north, I realized that the ferry was going to the Hankou district, not the Hanyang district I was expecting. Fortunately, there was a large bridge connecting the two (separated by the Han river, which empties into the Yangtze at Wuhan) so I wound my way around there and walked across.

As I was going, something in the water below caught my attention and I realized people were swimming around in the middle of the river! I have no idea what they were doing, but they went quite a ways down the river and then kind of swam around a bit, in the vicinity of the ferry landing. Whatever floats you boat, I guess.

I finally made it to Hankou and set out to find Guiyuan Temple. I knew generally where it was, and what major intersection it was near, so I figured it would be easy to find. Little did I know there was a massive park or woods area or something in between me and the temple, so I had to walk all the way around that (after starting off in the wrong direction and having to double back all the way past the bridge I came in on). Finally I found the main drag in Hanyang district, Hanyang Avenue (go figure).

I stopped at Wal-Mart (my 2nd in China, but not my last) to grab a drink and a snack. I tried to buy a little cream-covered wafer bar (kind of like a Kit-Kat), only to find out at the checkout that they're sold by weight (what??) and they couldn't just scan it and quote me a price. After stepping out of line so others could pass while a clerk tried to go get a price check, she finally came back and just flat-out told me I couldn't buy it. By that point I was completely happy to leave with just my Sprite and my fruit cup, so I bought those and set out again for the temple.

I kept going west toward the temple and when I got to the Hanyang train station realized I had gone too far. I managed to find a map, and realized that the temple was very close to the Wal-Mart! I made my way back and when I could tell I was nearly at the same intersection, I took a chance on an unmarked street that only went south (I had previously walked on the north side). After a few blocks I spotted some characters on a store name that confirmed I was on the road I wanted. A few blocks later I found the temple...at 5:31. It closes at 5:30. At this point I'd like to remind you that I got on the ferry at 2:00!!!

Once again defeated by China DESPITE my capability with reading maps and street signs and generally knowing where I was trying to go, I decided to head back to the hostel. I bought some drinks and snacks for the evening at the Carrefour (kind of like a French Wal-Mart) across the street from the actual Wal-Mart (I wasn't going back in there after the earlier debacle) and found a bus that I knew would take me across the river and back to the right district of town. A short (comparatively) walk later I was back at the hostel, and thoroughly ready to get out of this town.

I ate dinner at the hostel (some EXTREMELY spicy shredded potatoes, and a really good sausage-egg dish), and called it an early evening again, not wanting to go back out, and not expecting anything I'd be interested in to still be open.

The next morning I headed out to catch the bus back to the train station. I decided it was getting a little late so hailed a taxi. As the clock ticked down, I realized that the train station was even farther out than I remembered from when I arrived, so even in a taxi it was going to take 25-30 minutes to get there. I pulled up to the station at 11:21 for my 11:22 train. They typically stop taking tickets 5-10 minutes early.

I was so proud of myself for having none of the transportation issues that plagued our trip last year, and here I am, -1 minutes late for my train. Only slightly panicked, I went to the automated ticket booth and saw that there were still many seats left on a train leaving in a half hour, so I called Mike to figure out the requisite Chinese to request a refund for my ticket (something you can do, apparently) and then I was going to buy one for this other train (the automated machine needed some kind of ID I didn't have). As it turns out (thanks Mike, and China Railway Highspeed), all you have to do is indicate you want to exchange your ticket and they will swap it for the next train at no charge! Once again, sometimes things go right, even when there's absolutely no reason they should.

Next stop, Changsha, in the next province down.

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