Day 5

Xi'an - Wuhan - Jingzhou

Date - 7 May

Weather - Hazy, overcast; light rain and cold in the afternoon

Accommodation - Wyndham Jingzhou Hotel 


We were up bright and early despite the previous day being a busy one. It was a day of travel by plane and coach to get us into position for the four-night Yangtze River Cruise. 


Our bus departed the hotel at 7.00am for the 10.05am flight and Mike gave us another Chinese language lesson on the way. Each day we practice simple words and phrases which could come in handy. We are using "Bu" frequently when we want to shoo away the street vendors which the Chinese call "mosquitoes" as they buzz around.


The roads throughout the Xi'an city centre were wet as they are hosed twice a day to keep the city clean. As we drove north to the airport we once again passed many high rise buildings and a new section being built for 2.5 million residents. 



As part of the Chinese Government's Five Year Project people are being moved from an old section of Xi'an which will be demolished. Another five year project has been as what Mike says is "a revolution in toilets". We have no complaints about the toilets so the revolution is working!


Our flight to Wuhan which is south east of Xi'an took 1.5 hours. Security is tight at the airports and we all get a full-body pat down each time we catch a flight. We arrived in very heavy cloud and smog. Before setting out on our coach ride we had a delicious and different round-table lunch at an airport restaurant. 


Our coach ride to our destination of Jingzhou west of Wuhan which is located on the banks of the Yangtze River skirted around Wuhan. This city has a population of 12 million and is a huge industrial centre including car manufacturing. 



It was relaxing to sit back and view the countryside and listen to Mike's commentary. It rained lightly in the afternoon as we drove past flat, farming land and large areas of land under water which was dedicated to rice cultivation. The trip along with a "Happy Place Stop" took 3 hours and we arrived at Jingzhou at 4.30pm. 


Upon arrival at the hotel we had a quick turn-around as we were picked up for an early dinner at 5.15pm. This was good as it has meant an early night after an early start. Tomorrow is a later start. We need to have our bags outside our room by 8.45pm but we aren't being picked up until 9.30am. Tomorrow evening we will be on the boat on the Yangtze River. 

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