One day in Wuhan (武汉)

Yellow Crane Tower, Wuhan

I've been struggling a bit with this post.  Just over a month after I had visited the city, news started emerging of a number of unusual pneumonia cases emerging.  Yes, I visited China and went to Wuhan in mid-November, as the start of my cruise through the magnificent Three Gorges of China.    And at end December, China would officially report the news that a new disease, what would become known as COVID-19, had struck the city.

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

We used DiDi for the first time when taking the taxi for our breakfast in Hubu Alley, the famed street food alley of Wuhan.  I have to admit though, that by the time we made it there, it was really more like our brunch.  We had a bowl each of Re Gan Mian (热干面), which literally translates into spicy dry noodle dish.  The sauce is served on top of the noodles, with a sprinkling of spring onions on top.  I also got some minced pork with mine.  We had this with lotus root and pork bone soup, and a serving of "Dou Pi" which came a little later.  Dou Pi is essentially rice wrapped in layers of egg, with diced beancurd and I think more minced pork within.  It was all quite tasty but the next day we walked around the corner from our hotel and found a number of little eating stalls and what we in Singapore would call coffee shops, all full of Wuhan residents eating their breakfast before going to work.  We had quite a quick, tasty meal of chee cheong fun, a prata-like dough pancake and some dumplings, washed down with soya milk.  Much better value for money and much more convenient.

The immortal and the crane over the tower

After our brunch, we made our way to the the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼), a very famous historical site here in Wuhan.   It's one of the "Four Famous Towers" of China, originally built for military use on the top of a hill where it has a commanding view of the region and the river running through the city.    The building is not the original tower; it has actually been rebuilt a few times but apparently a tower has been on this site ever since around 220AD. 

Entering the tower, we admired this large wall mural just inside.  It tells the story of how the tower originally came to be built.  Briefly, a wine merchant, Xin, gave shelter (and wine) to a visiting monk.  Some tales indicate that the monk was actually an immortal come to earth in disguise!  Anyway, the monk visited repeatedly and every time Xin gave him food and shelter.  To show his gratitude, the monk painted a crane on the merchant's wall.  The painting was animated to show the crane dancing, bringing lots of visitors to the shop.  So Xin grew rich, and as a sign in turn of his gratitude built the tower.  The tower is also immortalised in the classic poetry of China, with the poets Cui Hao and Li Bai both writing about it.  Indeed, Cui Hao's poem is probably particularly apt - it tells how the crane has departed, leaving a city bereft, and the poet left far from his homeland.  I reproduce it here.

The pond in the compound of the Yellow Crane Tower

昔人已乘黄鹤去，此地空余黄鹤楼。
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

We spent quite some time in the Yellow Crane Tower and its surrounding compound, but we had one more stop to make on our 24-hour stopover in Wuhan, in Tan Hua Lin. 

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.

Goodbye 2019: looking for a brighter 2020

If I am honest with myself, 2019 was not a great year.  As I look back, there were highlights but most of the time it has been a lot of hard work without much time spent on personal growth and pursuit of individual interests and passions.  It’s no wonder that right now, I’m feeling like this:

But for the record’s sake, let me just list some of the key events this year:

• My dad’s Sister, my dear aunt, passed away in end February.  We miss her at our family events.  We missed her at Christmas and next CNY will be our first without her.  But we came together as a family during this time. Really sad also trying to pack up her belongings... ... only partially completed thus far.  

• A strong positive highlight of the year was going for a Papal mass and shaking Pope Francis’ hand.  He is my hero!  Going to St Peter’s Square at night was also a magical moment for me.  It’s beauty and serenity was soothing to the soul.  Coming back to Singapore, I was in time for the major event which my charity was organising. It was a very successful event, which made the hard work of the previous six months worth while.

• I also managed to tick “Three Gorges” off my Bucket List.  Haven’t had time to write it up, but sailing down the magnificent, mighty Yangtze River, the river running through Chinese history and culture, was indeed a wonderful experience.  

• As for the cats, it was a sad moment when Winky passed away so swiftly and subddenly.  I worry about them now that they are growing older.  Even Ariel has been with us for 7 years now!  

• Work wise, it has been intense.  I covered a colleague for the last six months of the year and (as mentioned) spent a considerable amount of time in the first six organising the major event for my charity.  I feel a sense of pride and satisfaction that I managed to get through the period reasonably well, but there is still so much work left undone.  

•  Baking wise, the oven function of my microwave cum convection oven broke down, just as I was trying to bake my mother’s birthday cake!  So I had to borrow the neighbour’s oven but the delay, I am convinced, affected the final quality of the cake :-(. One the plus side, I decided to take the plunge and bought a brand new oven.  

• Well it sort of goes without saying that with all this going on I didn’t have much time for thoughtful, reflective reading.  I hope that I can make a start on the book pile beside my bed, over the coming year.

So roll on 2020!  Looking forward to a brighter, more productive and fulfilling year ahead.