Folks, if you’re looking for a place to film Mad Max 4, may I suggest the metropolis of Wuhan, in the Hubei province – only 2 hours flight south from Beijing.
Reid was invited down there to attend the 8th China Arts festival, and I accompanied her to carry the baby and fetch her slippers. We were met at the airport by a fantastic local Government bloke who was enormously welcoming and helpful. After lunch at our (flash) hotel, we departed for the first item on our agenda, the Crane Watchtower, a tower that looks ancient, but has in fact been destroyed and rebuilt by 4 or 5 of preceeding dynasties – the current one was built by Mao’s dynasty (though our guide was at pains to not call it that).
The watchtower commands a fantastic view of Wuhan itself, a city that used to be three separate cities seperated by the Yangtze River – further upstream is the notorious Three Gorges Dam. Wuhan is not a pretty place – which may be a result of the grey weather, or maybe the factories in the distance pumping smog, or maybe the lack of interesting architecture, or maybe the lack of anything green. Dunno. But we took the photos, and got swamped by 1000 school kids who were big fans of the Fair-haired Child , and Nikki rang a rather large bell.
That night we were left to our own devices, so we had dinner in the hotel and the baby slept in the bathroom (okay, should probably explain this. Zara doesn’t sleep very well when she can stand up in the portacot and check out what we’re up to, so in nice flash hotels like this one, with nice flash large bathrooms, we set her up in there. Works a treat. Anyway…).
On Sunday, we went for a walk along the river and up ‘Commercial Street’, which looks just like Manners Mall except longer. We were looking for the picturesque ‘Old Wuhan’, but didn’t find it (Reid found it a day later, and said it was indeed picturesque). That afternoon, the lovely Government bloke took us to the other tourist and recreation spot in Wuhan, the East Lake – a large lake in a district of lots of other lakes, covered with powerboats, small electric boats, hardy parasailers, pedal-boats etc.
Reid, the baby and I took an electric boat out for spin and had a walk around, then it was time for us to head back to the hotel – Reid was to attend some Operatic Performance, while I was to attend to the Small Child.
On Monday we walked around what is reputably the most beautiful University in China (Wuhan University) after which I flew back to Beijing with the Child. Reid stayed behind to meet with various high-ranking officials and attend the Festival’s Opening Performance and Banquet (she also saw an art exhibition the next day, but then had to return to Beijing for some actual work).
All in all, an interesting visit. But probably a oncer- unless we visit the Three Gorges Dam, in which case the way there is through Wuhan.
(Click on the picture to view the gallery for this post)
