Our day trip to Hankou and Wuhan Heaven and Earth (Wuhan Tian Di)

This past Saturday Nathan and I took a day trip to Hankou, one of the three original cities that merged to form the modern day Wuhan. Hankou literally means "The Mouth of the Han," and is at the confluence Han River and the Chang Jiang (what we call the Yangtze) River. We went to the FedEx in Hankou to attempt to deliver some packages. I am actually still in shock that we found it. First of all, it took about five or six taxis before we finally found a driver who understood what we were trying to say and said he knew where the FedEx in Hankou actually was. Then, when we were finally in Hankou, he dropped us off at this giant department store, gesturing that the FedEx was on one of the upper floors of the building. Not knowing how to argue with this, we paid and got out. We wandered around the department store for a bit before asking one of the door guards if he knew where the FedEx was. He said something about it being on the fourth floor (or at least that's what we thought he said), but after finding only kitchen appliances and bedding on the fourth floor, we returned to ask him again, thinking we must have misunderstood. This time he took us over to some elevators on the other side of the entryway (we had been taking a different set of escalators prior to this) and again, he held up four fingers and said what we understood to be "fourth floor." We pushed the up button to get onto one of the twenty or so different elevators, and got in. This elevator, however, didn't have buttons to go to floors 2-4, it went straight from 1 to 5-30 something. A few other people got on too and so we just decided to get off whenever they did and catch an elevator back down to ask a different door guard how to get to the FedEx. The others on the elevator with us got off at floor 14, and so did we. We looked around the corner to see if there were more elevators that could take us to this mysterious fourth floor, and lo and behold, FedEx was right there. I don't know how we were so lucky! Through another long and challenging process we finally got our packages packed and some paperwork filled out and hopefully, someone will be coming to our apartment on Monday to pick up the packages for delivery. 

After this adventure, we stopped at a little coffeeshop to re-charge, and then caught another taxi to Wuhan Tian Di (or Wuhan Heaven and Earth), a park and shopping area we were told by our Chinese tutor is a good place to go in Wuhan. It was really beautiful--the park area was right by the Chang Jiang river and was full of beautiful gardens and fountains and forest areas. After a few hours of walking around, we stopped in the downtown area for a nice dinner. We found a Taiwanese restaurant and had some really flavorful and spicy fried tofu with vegetables, with a side of sauteed cabbage. It was a really wonderful day. Here are a bunch of pictures:

The path from our apartment out to campus

Some academic buildings

Not entirely sure what this place is but Chinese men always seem to be repairing old chairs and tables and the like out here.

The entrance to Culture Street, an area with a bunch of shops and restaurants.

Burton's, a Western style bar/restaurant, is on the left. Al Arabi, a Middle Eastern restaurant, is on the right. 

LuoYu street, where we go to catch the bus or get a taxi. It is constantly full of subway and other construction.

You can see here the motorbiker going in the opposite direction of traffic. We have decided there are so many people driving motorbikes here because it is easier to not follow traffic laws that way by just scooting in between cars and around traffic jams. Although it is not above vans and taxis to drive up on sidewalks in an attempt to get around traffic jams.

After a harrowing visit to FedEx in Hankou, we sought out a coffee or tea shop, and this is what we found. 

Nathan's espresso and my hot honey milk.

Outside the jazz bar across the street from Wuhan Tian Di.

I would tell you what this says if I could :)

This was some kind of museum with both a Chinese and a South African flag in front, as well as...

some awesome statues.

Just a warning at the entrance to the park/beach area at Wuhan Tian Di. No strong men allowed!

Kite flying is a big part of the whole area.

There were kite vendors everywhere.

We couldn't decide if these were actual wedding photos or a wedding photo shoot. 

There were all sorts of paths through the fluffy reeds out to the river, the Chang Jiang. This is apparently what the Chinese call the Yangtze River.

Cool bridge

"I want a picture that shows how tall the reeds are in comparison to me , but also with the river in the background."

Nathan getting all artsy.

Wish we knew what this building was for...

"Water and Stone Battle Formation" You could jump from platform to platform.

Walkway over the water

Good advice!

One of the cooler kites. Giant octopus! 

The downtown area of Wuhan Tian Di

Making an attempt at Christmas decorations.

And then, on our way out, a parade of Christmas clowns, women elves with fake snare drums, and a Santa sleigh with these people dressed in silver spandex with giant silver horns... still wondering what they were supposed to be.