Tuesday 19 March 2024

Visiting the Three Gorges Dam - Yichang

Avoiding all kind of tourist trap and tour guides for Three Gorges Dam, I tickle out the most economical way to see the Dam. Local bus from downtown Yichang too me to a small private / semi-goverment linked bus stop where local tourist could get a bus transfer No.8 or No. 216 which cost RMB 10 one way to the Three Gorges Dam scenic area.

Local Bus Transfer Station for No.216

Bus 216 From Yichang to Three Gorges Dam

The bus takes me all the way to the starting point of the Three Gorges Dam scenic tourist area a good 30+ km. Three Gorges Dam scenic area was free to all however, to get there a shuttle bus is required and driving own vehicle don’t seam to cut it either since it has to go through a few military check point. Hence the shuttle bus ticket price of RMB 35 seams to be the un-disguised entrance fee to see the Three Gorges Dam.

Tourist Center of Three Gorges Dam

Overview Tourist Map of Three Gorges Dam

First Shuttle Stop View Point 

The govement approved tourist center tried to sell me a package of shuttle bus to see the Dam then a cruise boat back to Yichang. The cruise boat cost around RMB 180 so I gave it a hard pass and opt for the cheapest possible way to visit Three George Dam. 

The shuttle bus from scenic point to scenic point for RMB 35. All in all it cost me RMB10 to the Starting Point, RMB 35 for shuttle bus, RMB 10 to get back to Yichang. A good 4 hours round journey tour which I peg it as a great cheap sightseeing day.

Shiplock Gateway for Three Gorges Dam

Marker Stone for Three Gorges Dam Viewpoint 

Three Gorges Dam. Its not ave aspiring beautiful but the engineering feat of the project does captivate me being in the same industry. I guess this place is not so popular as other scenic area as it really depend on specific interest.

Three Gorges Dam - China 

Three Gorges Dam - China 

School Excursion to the Three Gorges Dam - China 


After visiting the Dam, I returned to Yichang and rounded back on the public bus No. 10 to get to another scenic spot called Sanyoudong but end up not entering as there was an entrance ticket of RMB 65. The bus there was only RMB 2 so still worth the small detour to see some nice scenery outside the ticket booth.

Sanyoudong Scenic Entrance

The View Outside Sanyoudong Scenic Area 

Traveled On: Nov 2023


Friday 15 March 2024

Recharge in Yichang

From Wuhan I took the train to Yichang. Not much excitement there as I more or less figured out how to work the train system in China with AMAP as a guide. Reached Yichang and activated Alipay Buscard for Yichang which makes life so much simpler not needing to find spare change. Yichang does not have a metro system as of 2023 so bus were the main mode of transport. RMB 2 for each ride be it long or short.

Window View from Train Journey to Yichang

I finally upgraded from hostel to full fledge Hotel room. Sleeping on 1 inch bed on hard wood for a week has made me sucumb to a little luxury to give me back my sanity. Proper bed, Queen size bed in fact for two person of RMB 89 per night is actually pretty good. I keep thinking the price I pay which is for 1 person but if I had a partner this would be a no brainer coz hostel cost nearly RMB 40 per person and two person would make up RMB 80.

Hotel in Yichang

Great toilet too, not the squat type but western bowl with clean hot shower area. I could only take a few days of grimy toilet for shower and eventually Yichang was to satisfy a few things at the same time. Good Toilet, soft bed and of course private space to get laundry done.

Laundry is by far the most hardest thing for a backpacker in China in my opinion. There are no coin laundry and normal laundry needs to wait a day to collect. Some big cities with international standard hostel (those that have proper bed and not the 1 inch mattress) would have a washing machine for use but dryers are quite a rare species to find. I found one in Suzhou and took the chance to wash everything although I still had a few days before it was due.

The rule was, whenever there is a chance to do quick laundry, its best to get it done. So here I am in Yichang in a private room with private bathroom. Everything into the sink for a hand wash immediatly after check in to give it as much time as possible to dry. Hence Yichang was a 2 night affair to allow laundry to dry.

Walking Around Yichang 

Walking Around Yichang

Although a gateway to the Three Gorges Dam, Yichang was relatively untouch by mass tourism. Most travellers would go through the Yangtze river cruise to see the Dam and surounding and barely giving Yichang a stop to explore. 

Budget backpacker like me which did not have the funds for a expensive cruise might end up in Yichang, but the lack of international tourist means almost no hostels in play and no touristic amenities. Yichang is a rare unpolished gem I would say, being so close to a world class engineering marvel.

Traveled on: Nov 2023


Tuesday 12 March 2024

A Muliple Chance Encounter in Wuhan

Today Wuhan was somehow sustained by pure touristic enthusiaem. After switching hostel early in the morning around 8am, and somehow the hostel let me checked in by 9am, I found myself with a warm bath but not ready to go back to sleep. Hence by 10am I headed out for some food only to drift all the way to The Yellow Crane Tower scenic area and yet found no food.

Yellow Crane Tower - Wuhan

I bought the entrance ticket for RMB 70, headed in and just that first few pace out the gate all kinds of people was entraped with photo taking. An old lady pulled me over and asked for my help in taking pictures for her. 

I obliged and joking said she has to take one for me too. After the exchange we slowly wander inwards and somehow stopped at the same spot to take photos of the Crane statue. She asked for more photos and started explaning to me the meaning of the statue.

Crane Statue in front of Yellow Crane Tower - Wuhan 

Mosiac Drawing inside Yellow Crane Tower - Wuhan

View of Wuhan City at Yellow Crane Tower 

I told the old lady that I was a foreigner and not a local with limited vocabulary in mandarin. Somehow one way or another, We ended up exploring the whole attraction together. 

Apparently her son was outside waiting for he did not want to pay the entrance fee and She was on elderly pass hence free. An unexpected acompanyment which she did try to explain many things to me yet I could only smile and apologies to my ignorance.

Yellow Crane Tower Gardens 

Giant Bell at Yellow Crane Tower - Wuhan

A Local Encounter at Yellow Crane Tower - Wuhan

Wuhan Yellow Crane Tower was a rebuilt apparently. It has always been there and throughout the centuries has been burn down many times. Its a touristic thing to do in Wuhan for sure but its not something to be missed.

While walking around the gardens I received a wechat message wrom Wang which I met on the train the previous day. Meet up for coffee was arranged and we met at 4pm with his friend and his girlfriend. 

Lovely Suzuki GN 125 in China

Standard tales exchange as they were courious on how I was travelling and I naturally was just curious of locals and their lifestyle. Wang brought me back to his tattoo studio and showed me his beautifully bought in 2022 Suzuki GN 125 motorcycle.

I was invited for dinner and managed to get some street food (Lu Cai) with soup which would have never had happen if I had not met them. The local experience as always is priceless. 

Soup Restaurant

Soup Restaurant

Pork Rib & Lotus Root Soup

Local Street Food - Lu Cai 

Local Street Food - Lu Cai 

In a sense its a shame that I had only a day in Wuhan. This city was on the scale of Shanghai and I could feel that this was a city with a lot of hidden gems. Alas my slept deprevation cause me to not think clearly and left Wuhan prematurely to Yichang.

Wuhan City at Night by the River - Synchronize Light Show 

Traveled on: November 2023

Friday 8 March 2024

Continuation of Desperation in Wuhan & Introduction to Smoking Hostels China

Hefei was a missed and jumping back onto the bullet train to Wuhan at 7pm means it was now a mini adventure where things are no longer within any of my backup plans. 

Fueled with slight anger, frustation and the anxiety to find a place to sleep for the night in Wuhan, I deligently checked all the booking websites, marked all the potential hostels, address locations and made the thrid booking for a hostel within the same day.

Lack of preperation and focus on finding a place to stay in Wuhan left me a bit distracted while inside the train. At one point I was not sure which station in Wuhan was the train going to stop and missing the stop might just shoot me to another city which I would be totally unprepared. 

Wuhan while slightly off tangent, was still part of the route I had laid out previously. I resorted to asking the passanger next to me which stop was my ticket showing and he told me it was the immediate next one.

Wang was a curious one. My lack of ability to read yet able to ask him specific questions in mandarin made him engage and asked me a few questions. Once the ice was broken that I was a tourist backpacking China, Wang warm up and asked more question on the mental and fortitude for travelling long time and to far away places alone.

The time was short as Wuhan was comming up real quick but Wang was also from Wuhan returning home. We exchange a quick wechat contact which would give me a local experience in Wuhan the next day. 

Wuhan Metro Token

I realized later that it was very common in China for one to exchange wechat only to never contact each other. It felt like a reminances of the asian trait that they would invite guest to their home as a friendly conversation whereby in the western culture invitation to home visit was a sacred privilage. In a way both cultures seam to have pass down the traits to phone contact etiquate.

Finding the Hostel in Wuhan

Arrived Wuhan and hit the metro navigating to the first hostel. I arrived a big tall building base on the GPS navigation but again there was no sign of where the hostel was. I made a guess and entered a lobby and asked a nice chap that was just standing there with his phone for help. He confirmed that I was at the right building and the right block and that I just needed to go upstairs to level 27.

This building elevator was crazy busy as well with so many people going in and out. Elevator was decked out with advertisement and each floor that stop seams to have some sort of establishment run out of the apartment such as gaming shop, nail shop, book shop etc. There was no signs for the hostel at level 27. I followed the noise and stepped into an apartment with everyone at the living room looking at me, I still did not know if I was at the right place.

View of Wuhan from the Hostel Window

A bro approached me and I asked him if this was the hostel, I actually showed him the info in English and he said not sure. Switched off translation mode and show him again and viola, yes this is the hostel. 

*internal facepalm* 

The hostel was basicly an appartment turned hostel. Suits me fine as it’s usually cosy for these type. They showed me the room and bunks which seams ok ... clean and then we negotiated the price per night.

A Clean but smoking dorm Hostel

I paid RMB 70 for three night which was within my budget and then he gave me a tour of the place. Toilet was clean but crap squat and looked messy as hell. Chucked my stuff .... got a shower and just as I was about to rest, a whiff of cig smoke could be smelled slowly passing though the room out the window. I will never understand the concept of a smoking dorm room in China.

The next day I woke up with a backache. The beds in China hostels seams to be following a trend. Made from timber nailed together and place with a 1 inch thick mattress loosely covered with bedsheets and a thick duvet. Heck the duvet is thicker than the mattress which became my dilemma to use is a a cover or a matress coz it’s also damn cold now pre-winter.

In a sense only the first hostel in Shanghai had a nice thick bed. I cant even tell if there is a bed now and feels more like I am sleeping on plank. Heck camping out and sleeping on the ground feels much more comfortable yet this looks like the norm in China budget hostels.

A typical Budget Hostel Setup in China. Check out the timber planks above.

And ontop the timber plan is a 1inch thick matress. 

Although I already paid RMB 70 for three nights, the lack of sleep due to constant whiff of cig smoke coupled with a messy toilet promt me to leave the place bright and early in the morning. I did not even bother to try and bargain back the money for the next two nights and just left with all my bags as this hostel with every stranger walking in and out freely felt like a theft waiting to happen.

Jumping to the second hostel in Wuhan and this one had the same arrangement albeit slightly improved. 1 inch thick mattress, clean toilets and no smoking inside the dorm. In total I spend RMB 100 for 4 nights but stayed only two so about RMB 50 per night. At this rate, I wont last long so for Yichang I am hoping to catch two nights at a HOTEL with proper bed and hopefully recharge.

Wuhan is not cutting it for me to rest and see so with the money spend on 4 nights in hostel but staying only two night, I’ll make a quicker dash for Yichang. Thinking back, if I had found a good place to stay in Wuhan, this city had so much potential to explore that I would probabaly be stuck in Wuhan a week.

Traveled on: November 2023


Tuesday 5 March 2024

The Failed Trip to Hefei

The plan was, to go from Suzhou to Hefei via bullet train and stay there for the night and visit the Bao Memorial temple. Bao was the famous figurehead of a just and fair judge during ancient times protrayed in many chinese drama that even banana like me knew about him. 

There is not much to do in Hefei according to the web and I thought just a quick dash for a night and visit the memorial before going to Wuhan would be a good break, for Suzhou to Wuhan was about 700km and a average 5 hours train journey.

Bullettrain to Hefei 

I reached the train station early at 930am but the next ticket to Hefei was at 12pm so it as just a time burner again. It was my first time navigating the bullet train in China and I have to say it was really very simple. I reached Hefei by 3pm and navigated the metro system to find the first hostel that I booked, Makerhouse Hostel.

Inside the Train Station in Suzhou

Crab Souvinear Stall inside the Train Station - Suzhou

Suzhou Souvinear - Crabs 

Somehow ended up in some residensial area with nothing nearby and a crack load of construction work. I had to walk next to the bulldozer to get to the building according to the map and then there was not a single sign of the Hostel. Rather there was a sign but it was totally written in Chinese. What was the point of putting the hostel name in English and listing in internation website if there is no signs for forigners to find it.

I ended up being blunt and walk into the apartment building going up the lift to the matching floor to have a look and there was only one one door which was wide open. I think it was the place, it looked like the photos in the website but totally without filter which means the place was filthy, I dun have high standards, althou with age I have lesser and lesser tolerence in some sense yet I do remember certain experience in India and this was comparable.

There was nobody around as well, so there was no way I was going to stay here with construction madness outside and dodgy looking one night stand hostel with no locks on door where anyone can come in. I canceled the booking online and headed to the next hostel on the list. Back to the metro and navigate again to the other side of Hefei.

This hostel was also unmarked. I seriusly wonder how do anyone find these type of hostel if they cant read chinese. Address in English is useless for the last mile really. Navigation can only get you so far then you have to somehow figure out which door to go in and which floor to go up and which room it is.

With my limited ability to speak the local languege, I was still able to find the 2nd hostel. Up to the Doorstep, there was no sign and worst no bell and no one to answer the door. I was starting to wonder if I was at the wrong place. Another guy came up to the door and key in some code to the keypad and open the door. I was not shy at all to be frank and just followed him in. Yep it was the hostel alright but without anyone to man the place. Also filthy like crazy and filled with ciggarate smoke.

I gave up at that point and canceled the 2nd Hefei hostel booking of the day and headed back to the train station. To Wuhan I told the ticket officer and boarded the late evening train of 7pm to Wuhan. This time I had phobia so thoughout the train ride I was looking very hard for hostels and having multiple of them pinned on maps for back ups. There was nowhere else to run to and I needed a place to sleep.

Traveled on: November 2023