From to Huang Shan to Wuhan

The next part of our trip called for waking up around 7:30 AM and being rushed by the hostel's van (imagine being in a small van going at break-neck speed around cars on the other side of the road facing oncoming traffic, I'll admit I closed my eyes a few times) to the local long-distance bus station, where the bus left as soon as we got on. Talk about close calls. This being our first long distance bus ride on our own, we didn't know what to expect. We had bought tickets for this 10 hour bus from Huang Shan to Wuhan. Once we got on the bus and found it air-conditioned and only half full, we concluded that it would be a 10 hour comfortable ride. And it was...the first 3-4 hours we drove through open country with hills around, having a couple seats to ourselves and just enjoying the scenery outside. Chinese long distance buses have an interesting system: onboard there is the driver, who obviously drives (crazily most the time, but I'm still alive so it works), and then there is the "lao ban" (boss). This person is in charge of the passengers but also will pick up random people on the side of the road to make some extra money. Long distance buses in America don't stop to pick up hitch hikers, but in China this is not the case. We couldn't help but laugh as sometimes we'd stop literally on the side of this country road, and suddenly two farmer people would come out of the bushes and get on the bus (later the lao ban would talk with us and say that people had her cell phone number, I don't know how). Besides being randomly told to get off the bus half way through the ride underneath a random freeway overpass and being reassured that we would be picked up by another bus (which luckily we were), the ride was overall pleasant.

We arrived in Wuhan around 6 pm and after a little trouble with the taxi driver found the hostel that we had booked. Since I'm writing this blog after completing my trip, I can tell you that Chinese hostels are all awesome places to stay. For a six person dorm-like room (bunk beds), rooms usually cost around 20 to 35 RMB (3-5 US dollars), and have awesome facilities to relax and hang out. Hostels are a relatively new concept in China, so all of them do their best to provide backpackers the best possible service possible.

In all honesty, Wuhan is simply just a transportation hub along the Yangzi without much tourist appeal. We stayed there for two nights, meeting up with our two other friends, Andrew and Adi, the 2nd day, and walked around the city a lot. The city is on both sides the brown-watered Yangzi River, but is covered in factory smog and and not too appealing to the eye. Nevertheless, the hostel staff was one of the best in our trip and helped us book our next part of our travels: the famed Little Three Gorges on the Yangzi River.