We wake to a sunny and very warm day. Andy is still ill and I have developed a cold and ache all over. Nonetheless we organise our laundry – the hostel do washing for 90p a load – and we also get the hostel to book our sleeper tickets for Hangzhou leaving on 16th October. Hangzhou is not far from Shanghai and has been recommended to us by Anthony and Vivien as a beautiful spot. In the afternoon we take the bus to Dong Hu (East Lake) which is situated in a huge park. It turns out to be very picturesque and we stroll along its paths taking in the view across the whole (enormous) lake. The park has a number of traditional Chinese buildings, formal gardens, a boating lake, lily pond, sampans on the main lake and marble arched bridges. There are several brides and grooms having their wedding photos taken.
The bus journey isn’t as straightforward as we expected; the bus driver misunderstood where we want to be and drops us at the university, so we resort to a taxi and for just over £1 we eventually made what turns out to be the second half of the journey. Taxis, like most things here, are incredibly cheap – and plentiful. But buses are ridiculously cheap with a standard fare of between 1 and 1.5 yuan or 8p to 12p depending on the standard of the bus.
Wuhan, like the other cities we have visited, is a mix of new and not so new high rise residential blocks, gleaming skyscrapers and and rather run-down low-rise older housing, but cleaner. It’s roughly half-way between Chongqing and Shanghai at the confluence of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) and the Han rivers. It has some 8 million inhabitants and consists of three districts: Wuchang (where we are) on the right bank of the Yangtze, Hankou and Hanyang on the left, north and south of the Han river respectively. The 1911 Nationalist movement began here and the city is now a major industrial centre and transportation hub.
The hostel is off the main road, set amongst some residential apartment blocks in a traffic-free area. Despite this, it is not particularly quiet and we can hear the constant hum of traffic from the main road a short walk away. Our room is a reasonable size with enough space to accommodate a sofa and overlooks a courtyard which is pleasant place to sit when the sun is out. The staff are friendly and helpful and speak reasonably good English. The only drawback is the wet room complete with Chinese (squat) toilet. It’s a strange experience showering whilst standing over the toilet, but it does save on plumbing!