After I filled my stomach with at least twenty Juicy Pork Buns, I left ShangHai on a cruise at the port of Huangpu River, which is a channel connected with the Yangtze River. Even though my space pocket watch would take me to any place, I decided to spend a few days travelling along the Yangtze River. The cruise travelled towards west, and the sky was getting clearer as the ship travelled further away from ShangHai. In the few days on Yangtze River, we passed many beautiful mountains and towns. However, when we got close to the next destination, Wuhan, the water of Yangtze River started to turn muddy again, and from a distance, I saw some shapes of tall buildings in the city of Wuhan, all surrounded by a heavy layer of photochemical smog.
Image from the internet: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pollution-in-china/2012/01/19/gIQAQGR3BQ_gallery.html#photo=1
Date Accessed: Jan 26 2016
I landed at the port of Hankow, one of the oldest river ports in China. There were also some old colonial-styled European buildings near the port, but not as many as in ShangHai. It was breakfast time, and after a little walk around the dock, I soon felt hungry again. I sat down in a small restaurant, and I was surprised by the variety of breakfast they had. The owner, in his Wuhan dialect accent, told me that breakfast was a very important part of Wuhanese people’s daily lives. He also told me that the noodle he was making was Hot Dry Noodle, one of the most famous dishes in Wuhan. The noodles were cooked and dried the night before, and once the guests ordered the noodles, he only needed to dip the noodles in boiling water for few seconds, then add some soy sauce and sesame sauce onto it. Usually the guests themselves would add few additional toppings according to their own flavour, and then mix the sauces with noodles. I also ordered some Chinese egg nog mixed with rice wine(it didn’t taste alcoholic at all), because the noodle, just suggested by its name, tasted really dry. I like the flavour though, and even after I walked out of the restaurant, I could still smell the sesame sauce. I guess it’s because every breakfast joint in Wuhan sells the Hot Dry Noodles.
Image from the internet：https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6505019779_1f8d480dc1_b.jpg
Date Accessed: Jan 26 2016
I am a very “nostalgic” person, if I can use that adjective to describe personality. Whatever place I go, I always visit the old buildings and historical places. I heard that the Yellow Crane Tower had nearly two thousands years of history and there were many ancient Chinese literature about it, so I was eager to visit there. The tower was on the other side of the Yangtze River, so I decided to take the subway. When I took the elevator down to the underground, I immediately regretted my decision. It was around eight in the morning, and hundreds or thousands of people rushed into the metro. I tried to find my way to the right route, but it felt like there were millions of people around me, all squeezed together in a relatively small space filled with smells of sweat, food, perfume, and things I can’t identify. When the train arrived, even more people joined the crowd. Don’t know why, but it reminded me of some pictures in the Walking Dead or Resident Evil where hundreds of zombies walked towards you. I escaped out of the metro, and decided to take a taxi instead.
After the taxi was stopped by the heavy traffic on the Yangtze River Bridge for half an hour, I finally realized that I made another stupid decision. On top of the bridge, I saw the Yellow Crane Tower on a small hill right across the river, but I also saw millions of cars stayed still from the bridge to the street, and the lines of cars just seemed endless, moving few meters forward after a long while.
After another two hours, I finally arrived at the Tower. The visitor booklet told me that the tower was first built in 223 AD, but it was burnt down and rebuilt several times in history, and the current one was rebuilt in 1985. I was a bit disappointed to know that the Tower wasn’t really that old, but the paintings of cranes and scripts of ancient poems about the tower and the Yangtze river were amazing. Ancient poets used to stand on the top deck, and they were inspired by the beautiful broad river, the fog and the boats sailing across. I also stood on the top deck, and I saw a modern city under the smog( not fog), and big ugly looking vessels on the yellowish polluted water. Especially after spent three hours getting there, I felt exhausted, sad and a sense that something was missing.
Image from the internet: http://img.ivsky.com/img/tupian/pic/201105/02/wuhan_huanghelou-002.jpg,
Date accessed： Jan 26 2016
I then roamed around and stepped into a very narrow and dilapidated-looking street. There was a very old woman sat in a small bamboo chair in front of an aged door, making small animals out of syrup. I asked her if she could show me the process again, and she seemed surprised. She told me that children used to like the syrup animals, but now there were so many other attractive things, and she was also worried that not many people knew how to make syrup objects now. I bought a syrup dragon on a thin bamboo straw (I was surprised by how cheap that was). She said I could eat the dragon, but it was so pretty that I would feel guilty to eat it.
Image from the internet: http://www.hschinese.com/vi/node/2607, Date accessed: Jan 26 2016
She gave me a bamboo chair, and I spent a long time watching her making a new rabbit. The sun was warm, and I wish time would stop at that moment. After a long busy, anxious and tiring day, I felt so relaxed, peaceful and full at that moment. It was so comfortable and I gradually felt sleepy…...
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