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So we arrived in Wuhan, christ when was it, Tuesday 24th April. Aye. After looking around for a bus with no joy, we headed to the taxi rank. Looking like a flock of lost lambs, an English speaking Chinese woman came over to offer some assistance. She phoned the hostel for us and set us up in a taxi which was awfy kind of her. The thing we failed to notice when booking our tickets was that this railway station was a solid hour away from the hostel, thank god for good ol' cheap Chinese taxis.
Checked into the hostel, not the best start, toilet didnt flush, air-con wouldn't turn on, mozzies galore and a hornet the size of my fist fizzing about the place, had to expend half of my insect repellent just to fell the beast. The woman explained to us that in order to get the toilet to flush, you need to take off the lid and fill it up with the shower water. Ah, of course, how silly of me. Needless to say, we quickly decided to stay 2 nights instead of 3.
Went out for a quick jaunt about the first night, nothing too
special, came back and got talking to a Chinese lad who gave us some useful info on where to go, what to do, and buses to the train station etc.
Next day we got up early to go to said train station to acquire our tickets to Shanghai. Our good friend from the night before said to get off after the 6th stop...try 60th pal. We got off at the 6th and wandered around aimlessly for an hour, one twat pointing us in completely the wrong direction, before Craig pulled out his magic Chinese translation thing on his phone and started showing it to various shopkeepers, traffic attendants, security guard and several others of such ilk. We got there eventually. About 2 hours later. The kick in the stones was that the bus we were on went all the way to the blasted station.
Anyhow, got on the bus again after successuly purchasing our tickets to Shanghai. Headed over to the other side of the Yangtze river (3rd largest in the world). Saw a big Pagoda thing, but no danger paying a tenner to get in. Headed to the snack street, which was epic, can't go 2 seconds
without trying something different. Had a wander down to the river with a beer, watched some men slap a spinning top with a big whip (?), got the piss taken out of us by a little Chinese girl who insinuated that we were too hairy and needed to shave, and made friends with an over eager teenage Chinese girl who turned out to be a right pain in the arse in the end. Early beds, then off to Shanghai in the morning.
Train to Shanghai took only about 5 hours, reaching up to speeds of 250 km/h which is pretty rapido in my book. Subway system was very easy to use, and hostel was found no bother at all. Definitely noticed an upturn in the temperature gauge in Shanghai.
Went for a local wander the first night, down by a wee river, past some local shops, finding the supermarket, generally just accustomising ourselves with the area as we were there for 10 days.
Second day we went to the main sight in Shanghai, the Bund. Basically just a big stretch of massive skyscrapers on one side of the river, and more old school buildings on the other,
kind of a contrast between the old and new China. Brilliant panoramic views. Definitely the best sight in Shanghai.
Having trouble remembering exactly what we did each day, so from here on out ill just summarise the rest of the events.
One day we went to Happy Valley, which is a big Theme Park on the outskirts of town, which I was really looking forward to. We went on a Monday so surely the queues couldn't be bad? My arse. I almost earned my "Smack a China man" badge in the queue for the first ride. What looked like, really, not a long distance of a queue, turned out to be, I shit you not, a 3 hour wait. The worst part was at the start, when the muppets who were meant to sort out the rope queue bit, successfully managed to create a bottleneck, with Chinese people pushing, pulling, scratching, biting, nipping, kicking, eye-gouging and fish-hooking just to get in front of you into the main bit. And people who jump queues should rot in hell. Nothing annoys me more.
After that though, the day got better. Queues were smaller, and thrills were a plenty. Still,
the morning left a bitter taste in the mouth and I don't think I'd rush back.
Went to a Jade Buddha Monastery which was nice. Lots of monks kicking about. Massive goldfish which suck food right out of your hand as well. Highlight.
Had a good couple of nights out, and a good couple of hungover days, but with, surprisingly, not a lot to do in Shanghai, it was nice to have a couple of days of loafing.
Staple of the trip was kebabs from a nearby food vendor. Only bad thing about it was that there were more bums on show than you could find on a nudist beach, and not the ones you would stop to admire. God damn brazen beggars, walking up to you rattling their little money tins when you have your money out paying for food. God help you if you actually give someone something as the others will swarm in like a plague of locust. Fair enough your poor, but don't come shaking your tin at me.
I promise the next blog, about Hong Kong, will be a lot better and more descript. I fear I may have left this
one too long, and memory fades in old age... and I cant be arsed cause I burnt the pants off myself on the beach today.
Until next time,
Stevo x
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