So despite the fact that my week is structured more or less like my weekend right now because I am waiting to start work, I tried to go out and do some exploration of the mega city.
On friday I had a tasty bottle of great wall wine after I got a new cell phone set up. I had some tasty skewers sold to me by a Hui street vendor. They are ubiquitous at any place where people gather, and have a distinctly mongol appearance as opposed to the racial characteristics of the majority Han population. They also wear prayer skullcaps like all good muslims. I said Hi to my vendor guy and said "asalaam Maleekum" to which he replied "asalaikam salaam". That made me feel pretty good. The skewers are lamb covered in spices and are very very tasty.
On saturday, I had made plans to meet someone from the agency I work for to visit the yellow crane tower. So I got up reasonably early, made myself some toast and oatmeal, and with no directions or advice, went forth to the bus station.
It was only the second bus driver I asked who indicated that his bus went to Wu-Chan. Wu-Chan is the downtown area of the city. Originally, Wuhan was three separate cities that grew together to form one city. The locals now refer to the different sections as districts.
I have seldom been on as crowded a bus before. After about a half hour, the bus started to venture through a large public park. I hopped out and had a nice walk through some pretty trees and grassy places. I eventually wandered into another park called turtle mountain, where there is a huge 18 meter high painting depicting the ancient battles that took place in this region. There also is a TV tower, a gondola that goes out over the city, a giant bronze ceremonial bowl and some statues. It was a nice walk.
I was now pretty lost and needed to meet up with my friend. Fortunately, there was a holiday inn that I stumbled upon. The front desk clerk gave me a handy preprinted card with the names of the local landmarks in Chinese. A pretty cool god send for taking a taxi with. I hopped into my taxi and went to the Yellow Crane Tower.
I hopped out near the tower at a statute t commemorate the 1911 revolution that ended the 1500 year Qing dynasty. There was also a chrysanthemum festival so the city square was full of blooming chrysanthemums. Thousands of them. Very pretty.
I wandered around and ate some fried rice at a japanese chain restaurant. Then went into the yellow crane tower, which is one attraction of a rather large cultural park.
My friend had not yet arrived, so I went into the first building I found which was a music auditorium with a lone person playing some sort of string instrument. The music was reminiscent of a psychedelic guitarist! It was kind of a trip.
In the darkness of the auditorium, I think I saw a mongoose or some strange animal like a cat jumping in the shadows. Pretty wierd. I was the only person in the auditorium who was not sleeping. Me and three sleeping park employees and someone playing this crazy wailing string instrument, with large feline creatures leaping in the shadows.
My friend arrived and he explained to me about how the Yellow Crane Tower was the spot where the famous Li Bai, a Tang dynasty poet, wrote a poem about how sad he was when his friends sailed away on the Yangtse.
Li Bai is also famous for being a heavy wine drinker. He is said to have exclaimed that a bottle of wine contains 1,000 lines of poetry. I think me and Li Bai see eye to eye on this.
There was a nice gallery of calligraphy and water colors. The park is rather large and has alot of attractions.
There was a gigantic bronze bell that school children where banging on with a giant pice of timber suspended on ropes.
I went to the top of the tower and had a view of the mists over the yangtse river.
After that was done we went out to eat where I had some great local dishes and beer. I ate beef lung for the first time and some delicious mushrooms. All in all a good day and now I know my way around a little better.
I will post another update about Sunday, which was less interesting but still worth reporting.
On friday I had a tasty bottle of great wall wine after I got a new cell phone set up. I had some tasty skewers sold to me by a Hui street vendor. They are ubiquitous at any place where people gather, and have a distinctly mongol appearance as opposed to the racial characteristics of the majority Han population. They also wear prayer skullcaps like all good muslims. I said Hi to my vendor guy and said "asalaam Maleekum" to which he replied "asalaikam salaam". That made me feel pretty good. The skewers are lamb covered in spices and are very very tasty.
On saturday, I had made plans to meet someone from the agency I work for to visit the yellow crane tower. So I got up reasonably early, made myself some toast and oatmeal, and with no directions or advice, went forth to the bus station.
It was only the second bus driver I asked who indicated that his bus went to Wu-Chan. Wu-Chan is the downtown area of the city. Originally, Wuhan was three separate cities that grew together to form one city. The locals now refer to the different sections as districts.
I have seldom been on as crowded a bus before. After about a half hour, the bus started to venture through a large public park. I hopped out and had a nice walk through some pretty trees and grassy places. I eventually wandered into another park called turtle mountain, where there is a huge 18 meter high painting depicting the ancient battles that took place in this region. There also is a TV tower, a gondola that goes out over the city, a giant bronze ceremonial bowl and some statues. It was a nice walk.
I was now pretty lost and needed to meet up with my friend. Fortunately, there was a holiday inn that I stumbled upon. The front desk clerk gave me a handy preprinted card with the names of the local landmarks in Chinese. A pretty cool god send for taking a taxi with. I hopped into my taxi and went to the Yellow Crane Tower.
I hopped out near the tower at a statute t commemorate the 1911 revolution that ended the 1500 year Qing dynasty. There was also a chrysanthemum festival so the city square was full of blooming chrysanthemums. Thousands of them. Very pretty.
I wandered around and ate some fried rice at a japanese chain restaurant. Then went into the yellow crane tower, which is one attraction of a rather large cultural park.
My friend had not yet arrived, so I went into the first building I found which was a music auditorium with a lone person playing some sort of string instrument. The music was reminiscent of a psychedelic guitarist! It was kind of a trip.
In the darkness of the auditorium, I think I saw a mongoose or some strange animal like a cat jumping in the shadows. Pretty wierd. I was the only person in the auditorium who was not sleeping. Me and three sleeping park employees and someone playing this crazy wailing string instrument, with large feline creatures leaping in the shadows.
My friend arrived and he explained to me about how the Yellow Crane Tower was the spot where the famous Li Bai, a Tang dynasty poet, wrote a poem about how sad he was when his friends sailed away on the Yangtse.
Li Bai is also famous for being a heavy wine drinker. He is said to have exclaimed that a bottle of wine contains 1,000 lines of poetry. I think me and Li Bai see eye to eye on this.
There was a nice gallery of calligraphy and water colors. The park is rather large and has alot of attractions.
There was a gigantic bronze bell that school children where banging on with a giant pice of timber suspended on ropes.
I went to the top of the tower and had a view of the mists over the yangtse river.
After that was done we went out to eat where I had some great local dishes and beer. I ate beef lung for the first time and some delicious mushrooms. All in all a good day and now I know my way around a little better.
I will post another update about Sunday, which was less interesting but still worth reporting.
No comments:
Post a Comment