Day 38 (9-4-2009) - City of Hankou

There is some sense of liberation in the air today as we finally completed Quiz 5, the last quiz. There’s also a feeling that everyone will pass it easily.

After Quiz 5 we went to visit one of the other 2 cities in Wuhan, Hankou. Just so you may know, the one I’ve been living in is Wuchang, the so called cultural city. Hanyang is the industrial city, and Hankou is the commercial city. True enough, Hankou is a very modern and urban place. The place we went to reminded me a little bit of Singapore’s Boat Quay, without the river. Its buildings are more modern, but it also has preserved some buildings which are stated to be “heritage architecture”.

Surprisingly, the things there are also very cheap, so shopping was a blast for everyone. So after much shopping, we visited the Hankou river beach.

I could not believe how beautiful this place was; a beach by the river, connected to a park, and shopping malls. It was just too bad we could not spend more time over there. We could have had a picnic, fly some kites; play with the sands, but there was just not enough time, also reminding me of how soon it is until our stay here ends.

Hankou has some buildings which have become important monuments.

The look on the shopping streets.

At first look, a corner or backalley like this is something you would want to avoid. But it is exactly places like these where you can get those mythical (imitation) goods for very good prices.

Bargaining is a common activity.
The most outrageous thing that happened was that we managed to make the owner offer us a watch for 40 yuan, when the starting price was 400 yuan.

Take it to the streets..

Needless to say, we shopped alot.

Took some photos, and then it's back to our dorms.