WUHAN

Sunday, 23 April. Easter Sunday! We were up at 6:45 and had breakfast at 8:00. This was the end of the cruise, so we had to pack again. Jane went to an hour lecture on pearls. We docked at Wuhan at 10:15, had lunch on board at 11:15, and disembarked an hour later.

A bus took us to the Jianghan Hotel (so named because the Han River flows into the Jiang [Yangtze] at Wuhan. The hotel building is more than 100 years old and had served as the French Consulate during the late 19^th century foreign occupation of China. Naturally it's in an old neighborhood, and it doesn't look like much from the outside, but it's very nice inside. Such notables as Mao Ze Dong, Chou En Lai, and Deng Xiao Ping were listed as former guests.

Concert of ancient instruments

At 1:45 the bus took us to visit the new Hubei Provincial Museum. It featured the contents of a 2,500 year old tomb found in remarkable condition in 1978. Not only the wood, but also the cloth in the tomb was preserved. There was an auditorium where we enjoyed a concert of brass bells and ancient instruments, all replicas of those found in the tomb.

Next we went to the Yellow Crane Tower (1986), the city's landmark. The original Yellow Crane Tower is said to date from 223 B.C., but it's been destroyed and rebuilt several times. There was a great view from the top, even though there was a lot of smog. Close by was the first bridge over the Yangtze, a combination highway/railway bridge, built by the Russians in the 1950's.

Yellow Crane Tower

Tiles showing yellow crane

View from Tower

We got back to the hotel about 6:00 p.m. Our luggage had arrived from the Victoria Pearl. We had dinner at 6:45 and had a restful evening in preparation for another early start in the morning.