Wuhan - Temperature Down, Humidity Up

24th October 2008

Whilst the temperature in Wuhan is dropping noticeably, unfortunately the humidity is not: the other day it was 22 degrees and raining but the humidity was 100%! I've joined the locals and now ride my bike while holding an umbrella.

I had an interesting experience the other Sunday at the local park. A respectable-looking 28 y.o. Chinese lady nurse came up to me wanting to speak English. Although she spoke broken English we managed to get through quite a conversation, including finding out that she was not married nor did she have a boyfriend. To make the story short:

• I was sitting on a bench with a bag of roasted chestnuts between my legs
• Although I offered her some, she refused but insisted I take one of her two bananas she was carrying!
• We swapped some short language lessons where she taught me how to say "I love you" in Chinese
• She asked for my mobile number and said she was due to start her shift at the hospital
• She appeared all excited at such a venture and asked if she could give me a hug (who said Chinese ladies were shy and conservative?).

However, over a week has passed and no call - oh well, at least she didn't have an ulterior motive...
The value of the Australian dollar has dropped 50% against the Yuan in the last 3 months. Even so, some things are still comparatively cheap: I bought some more DVDs and for 8Y (under $2) I got a Blu-ray disc with 8 full-length movies on it. That was also the cost of my first haircut in China.

The 25th of October was the 110th anniversary of the university. The first photo was taken in one of the classrooms:

• First photo is me in a role play with my Chinese English teacher "minder" + 3 other English teachers (the male being an American who married a Chinese lady and is now living in China) - No, I won't be following suit!
• The second photo is a performance of the "Ringing of the Bells" at the Hubei Imperial Museum

I visited a teacher who is living on the university campus and although the exterior is slightly cleaner than my surroundings, the interior looked distinctly inferior to mine (especially as it is accommodating a couple, their baby and mother-in-law) - I'm now starting to feel that my spacious apartment isn't so bad after all.

In early November I am planning to tour the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang and then cruise upstream on the Yangtse river onto Chingqang. If my camera arrives from Australia in time I will send some photos.


Until next report... Renzo