After a marvelous week in Beijing, with a lot of great impressions and experiences was it time to leave the capital of China for good.
My path let me to the Beijing West station to a train headed towards the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Unfortunately the trip was accompanied by some health trouble acquired during a meal at the Leiden University students' most favourite restaurant at Xiao Xime(n)r. Lucky enough did the trainride take less then 8 hours and I booked the most comfortable "soft-sleeper". This made the best out of the worst possible.
When I arrived at one of the trainstations in Wuhan (Wuchang), I figured out that my lovely tourguide and friend Ping mistook my arrival time and was still asleep when the train entered the trainstation. So I had to wait for a while in front of the station and could fetch a lot of great impressions.
There are a lot of great things in China, but one thing that always catches my eye are the Chinese people. Besides the fact that whereever you are there are also masses of them, it seems that they cover the whole range from the poorest the very richest of the whole world. This mix of looks of people is really impressive. To see on the one side of the street a farmer with his family carrying their luggage on a big stick, while he gets hunked off the road by a shining black Mercedes or Audi.
But as much as I love it to watch the Chinese a philosoph about their backgrounds and lifes, they love it to watch me (or any other foreigner travelling in their country). It is really funny to play with the natives the game of:"I know that you watch me, and I will let you know occassionally, to make you feel ashamed"; as soon as you start to look in their direction, they will definately try to pretend to never have looked at you. This covers children, adults, seniors, rich or poor. Chinese simply are really curious and shy (at least in the beginning, as soon as they know you they remain only curious...).
Wuhan is different from Beijing, so as every city, region and area in China is different from the other. Although the population of Wuhan is around 5 million (+8 million in the suburbs) it feels a lot more provincial then the great Northern Capital. Roads and side walks are in a lot poorer condition and in parts really dirty. Something I did not see this time in Beijing (taking into consideration that my friends simply may have blinded out this part of the city to me), but the people walking around are different too.
I cannot really say that Wuhan appeared to me as a nice city (which city with more then 10 million citizens is really, really nice??), but the university campus of Wu Da (Wuhan University) is very beautiful and an oasis of intellect and calm. It is a great feeling to wander around the buildings in the typical (stereo typical) Chinese style, with the peaking roofs and a variety of colours. But most older buildings need a check-up soon, I propose.
After having stayed in Wuhan for a night, the voyage continued to Jiangzhi (a township of the city of Yichang), close to the "Three Gorges Dam"
My path let me to the Beijing West station to a train headed towards the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Unfortunately the trip was accompanied by some health trouble acquired during a meal at the Leiden University students' most favourite restaurant at Xiao Xime(n)r. Lucky enough did the trainride take less then 8 hours and I booked the most comfortable "soft-sleeper". This made the best out of the worst possible.
When I arrived at one of the trainstations in Wuhan (Wuchang), I figured out that my lovely tourguide and friend Ping mistook my arrival time and was still asleep when the train entered the trainstation. So I had to wait for a while in front of the station and could fetch a lot of great impressions.
There are a lot of great things in China, but one thing that always catches my eye are the Chinese people. Besides the fact that whereever you are there are also masses of them, it seems that they cover the whole range from the poorest the very richest of the whole world. This mix of looks of people is really impressive. To see on the one side of the street a farmer with his family carrying their luggage on a big stick, while he gets hunked off the road by a shining black Mercedes or Audi.
But as much as I love it to watch the Chinese a philosoph about their backgrounds and lifes, they love it to watch me (or any other foreigner travelling in their country). It is really funny to play with the natives the game of:"I know that you watch me, and I will let you know occassionally, to make you feel ashamed"; as soon as you start to look in their direction, they will definately try to pretend to never have looked at you. This covers children, adults, seniors, rich or poor. Chinese simply are really curious and shy (at least in the beginning, as soon as they know you they remain only curious...).
Wuhan is different from Beijing, so as every city, region and area in China is different from the other. Although the population of Wuhan is around 5 million (+8 million in the suburbs) it feels a lot more provincial then the great Northern Capital. Roads and side walks are in a lot poorer condition and in parts really dirty. Something I did not see this time in Beijing (taking into consideration that my friends simply may have blinded out this part of the city to me), but the people walking around are different too.
I cannot really say that Wuhan appeared to me as a nice city (which city with more then 10 million citizens is really, really nice??), but the university campus of Wu Da (Wuhan University) is very beautiful and an oasis of intellect and calm. It is a great feeling to wander around the buildings in the typical (stereo typical) Chinese style, with the peaking roofs and a variety of colours. But most older buildings need a check-up soon, I propose.
After having stayed in Wuhan for a night, the voyage continued to Jiangzhi (a township of the city of Yichang), close to the "Three Gorges Dam"
