10 November 2008

Back in Shanghai

I am back. Shanghai is colder than I remember - Lots of big clouds and chilling breezes have replaced light, misty rain and cool, delicate temperature.

Wuhan was a pleasant and rapidly developed city, much like Shanghai, but with a slightly slower, perhaps easier pace. My grand uncle took us on several remarkable trips across Hubei province / region. One of the most impressive city we visited was Shiyan, which was where the spectacular and amazing Wudang Mountain located. The sight was truly stoic and magnificent. First I was amazed by the stairs that led us up to the temples, not only were they stretched far in distance, they were also built both steep and narrow. It turned out to be quite a workout physically, and for me mentally as well... Because I had a fear for heights - so it was challenge to stay focused just on the stairs nothing else. The temples and sights alone were nothing to write home about, but considering that these were constructed all the way up in this freakishly tall and immense mountain hundreds and hundreds of years ago, they were nothing less than incredible. Those Taoists still practiced and worked in one of the main temples today. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit that specific temple. I'm saving that trip for the next time.

Another major trip we took was to Xiangfan. We visited the famed Zhuge-Liang site where some of very popular stories about him originated and perhaps re-imagined just for tourists. I didn't study Chinese histories very well and I knew very little of him, so this part of our journey was kind of "oh-really" for me. Luckily our tour guide was super fun and lively, she joked about each distinctive site and gave us a tongue-in-cheek story as well as a perfect reference to current newsmakers and events, that helped keep me interested throughout the entire visit.

When we were staying at my grand uncle's big apartment dad corrected on one of the trips we took. I thought the trip to Jingzhou was to visit Zhuge-Liang and the fortress, I was only half right. Besides the fortress, it was mostly for the kind of creepy Xiongjiazhong tomb. We first saw the silk work ancient Chinese people created and the fashion designs. We then saw the famed corps / mummy... Yes, Chinese people did have real mummies, and they were much much much more exciting than ones in the craptacular sequel starring Jet Li.

A couple of things I noticed while dining out like a true pig on my trips: 1. A lot more people smoked here than in LA, and I meant A LOT. It was refreshing to see Chinese guys just lit one up before and after a meal. Inside or outside the restaurant made no difference. It was sort of a national men sport. No I didn't like second-hand smoke, but smoking was accepted almost everywhere and by everyone. It was freeing. 2. In a big, multi-plate meal extravaganza, rice came last, always. I was used to having rice come with the first dish, but here, if you were participating a 20+ dishes lunch or dinner, rice came second to last or very last on the schedule. Yep... a bit strange, but hey low carb diet rules right? So after eating all that meat and fish and veges, having very little room for rice or skipping rice altogether doesn't sound that bad.

I didn't get to sleep very much when I was in Wuhan and going on different trips. So I am going to try to catch some tonight.

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