Burlington to Wuhan

My recent journey to China was utterly amazing. I'm still finding it difficult to put the experience into words, because the whole journey was a torrent of new experiences, and isn't life more about what you experience on a journey than where it takes you anyway? And I'll be the first to say this was one hell of an interesting journey.

Take for example, the very beginning of the trip. This was the first time I've been on an airplane since I was around 12 years old; My first time ever leaving the US. And I can tell you that planes are much less exciting now than when I was a little kid. And after our, two hour hangout at the Burlington airport, two hour flight to the great state of New Jersey, Four hour layover there, 16 hour flight to Beijing, and another two hour flight to Wuhan, I had had my fill of airplanes and airports for a while and I was ready to explore China.

The Newark Airport

My stay in Wuhan was awesome, the first night we stayed in a hotel downtown and I have to say that Even though that night it was too late to see most of the buildings in their neon-coated glory it was definitely a sight to see. Although after hours on a plane, and a bus, and an hour or so of exploring the city on foot, I can't say my first experience with a Chinese bed was a comforting one; most mattresses in China seem like they're made of bricks.

The lobby of our hotel in Wuhan

The next day we got some awesome food on Breakfast street in Wuhan; Hot-Dry Noodles are pretty good if you like soy sauce and peanuts; On s side note, later in my stay in Wuhan I did eat a fish eyeball it didn't taste foul or anything, just a bit like weirdly hard wet chalk. A quick sketch of some fish eyeball

After our breakfast we went to a beautiful Buddhist temple where we received fortune cards with a specific Buddha on it, mine happened to be strangling a dragon, which is pretty cool.

My interpretation of Buddha Laying the smackdown on a dragon

Giant statue behind the temple

After that I visited a park, and a Museum, which were really cook, the park especially since it was liberally sprinkled with some really epic statues.

A really awesome statue from the park, which I decided to quickly sketch

After that one of our major trip coordinators' Steve Wilmarth Introduced us to some of his students who would be our hosts for the next two nights, Noctis, whose home we would be staying at, and his friend Eric who would be staying too in order to meet my buddy Alex and myself. After settling in at Noctis's home, having a wonderful meal, watching a few minutes of Chinese soap operas on TV and seeing some intense Mahjong being played,

A sketch of one of the numerous crystal chandeliers in Noctis' home

Noctis' Father invited us to tour Wuhan Yiheng Heavy Industries Co. the giant steel factory which he owned the next morning, which was really cool to see, the factory was pretty much like any factory you'd see in the US, except that it had 2000 workers on duty per shift. We were told that the factory operates 24-7 and most of the workers live in dormitories on-site, a bus was required to tour the whole facility. It was really eyeopening to see the the economic powerhouse behind China so up close. In fact I'd have to say the entire journey In Wuhan was eyeopening.

Eric, me, Noctis, Alex, Noctis' Father, and Noctis' Mother in front of a big machine