East Lake Wuhan

Today is my final day in Wuhan as I am heading back up to Beijing with Lisa and few of her friends she has been working with. As Lisa was teaching English in the morning I headed out to the Hankou Station to get myself a ticket on the overnight train to Beijing. Round two of purchasing a train ticket worked a lot better than it had done previously and I was equipped with my new friend, Google Translate. So with my ticket bought so easily I decided I would head back to the hotel area and wander round the local street vendors.

With a slight confidence boost from the ease of my trip to the station solo I managed to buy a few things for breakfast, I found the hardest thing with purchasing anything was understanding how much things are. I knew the numbers in Mandarin but when spoken it’s a whole new level of understanding. At this point I carried on using the trusted process of keep handing them money until they seem to be satisfied.

So, breakfast eaten and ticket bought I was ready to head out as soon as Lisa arrived back from teaching. We planned today to go and visit the East Lake area, which neither of us had seen before. We got a train across town and then a taxi took us to the gates. I had realized by now that travelling around the city is never going to be expensive. For trains there is a single price for a single ticket anywhere and similarly the buses are a fixed single price too. If there is not route with the buses or metro then a taxi is rarely more than 30 Yuan (around £3)

Drive

On the Boat

East Lake was so far the best area I had visited and it seems hard at this point to envisage anything else topping it, not that I will stop looking for something. The lake itself is vast and I was told at its deepest point is around 33 meters. The first thing we did when we arrived was walk right past the gates into the park area as we spotted a mini dock for motorboat trips etc. As we made it down towards the boat area we realized that nobody was really around and only until we reached the dock itself did we see the 3 or 4 boat drivers. Although holding maybe 100 little boats there were so few people there it suggested that it was definitely not a busy business anymore. Nevertheless, we hired a boat for 120 Yuan for a short trip but it demonstrated the size of the lake plenty. The boat was great fun and even a little romantic, the driver was friendly and although staying quiet she didn’t mind being in our photos and waiting for us to take our photos. We passed a local man on his boat on our way back in and we gave him a shout and a wave. He stripped down naked and jumped in the river to impress us and to be fair it did!

Initially I felt locals seemed to be unhappy with our presence, Lisa explained to me that the word ‘Lauwai’ was a derogatory term referring to clueless tourists and on a number of occasions I heard people saying this to us or about us when in the markets.  Even though I was not particularly surprised it was often a little disheartening to see how impatient locals were with a struggling tourist trying to improve there understanding of the culture.

Once back on solid ground we walked back to the entrance gate with no idea what to expect, the first attraction that caught our eye was a miniature village built of houses all of which were named after European cities. At first glance it seemed like just a bit of fun but as we ventured into the mini village we discovered the homes seemed to be lived in. Fairly astonishing considering the size.

East lake miniature village

Moving alongside the lake we came to another beautiful building that sat in the center of a part of the lake sectioned off. This building was linked with the edge via a number of walkways along the water. We had some great photos here and it probably was my favourite section of East Lake.

The area of the lake we visited stretched over around a mile or so, there were buildings and memorials dedicated to a famous poet who spent a lot of his time writing his work. One of which was a great vantage point that overlooked the lake and its surrounding scenery. As well as these memorials there were countless statues and floral displays. The lake, at many points, had lily pads growing out for meters which gave an impression there was solid ground below and you could just walk out to the visible water edge.

East lake water buildings

East lake water buildings

I really cannot give East Lake the true justice it deserves and can only recommend anybody that is visiting the Wuhan area append the day wandering through the many charms and treasures that the surrounding area holds.

Fortunately we made it to the end of the attractions just as we needed to turn back to make our train to Beijing and so with a short trip for some more street food, beef pancake wraps and dumplings. Both of which are quickly becoming my heroine out here, as they taste amazing and cost next to nothing.  We got our train and then tried, without success, to claw back some more of the sleep deprived from me this past few days. 

Lisa and a damn big wall!

Willow trees

East lake bridge