12 OCTOBER 2006

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Arrival in Wuhan

The 12 hour train journey from Guilin to Wuhan which left at 8pm and arrived at 8am, was not as painful as you might imagine. We had been placed in second class in a clean and fairly modern carriage. There were several stewards occupying tiny office cubicles next to the toilets in each carriage and they watched over the sleeping passengers throughout the night. This was reassuring since the sleeping compartments were open to the corridor and housed 6 bunks each. The toilets and row of wash basins remained reasonably clean throughout the journey and several carriages along was a comfortable restaurant car. Most of the team got pretty good rest but the jet lag wakened some in the early hours leaving them unable to get back to sleep. The train was supposed to be air conditioned but the atmosphere was warm and a little oppressive. The morning daylight seemed forever to arrive and the weather was misty and dull outside as we trundled towards Wuhan.


Second class sleeper - Guilin to Wuhan

The train pulled into Wuhan dead on time, and our heavy sacks were retrieved from the overhead rack above the corridor and from beneath the bottom bunks. We were glad to leave the train behind and were met by Dr. Niu Chang Ying at the station entrance who led us through the busy square to the nearby Jiang Cheng Hotel where we were already booked in. Like most station hotels it was a little tired looking in places, but totally adequate for our purposes. An instruction to breakfast was immediate but the crafty ones among us grabbed a quick shower to freshen up after the long train journey. Bruce had missed several meals and was now popping the Immodium but was unwisely tempted into eating some noodles to boost his energy.


Wuhan square and railway station

We had a busy schedule of visits pre-arranged for the day and the first was a visit to Yellow Crane Tower. Two Citroen ZX taxis (popular on the streets of Wuhan) took us back across the Yangtze river bridge that we had crossed earlier by train on the deck below. Just beyond we caught sight of the tower itself, a large pagoda on Snake Hill overlooking the road which emerged indistinctly from the grey gloomy sky. Although the sky remained like this all day, the temperature ouside was unexpectedly warm considering our more northerly latitude. We made our way under the main road where homeless people were noticeable and reached the impressive entrance gates of the park where Niu's friend from the Geological Institute joined us. The attraction was particularly busy and it was impossible not to wander into other peoples' photographs that were being constantly posed around us. Hoards of tour groups in distinct and identical baseball caps wandered the site and followed their flag-bearing guides. The tower dates back to AD223 and has been used by poets and writers over hundreds of years to compose their work (Mao Tse Tung even composed a poem here). Inside the tower were various exhibits and interesting decor including a tiled crane mural. Outside a sculpture depicting a pair of cranes standing on a tortoise and snake was accompanied by this interpretation of the signboard:

"The Yellow Crane Returning" comes from a fairy tale. It is said that God was moved by the Da Yus spirit and let the tortoise and the snake help him bring the river under control. In order to control the floods, the tortoise and the snake changed into hills and locked the Yangtze River. From then on there were no floods allowing people to live and work in peace and contentment. The two cranes looking down on the earth were moved by what they had seen and came down to celebrate with the ordinary people.


Yellow Crane Tower - Cranes, Tortoise, Snake...........................................................Tiled crane mural

Two lifts inside the tower serviced the several floors and on either side was the stair option - not so attractive after out Great Wall episode. After taking in the rather unattractive surrounding views we regrouped and headed up to the huge brass bell nearby which Eddie paid to ring. His colossal swings of the suspended log used to strike the bell yielded by far the loudest rings heard that day and his efforts attracted rounds of applause.

Tony, who is prone to souvenir purchases bought a propoganda DVD of Mao Tse Tung speeches and footage. Several locals nearby responed by cheering and raising clenched fists in approval. Ged also bought an attractive casting of the cranes sculpture.

We left by another gate and walked through a bus/taxi station opposite but only to find the taxis there with even number plates were not permitted across the river bridge. A short walk through to another street allowed us to pick up the bus and head off for lunch at a restaurant near the Geological Institute. En route, Eddie was coherced by the others to give his seat up for an attractive girl which I'm sure in China she would not expect. To our amusement a man standing nearby suddenly grabbed the vacated seat without a whim. We arrived just outside the Institute gates where we met Professor Yen who is responsible for Lichuan's application for National Geopark status. A large university badmington tournament was in progress there and the gates and lawns were decorated with red banners and large colourful helium balloons anchored to the ground with sandbags.
The meal was excellent although too spicy for Harvey's palette and included thinly sliced donkey meat and spicey fish swim bladders as dishes.

Afterwards Professor Yen took us to see the fantastic Geological Museum which was very modern with high quality exhibits on several floors. A significant financial investment had been made to create this high class museum.


Geological Museum - Wuhan

On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at a shopping centre to pick up some essential supplies for our caving in Lichuan. The supermarket within was well stocked and it was an unusual sight for us to see shoppers with trolleys helping themselves to live fish, shrimps, terrapins from tanks within the shop. These were of course destined for the pot.

We weren't back for long before being called to dinner at 6pm which was yet another taxi trip across town. Our flight to Enshi tomorrow has been brought forward so that we must leave the hotel at 7.30am. Its all go!