Wuhan (武汉) is the capital city of Hubei Province (湖北省), a big city with over 10 million people, but not that big by Chinese standard compare to other main big cities like Shanghai or Beijing. On this trip, I was going to meet a friend in Qingdao and then go the Beijing after Qingdao. I wanted to do all my travels this time by high speed train but Qingdao was far apart from Yangshuo and Guilin, it would take me more than 10 hours to travel from Guilin to Qingdao by high speed train so I decided to stop by Wuhan and rest up a bit before I hit the road again from there to Qingdao. Guilin to Wuhan, 5 hours by high speed train, Wuhan to Qingdao, 8 hours, this way, I could travel comfortably on each train ride and get to see a city Wuhan out of my plan. 2 birds were killed by one stone. A little heads up for those who want to travel in China by trains, prices for normal speed train ride seem tempting, but don't make it more than 5 hours because seats are not very comfortable, passengers are allowed smoke in the trains and I heard a lot of foreigners complain after they did it. As for high speed trains, they are smoke free and with very good seats, you can travel very comfortably on them but kind of pricey. Anyways, Check out the pictures I took when I in Wuhan.
A fountain square in front of Wuhan Happy Valley, a theme park. Families with kids were having fun bathing in the fountain spring in the height of summer.
Yangtse River flows through the heart of Wuhan and it's been fertilizing the city for thousands of years.
Fishermen's boats.
Wuhan is one of the few cities that still have trolleybuses in China.
The watermelons were so tiny that I felt like I just ate an apple.
No offense, to be honest, when I was roaming in Wuhan, I've seen the most hideous hotel of all time...see the picture above...
Wuhan has always been an important military stronghold, the picture above was the Hubei warlord's government building during that Warlord Era in China's recently history.
Wuhan witnessed the Revolution of 1911 (辛亥革命), Sun Yat-sen's statue stands in front of the warlord's buidling.
Wuhan once was the concession of many western countries, a lot of foreign buildings were built and left until today.
The Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼) was definitely the icon for Wuhan, and it's one of the 4 most famous towers in China.
Wuhan Dry Noodle (武汉热干面) was one of the local specialties, try it when you are there. Wuhan is not a tourist city, but it has its own charm, doesn't hurt to tour it out when you have enough time in China, and if you don't have that much time touring in China, you might want to cross it off from your list.