Day 12 - Grand Tourer

East Lake
This lake is the biggest scenery tourist attraction in Wuhan and also the largest lake within a city in China. It is located on the south side of the Yangtze River and covers up to 87 square kilometers.


Angler
Patiently waiting for a fish by the lotus plants. How would you expect a large fish to be so close to shore? The answer is simple. Even large fishes take shelter around plants, pillars, and rocky areas. Perhaps, they also come close to shore to hunt for smaller fishes.



Boatman
The depth of East Lake River is probably 3.5m deep. Therefore, this boatman can use a long bamboo stick to maneuver his boat around with ease.



Elderly Tennis Star
Strolling around the lake and taking every breath of fresh air is so relaxing. I came by an elderly man around 70 years of age playing tennis. However, this is no ordinary two-player tennis, it is a single player with a tennis ball attached to a string on the ground. How innovative!



Hubei Provincial Museum
Moving on to the museum. This museum collects, protects, and exhibits the cultural relics discovered in the province. According to the tour guide, since 1953, the museum has been collecting cultural relics, including pottery, porcelains, jade, bronze vessels, ancient weapons, and ancient musical instruments.


Crossbow
This weapon consists of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles called bolts. The Chinese literary records date and place of the invention of the crossbow in China to the Warring States period state of Chu, at about 500BC. It is a very useful weapon as it can be used against enemies from long distances and is stable as the bow is mounted, unlike aiming an arrow on a bow for a long time.


Stallion Armour
Even the ancient stallions were armored to protect them from enemy shrapnel or blades. A knight has to depend on his horse to be versatile and swift.


Food Street
This is heaven for us! There were long rows of food stores selling a large variety of tasty and yet, HEALTHY FOODS! After one and a half weeks of boring school food, we were introduced to a food haven. The food here is not that oily and salty as compared to those near our campus.



Xiao Long Bao
This dish is about the same standard as Singapore's, and is really mouthwatering. Unlike the one in our campus, which is the mini version of "Da Bao", and tastes horrible. This dish costs only $10yuan (S$2). Tasty and healthy, just like killing two birds with one stone!


Yellow Crane Tower
We moved on to the Yellow Crane Tower after a scrumptious meal. This tower is located on Snake Hill in Wuhan, which enjoys the fame of "The First Scenery under Heaven". According to the tour guide, the Yellow Crane Tower was built by the family of an old pothouse owner living in Wuhan City long ago.


Top Floor
How's the view from the highest floor of the Yellow Crane Tower? It's GORGEOUS! Everything appears so tiny, and my view stretches far out to the horizon.



Freight Train
How coincidental! I heard the rattle of the tracks and soon came the freight train. I thought there would only be 5 cars, but WHOALA! There were a total of 40 rail cars. It seemed never ending. This railway probably stretches from one end of China to another to supply logistical functions. And railway is the cheapest transportation mode as compared to air, sea, and motor (road) mode.



Wealth Pot
This pot consists of two golden handles by the side where a person is supposed to use his palms while it's wet to rub against the handles. Different people rubbing the pot will have different levels of vibrations, and these vibrations causes the water to spurt upwards. They claimed that the higher the spurting of water, the wealthier a person is.

REFLECTIONS

I learn that the Yangtze River is home to a lot of natural attractions. It is the third longest river in the world, and it provides life to many who lives by this river. They use it for laundry, bathing, drinking, washing, and even fishing. I've also discovered many ancient relics of China, such as olden day weapons and equipments, and what they used to fight the war. However in recent times, people are using nuclear technology to fend of would-be attackers by "instilling" fear. In the case of Singapore, we have a strong army, navy, and air force ready for stand off. I am proud to say that Singapore has developed from using a traditional single bolt rifle to an automatic rifle which fires 750 rounds per minute. I believe Singapore's armed forces have reached high levels of weapons technology just that it is classified and not displayed for public discretion.

Railcars can carry large quantities of bulky items at low costs. Everywhere in the world requires some form of logistics service, even a roadside store requires food such as rice to be delivered to them. Therefore, logistics is a business which never dies no matter how bad the economy is.


All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.
-Francois Fenelon