These are pictures I took during the various short-trips we made during our stay in Wuhan, China in summer 2002.
Before we came to Wuhan we spent 4 days in Beijing, capital of China. Oh, my God! Arriving in China was definitely a shock. The signs, the language, the food, ... everything was just sooo different, I've had never experienced that before! We landed in Beijing in the morning. After we had made our way to the hostel (with two regular taxies and not a mini bus which would have been three times the price!) we decided to stroll along the road next to the hostel towards the town center. We didn't get very far! Everything was just so exciting, we spent a full hour in a supermarket staring at all the strange things, some of which we tried and still didn't know what they were.
A main road near our hostel.
The tian'an men - place of heavenly peace.
The Emperor's Palace in the Forbidden City.
In a quiet park.
From Beijing we took one day to join an organized tour with the *BUS 100* to see the Great Chinese Wall and the famous Ming Tombs. Everything had to be very *quickly*!! "Bye tickets, you have 1 hour! Quickly, quickly!"
The Great Chinese Wall and me.
Having fun with our group of fellow students at the Ming Tombs.
Enjoying the sunset on the way back to Beijing.
We had the idea of going to Shanghai for a weekend so we asked if it was O.K. for us to go. Then suddenly one
Monday Till's Chinese link-man Shireman came to spread the word: "You go to Shanghai on Thursday and you will come
back next Tuesday morning. Order the tickets tomorrow morning and then ask your link-men to ask the proffessors if
it was O.K., but they will surely agree since the head of department has already agreed." Got it? Anyway, with Shireman's
help we got the tickets and he didn't move from our side until he was convinced we had got onto the right train.
Shanghai appeared to me to be full of contrats - old vs. modern, rich vs. poor, it seemed there was nothing in between.
Additional to the many old small Chinese houses which are all mixed up with the most modern buildings, there are also
the remains of Colonial European architecture, buildings you would expect to find in London or Paris tightly squeezed
between the hundreds of sky-scrapers. Definitely a thrilling place to be!
We went up the Jin Mao Tower,
the third tallest building in the world!
Doing it like the Chinese -
a bike tour through the town center.
Nanjing Donglu - Shanghai's most
famous shopping street.
Cruising in front of the Shanghai TV tower.
Shanghai by night - view from the Jin Mao Tower.
To thank us for our involvement with the projects we worked on the HUST had invited us to spend our
last days on a 3 days boat trip through the famous the Yangtzi Gorges along what the Chinese call the
Chan Jang - the great river. First we almost missed our
bus when our Chinese companion put 3 of us in a taxi and asked the driver to follow the taxi he would
sit in. Well, ... you have to know that in Wuhan every single cab you can find will be a red Citroen
with a black roof ... we found them back in time eventually!
Apparently, we were amoungst the last to see this impressive landscape (which is also illustrated on
the 5 Yuan note), since construction on the Yangtzi Damm has come to a stage where the whole area will
be flooded within a few month. As a means to relocate inhabitants of the many cities in the area on a
higher level (about 2 million peoople are affected!) authorities have started to tear down most of the
houses below the future water level. However, in what looked like a war scene to us the streets were
still full of life, yet another striking contrast!
Like the trip to the Chinese Wall, our fate was in the hands of the tourist agency.
After hours of waiting everything had to go very *quickly*! From time to time we were asked to get off
the boat, bravely pass through a passage of stalls with souveniers without spending too many Yuan.
By that time we knew how to bargain in Chinese and it seemed to me the prices got lower much faster than
when we would stick to English.
Waking time was 6 am, so once the *gentle* music in the cabins and all over the boat was set on,
I jumped out of my bed instantly to find we were already at the impressive gate to the first
of the three gorges. Unfortunately the timing was so bad that we had breakfast downstairs when we were just
in the second Gorge and lunch when we passed by the damm.
On the boat which took us along Yangtzi River.
Exploring the "Lesser Three Gorges" (i.e. the little ones,
long live Chinese English!) in a little boat which was struggeling to overcome the various rapids
on the way up.
At night little boats would *dock on* to our ship to sell drinks and somewhat weird food.
Passing through one of the three gorges.
The cloudy mountains where the Chinese once buried their emperors.
Well, If I were a Ghost I would surely enjoy the scenery!!!
Our last stop was Hong Kong. Although we were already overloaded with impressions it was definitely worth it! A strange mixture of British infrastructure and British people (I almost felt home!) and Chinese culture and people. Moreover, on Hong Kong Island there are substropical forests on the mountains so our day started with a thrilling walk down the mountain from the youth hostel into the city! (If you ever come to Hong Kong, DO stay in Mt. Davis YH, it's definitely worth the trouble of coming up the mountain!)
Hong Kong - as seen from Victoria Peek (took us 3 hours to walk up there!).
Having breakfast at the youth hostel.
Is this urban life quality?.
In a National Park on the walk up to the Peak.
Made in Hong Kong - Looking for colourful toys?.
Hong Kong by night - the view from the hostel.
http://andreas.grammm.de |
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created August 2002 by |
Andreas Gramm |
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