When the parents came to stay.....

On Monday, I took mum and dad to walk around Optics Valley Square, a huge London Oxford Street-esque shopping area. Mum was in heaven with all the shops, mainly consisting of shoes, handbags and coats! We haggled on everything (of course) and I managed to get a lovely coat. Then, we wandered through Spanish, German and Italian streets, which are built to resemble different European countries. However, it was freezing cold so we had to do lots of walking to stay warm! In the evening, I had to tutor back near my apartment so I let me parents loose in China and it was quite a terrifying thought. Que a 10.30pm text stating that they’d not only survived, but they’d also had a few drinks (half a bottle of rum to be exact) and had students helping them buy food and then wanting pictures! Don’t even know why I was worried....

It's still Christmas in China....obviously

Favourite mall at Optics Valley

Jo shopping for twosies

Her first McDonald's in 19 years...

Coca cola bottles!

Beer at German Street

Cultural area

On Tuesday morning, I was up, dressed and packed for our trip tomorrow by 9am but I had to wait for my slightly hungover parents to emerge from their hotel. Finally, after lunch we traipsed to Baotong Temple to enrich my dad in even more culture, seeing as that’s his new favourite thing. The temple has lots of different buildings to pray in and then at the top it has a pagoda, which I wanted to climb. This was definitely a bad idea. The steps were so steep and narrow that we had to climb up using our hands and my mum had to come down backwards. Unsuccessful climb over (we didn’t make the top), we were then covered in thousand year old chalk – fantastic. The afternoon was slightly less traumatic, as we went back to my area where I introduced my mum to Mala Tang and then we headed back to their hotel.

One of the temples

Gold Buddha

Monk's washing...usual temple sight

Tying on a ribbon for luck

Mum watching her mala tang cook!

The Ramada hotel has a revolving restaurant at the top and so we ate there in the evening. After booking in for 8pm, we assumed that this would give us plenty of time to enjoy a meal. Oh no, after waiting 40 minutes for my carbonara (in this time I ate the whole breadbasket and half a salad out of hunger desperation), I was finally presented with my dish just as they started turning the lights off and cleaning up. I think I finished the last of my pasta using the lights from outside! Besides that, it was really exciting watching the city as we revolved as we had fantastic views of the city lit up at night.

Revolving restaurant

Enjoying the view of the city

BREAD!!

Wednesday morning came around and we sleepily caught the subway at 7am in order to get to the train station on time....because we were heading to Xian! For those not overly great on Chinese geography (me included before I came to live here), Xian is home to the terracotta army. We took a fast train there, which travels at over 300 km/h and so it would only take us 5 hours to travel there. The fast train itself was amazing: lots of legroom, reclining seats, western toilets and hot water so you can make hot drinks.

Train selfie at 8am - looking amazing

We arrived in Xian in the afternoon and after heading to our hotel, we decided to go and explore the city. After a quick translation in order to navigate the subway (FYI Zhong Lou means bell tower), we found ourselves buying tickets to see the bell tower just before it closed. We then went to a famous dumpling restaurant for some pork and mushroom dumplings served with vinegar and then wandered around until we found the other parts of the city. We saw the drum tower lit up at night and then wandered down the Muslim market, which was a sensation overload. It reminded me of a market in Africa, because everyone was happy to haggle in English, something I’ve not had happen yet in Wuhan. Well, I was off buying anything and everything- bag for Lozzy, ceramic bracelets, silk scarves and of course, a set of terracotta warriors. In-between this, we ate a nioroujiamo – beef filled pitta, which was tasty. We also got my dad some cake, as he’s currently living on a cake and Pringles diet whilst in China and then headed back to our hotel.

Bell tower

At the top of the bell tower

City of Xian

Muslim market

Making the nioroujiamo

Drum tower at night all lit up

On Thursday, I woke up like a child excited for Christmas as we were going to see the terracotta army! We had to catch a cab to Xian railway station (Xian di tie) and then catch a bus to the warriors, costing 70p – bargain. An hour or so later and we were seeing inside the pits where they excavated the warriors. Quick history lesson for you all now – in 1974, some peasants were building a well in the countryside and saw some heads appear. Of course, they ran away terrified but then on closer inspection, they realised that it was terracotta figurines built to honour an Emperor, who had died. There is Pit 1, which has an estimated 6000 warriors, Pit 2, which is set up to show army battle tactics and Pit 3, where they found two horse and chariots. What surprised me was the size of the warriors, as they’re bigger than me and also, how much detail is on every warrior – every one has a different face.

Restoring the warriors

Pit 1 - over 6000 terracotta warriors

Pit 2 - warriors found in battle tactics set-up

Full size warrior and its horse

In the afternoon, after seeing all the warriors, we headed back to the city centre. We walked along the bottom of the city wall for a while before taking the subway back to Muslim market for food. Here, I ate my way around the market with food like spicy, baby potatoes, rice cake dipped in rosewater and jujube and walnut cake. After the whole day spent walking in the cold, we found warmth in the huge shopping malls before heading down to the big goose pagoda. On the escalator down into the subway, a woman was so busy gawping at us that she tripped at the bottom of the escalator. We started laughing out loud and when she irately said something in Chinese, it made us laugh even more. She shouldn’t have been staring!

Panda disguised as a sheep!

We started walking from the subway to the pagoda, estimating a small walk but 30 minutes later, we still hadn’t arrived (oh Chinese maps, why are you so deceiving?). Finally, we found the fountains and watched the fountain and light show next to the pagoda. The fountains themselves are huge so it looked very impressive. After 13 hours of walking around, we could walk no more and caught a taxi back to the hotel. I slept so well that night that I actually woke up in the early hours confused about where I was!

Dayan (big goose) pagoda

Watching the fountain and light show

On Friday, we went for an hour walk along the bottom of the city walls before making our way back to the fast train station. We set off on our way back to Wuhan, with a quick confusing moment where the train attendants swivelled our seats around as we were changing direction! We made it back on Friday evening, and after I got some dumplings, I headed back to my apartment to sleep. SO.MUCH.SLEEP.

 Saturday morning (aka lunchtime) arrived and my parents headed over to my area for a relaxing afternoon. My dad was feeling poorly but a cheeky downloaded Six Nations rugby game (England vs. Wales) helped him feel better. Meanwhile, my mum is the only person, who has come to China and hasn’t enjoyed the food, so she set about cooking up her own stir fry in my kitchen, whilst I went along tidying up after her (don’t appreciate carrot peelings left on my kitchen floor). After catching up on Broadchurch – important part of my week – I took my parents to Mr Mai’s. They were so excited by the prospect of western style cake that they ordered ALL of it and then after this snack, they were let loose speaking to the Chinese. I think that they enjoyed it, and I also did that evening, well until the woman who I agreed could take one picture of me started recording a video of me talking. I swear at one point that she zoomed in on my face – what a treat.

Sunday rolled around and my dad was still feeling ill (manflu), so we left him in bed and I took my mum to the zoo in Hanyang, so that she could finally meet Wei Wei the panda. Other highlights included a newborn monkey, a rare golden monkey from Sichuan province turning its back as if refusing to have pictures and enjoying a Chinese ice cream with at least 9 different layers of filling. After a few hours in the sunshine, we headed back to make sure that my dad was okay and luckily, he was feeling slightly better. This meant that it was a perfect opportunity to hit the malls in Optics Valley...again.

Ostrich selfie!

Jojo meets Wei Wei <3

Enjoying an ice-cream walking round the zoo

A few hours later and my mum and I had successfully tackled a few more areas of the mahoosive mall. We kept my dad happy by feeding him pizza and I also made my mum try tung bao – little breaded meatballs filled with soup. Even after this food, I still needed feeding – obviously – so we went to McDonalds and then ate it back at the hotel room whilst watching a film...bliss. My taxi ride home in the evening was so terrifying that I had to keep shutting my eyes. To day that we had near miss accidents with at least two other cars and a bus would be an understatement. Given the chance, I would have walked instead.

Monday was a beautiful, sunny day so what better than to enjoy some other areas of Wuhan. We met up with my friend Will (unofficial tour guide for the day) at my metro station, and before getting on the subway, I had the pleasure of a woman running off the train before holding a child over a recycling bin so she could wee. How charming. Anyway, we headed over to Hankou on the subway and walked along Jianghan Pedestrian street before boarding the ferry to go across the Yangzte river. Lucky that Will was with us as we went into what we thought was the boat before realising that it was just the waiting room. If we had been alone then we might have been stood there for a while. The ferry was brilliant, as you could see the shorelines of Wuchang and Hankou, as well as the bridges across.

Mum and Will on the ferry

View of Hankou

Wuchang skyline (looking sunny for once!)

We got off the ferry and walked to the famous Hubu Xian (breakfast alley). This street is more touristy now but still has authentic stalls selling all kinds of street food. We tried some dou pi (rice and vegetable cake), chung fen (a local food from Will’s province), which had pork, mushrooms and lettuce wrapped in a pancake and then placed in a bowl of soup. To wash all these snacks down, mum and I enjoyed a Youzi tea – a grapefruit style fruit. Suitably stuffed (poor dad had yet another bakery item), we headed to see the Yellow crane tower. My mum was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t yellow and because they are doing construction work on it, we decided not to go up. However, I have finally seen this attraction (only taken my 4 months) so I’m happy.

Original Hubu Xian

Characters outside the Yellow Crane tower

As a final part of our trip out for the day, we wandered down through Yanzhi Lu (Tailor Street) and Tanhaulin Lu (Art Street). The tailor street has shops selling fabric and handmade clothes, whilst the art street has tons of shops selling arts and crafts. There are also coffee shops all down here, so we enjoyed a drink in the sunshine. There was a slight translation issue when my dad ordered coffee with milk and only got the milk but it eventually got sorted! My mum also bought me a knitted plant as I don’t have to remember to water it...excellent. As I was tutoring in the evening, I wanted to start heading back so I could relax a bit beforehand, and we took a bus to the subway station. My parent’s first Chinese bus experience and whilst my dad was less than impressed, my mum wedged herself and her newly acquired pottery and was looking very pleased with herself. I particularly enjoyed a few of the locals hopping on the back of the bus so that they didn’t have to pay the 16p bus fare!

My new plant addition - Fleur the flower

Cafe on Art Street

On Monday evening, I pottered around my apartment and then went to tutor my children for the last time before Spring festival (Chinese New Year). Well, last week saw the introduction of a sticker chart by the parents and it worked a charm on their behaviour. However, this week, in a typically Chinese fashion, the sticker chart was left gathering dust in the corner and the boys spent their ‘English’ time beating each other up – brill. At least they had learnt the months of the year (except February – oh February, why are you so difficult to pronounce). I also had a treat with my choice of drinks during the tutoring. Normally, I get some hot water, a traditional Chinese drink, but tonight I had iced water, cold bottled water, hot water AND red bull. I’m obviously doing something right.

On Tuesday, my dad stayed at mine to catch up on the rugby (vital), whilst mum and I fancied a walk. We were planning to go and see the botanical gardens, but ended up walking along the East Lake to end up at Chuhe Hanjie (a westernised shopping area). After our mammoth walk, I fancied a drink so just went to a drinks shop with huge pictures of drinks. The woman in the shop was a complete nightmare and refused to help me at all even when she gave me the wrong drink. I ended up paying at least triple the price of a normal milk tea for her to scoop the unwanted toppings, that I didn’t want in the first place, off! It was so vile I ended up leaving it on a wall...luckily mum enjoyed hers! Anyway, we grabbed a taxi back to mine before heading back out (with dad) to the night market in Hankou. This market is a narrow maze of stalls selling everything from suitcases to chicken feet. My mum was in her element, yet again and I managed to get a couple of bits for my apartment. I also got a travel card holder with a giraffe on because it was an essential.

Han Street

Walking along East Lake

Chuhe Hanjie

Unimpressed with the fish drying!

My local area!

I felt so exhausted after the night market experience that I found waking up on Wednesday morning extremely difficult! I eventually plodded over to my parent’s hotel after waiting ages for a taxi (hating on Chinese New Year atm). We wandered around a different mall near their hotel and I got a new outfit from H&M (in the sale so that’s fine). We also found a Subway for my dad and he stated that his ham, cheese and tomato ketchup footlong sandwich was ‘the best thing I’ve eaten since coming to China’. Excellent, a full and content dad.

His favourite meal of the whole trip!

The Ramada hotel from the outside

After our small adventure, we just chilled in the afternoon and I had a nap before we headed out for dinner. I briefly took my parents around Huashi cultural area (mainly so I could buy falafel mix) and then we went to JJ Fusions to meet my friend Brooke for some food. The food here is from about 17 different countries, so I shared falafel wraps and chicken tandoori. Just in case we weren’t full enough from our dinner, we stopped by at Mr Mai’s to have coffee and cake and have a chat. I then went home to chillax before spending my last day with my parents...sob.

Jo enjoyed this very true slogan

Meal at JJ Fusions...surprise surprise dad had cheese pizza

Today has been their last day in Wuhan and we have mostly spent the day relaxing before they begin the trek home. We tried a 'blizzard' at Dairy Queen - an American McFlurry, but trying to get the order right proved too much for the poor cashier. My dad's supposed fudge ice-cream turned out to be tiramisu. Oh well, at least he is blocked up and can't taste anything. After wandering around the malls again and mum and I finding it hard to leave without a purchase (one scarf and two handbags later), dad and I had a nap until dinnertime. After having some tea, it was time to say goodbye to my parent's. I have had a fantastic time with them over here and although I'm sad to see them leave, I only have 4 1/2/ months until I'm home...