Hubei

Huzzah! A new year to live on is here! I had one of the best times of my life and I was beyond happy for being able to spend the last days of 2012 in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China. Look it up on Google and you can already discover what it is. No explanation needed about the city. Well-developed. Rich in history and culture. It is one of those vibrant cities along the famous Yangtze river. I am so glad my dad let me join the trip/camp.

The best part of joining the trip here, is that I got to experience a homestay! I passed 2012 with my family host, and especially my homestay host, Bing qian-- I am almost 11 months younger than him. We have several things in common: 

1) Mando-pop, in which both of us listen to Lee Hom and Jay Zhou (google them). We got to spend the New Year's Eve with watching them, and other Chinese-Taiwanese artists performing live on TV until the countdown began. 

2) Calligraphy, in which he is very awesome at, meanwhile I have an interest learning it. And he has cool calligraphy books too! Wish I could photocopy them while I had the chance to do so.

3) TV Series and Anime, in which we both love Detective Conan =) By the way, one thing did surprise me; Bing qian's favorite actor is Wentworth Miller. 

..anyway, putting the talks about it aside, I had great times exploring the city as well with fellow campers, who apparently, came from different places in Indonesia; Palembang, Bali, Tasikmalaya, Solo, Medan and many more! 

Here are several pictures I took:

Sunlight was very rare here.

The one on the right is Bing qian, my home-stay host. He's in senior high school on prep for final exam. He was really good-natured and thoughtful. Not to mention that his family was very warm-hearted. I felt so welcomed and I am going to miss them. Can't wait to return to Wuhan and meet them again someday!

"..if you don't see this clock, you don't wish to visit Wuhan"

Jianghan Rd, one of the famous shopping area in Wuhan

New Year's eve at Yangtze riverside

January 1st 2013: make dumplings

January 1st 2013: see Yangtze River bridge no. 2

January 1st 2013: with Bing Qian and his father

January 1st 2013: I miss childhood

Fellow campers from Bus #3!!

______________

... A couple of problems:

They cancelled the trip to Yichang, where I could've visited the famous Three Gorges and the dam, because of the weather. I would be just fine with it if they were the one to explain but they did not. So it was a huge disappointment. They had no sense of being responsible for that particular matter, knowing that visiting the Three Gorges was one of the main reason I joined the camp. I lost my chance. 

That's too bad.

At first, I was offered Hubei and Hunan camp. As I looked at booklet Hunan camp, Zhangjiajie was the only place I knew-- I did not know the rest. In comparison to Hubei camp, they offered a home-stay programme and there were more places that I would love to see. So I decided to go to Hubei instead, although Hunan and Hubei are next to each other. 

Little did I know, Willis, who was on the same bus with me told me that some would leave on 7th because they would go to Zhangjiajie. Apparently, some requested and paid additional fee for two nights trip to Zhangjiajie by train from Wuhan. I could've extended my stay to visit Zhangjiajie in Hunan, if I were persistent enough-- unfortunately, not much gut. I had to pay more, booked plane ticket to return to Jakarta and many more. Everything was covered prior to our arrival at Hubei. Things were prone to go wrong, yet I had to manage all those things in just two days. I wish I had known about it earlier. Again, I lost my chance. 

That's too too too too bad.