Wuhan

My train to Wuchang (district of Wuhan) left at 14:50, and was bound to arrive at 5:45, 

but had 2 hours delay somewhere in the middle of the night, so actually I arrived at 7:30 AM 
and was late for my appointment with Raihan, someone I had met in Shanghai and who studies at 
Wuhan University of Technology. 

In my train compartment were only Chinese, and they tried to speak to me but they couldn't speak English 
and my Chinese isn't that good either so that was a pity.  I took a taxi to the university campus but the driver dropped me off at the wrong gate 
so my route description was kind of worthless now :) 
Miraculously, I found his dorm and met him.
Since he is a PhD student, he can rent a private room in the University Campus. 
Most other students have to settle with small shared rooms. 
I am staying at his room now for a couple of days.  
After two minutes of resting we took a bus into town (1 Yuan for an hour long bus ride) and I found myself in a group of his countrymen (Pakistan) buying computers in the 
electronics market. It was fun to watch all the bargaining and they helped me buy a 1GB memory card for 125 Yuan. Raihan can speak Chinese pretty well, and it helps a lot for getting good prices. It took the whole day until the  computers would be ready (they bought 7 computers & screens, audio sets and whatnot). When we were outside with all the boxes, we drew a crowd.

 

After that we went for dinner and I could finally have a shower. I have a real bed now, for the first time since I came to China. usually the beds here are quite hard and really small. I will enjoy sleeping here ;)

At the campus here there is a small group of foreigners and they sort of hang out together. We had dinner together and later tonight there'll be a birthday party.

On Sunday I borrowed a bicycle and we drove to the famous 'East Lake'. It is a huge lake with a park around it. 
The lake is so large that I could hardly see the shore on the other side.


 We took a boat to an island. After some bargaining they agreed on a price of 100 yuan for a return trip for 8 people. The boat was so slow that Raihan and I had no time to get off, and had to return back to shore (it took altogether 2 hours in the boat), because we had a dinner appointment.