Yellow Crane Tower, Wuhan |
In the end, I've decided to proceed. I'm not trivialising the seriousness of the disease which has (to date) struck tens of thousands, and killed significant numbers as well, both in China and around the world. But I think that others deserve to know that this is still a lovely city visit, particularly in November, and that the area has indeed so much to offer tourists. And so, I will proceed to recount my visit there.
Mine was not a long visit - just around a week. After arriving late the previous night, we spent a full day in Wuhan, then took the train to Yichang the next morning where we boarded the Century Legend which took us down the Yangtze River, to Chongqing City. So, if you ever want a one-day leisurely itinerary for Wuhan, do read on. But if you have a longer stay, you may want to read more here.
One aspect of life in China which we wanted to experience was its "cashless society", where all the hawkers had their own QR code for WeChat Pay or AliPay. Just a few weeks before our departure, these two ubiquitous payment apps had extended their services to foreign tourists. In the event, it was not possible to use WeChat Pay but fortunately the AliPay payment service was quite easy to figure out and we could use it to also pay taxi drivers, and to link up AliPay to DiDi (the Uber of China), so we could also hail and pay our taxi drivers via DiDi.
Re Gan Mian and Lotus Root Soup |
The immortal and the crane over the tower |
The pond in the compound of the Yellow Crane Tower |
黄鹤一去不复返,白云千载空悠悠。
晴川历历汉阳树,芳草萋萋鹦鹉洲。
日暮乡关何处是?烟波江上使人愁。
After climbing all the way to the top of the tower and admiring the view, we made our way through the compound to the peaceful, scenic Chinese Garden adjacent to it. The centrepiece of the garden is a large pond, surrounded by weeping willows. A few fountains gush quietly in the centre. To one side, a low wall is covered with the carved forms of cranes - flying, walking, and doing all sorts of things. Following the example of the famous Tang poets, there is also a poetry gallery here, featuring two poems by Chairman Mao, housed in their own pavilion!
A double-sided embroidery screen |
Tan Hua Lin is also part of old Wuhan, but of a much more recent date. It's like the "western quarter", where all the Europeans stayed. Here there are a few churches, including a former Canossian convent, and western houses where the various European merchants and traders stayed.
Today, it is full of souvenir shops, art galleries, and embroidery shops. Wuhan is one of the well known "schools" of embroidery in China (another one is Suzhou, for example). The embroidery shops show beautiful exemplars of Wuhan embroidery. These include huge framed pieces - either to hang on the wall or the beautiful double-sided screen which I have shown in the photo on the left. Each stitch is like a brush stroke, so delicate and precise. You can also buy small little embroidered bags or table screens. Embroidery equipment is also on sale - my friend bought herself an embroidery frame, which she dismantled and carried around on her shoulder. Myself, I was just glad to see that this area also had a few cat cafes! Sadly we did not have time to make a longer stay in one of them.
We ended the day off with dinner, close to the hotel. The next day, we would spend travelling - by train to Yichang, where we would then take a coach to the cruise ship which would take us to the next part of our journey, down the Yangtze River, and through the heart of China.
My Three Gorges Flickr album is here.