Tuần lễ vàng: Thành phố Vô Tích Vô Tích

In China, it's National Day and we have a holiday from October 1st to October 7th. For this reason, we joined the millions of people traveling across the country during these days. Wuxi is located about an hour away from Shanghai by high-speed train. We chose this city because three weeks ago, when we booked the trip, everything was basically fully booked. So we just picked any city that looked interesting on Google Maps. We know a little bit about what there is to see here, but mainly it's about exploring everything ourselves and going with the flow.

Day 1 - The Arrival

Before we even got started, we received a message on Monday that our tickets for the outward journey were cancelled because apparently there were not enough seats available. So during the first class of the day, I quickly got us new tickets, fortunately they came with confirmation. We started on Tuesday. Our new train didn't leave until 5:26 pm, so we didn't have to rush. While the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China were in full swing, we were able to sleep in a bit. As announced, it started raining heavily in the morning and the wind picked up because another typhoon was passing over Shanghai. Flags were hanging everywhere on the campus and the military parade (here is a video of it) was shown live in a large lecture hall at the university. There was also a fireworks display near the food street. Since we couldn't estimate how many people would actually be on the road, we left for the train station at 1:30 pm.

About an hour later, we were already at the place, as there didn't seem to be much going on. Only at the train station, the queues merged with the crowd, so we had to wait a little longer in front of the security check. Inside, we got our tickets and finally got something to eat for lunch, so we were ready about two hours before the train arrived. There were simply so many people everywhere and the waiting hall filled up and emptied every time a train passed by. Finally, it was our turn. It was already almost dark outside, but the rain hadn't stopped. On the way to the train, I found my camera, as it was in a bag in the waist belt of the backpack. I'm very happy about that because now I don't have to buy a new one :) The ride was, as usual, very relaxed and the passing lights of the cities looked very cool. When we arrived in Wuxi, we took a detour to our hotel. Along the way, we saw a group singing karaoke in a small park and another group dancing. The hotel is 5 minutes away from the city center and we can walk along the river at any time. This path is almost at water level and beautifully illuminated. So we are very satisfied with our choice, because the beds are much softer than in Wenzhou and the view is not bad. After a short break, we headed to the city center. The first goal was to find something to eat, which we quickly found as a woman with a child in her arms kindly invited us to her small restaurant. After a short and delicious dinner, we continued. Not even 100 meters away, we came to a street with about 10 clubs. Everything was lit up and flashing, and of course we were immediately asked if we wanted to party, but we saved that for later. From there, we wandered aimlessly through the city, passing many malls, parks, and always surrounded by skyscrapers. In between, there was a livestream of the celebrations playing on a screen, and we watched it briefly. It's crazy to see the scale of the celebrations here. I have never seen anything even remotely close to this. And everywhere in Wuxi, you can see people carrying small flags and there are banners set up in many places. Since it started raining and we had enough for the day, we went back to the hotel, got some beers, and made a plan for the next three days. There are really cool sights to see here and I'm really looking forward to exploring all of them. That was the end of the day and we could finally go to bed.

Day 2

Xīhuì Park

Our second day started relaxed at 9 am. In the light rain, we went to a bakery for breakfast. We tried to wait out the rain there, but it didn't get much better, so our shoes were already wet shortly after we started walking. Next, we walked through the center, which we already knew from yesterday. In the park, a replay of the military parade livestream was playing. We paused briefly to watch the spectacle. From there, we walked along RenMinZhongLu (People's Middle Street) away from the crowded center. It didn't take long to get away from the crowded streets and the buildings became less well maintained. It feels like there's a different major mobile phone store every 20 meters, offering the latest smartphones from Xiaomi, Vivo, or Huawei. I have no idea how that is profitable... After about 30 minutes, we reached our destination, Xihui Park 锡惠公园. It's a huge area around/between two hills with many pavilions, temple complexes, and a lot of other attractions. Huishan Ancient Town 惠山古镇 also belongs to it. After paying the entrance fee, we passed by the Nine-Dragon-Wall and went up the Xīshān Hill 锡山, as we had already seen a pagoda from afar. Once at the top, we took a short break, but unfortunately we were not allowed to go up the tower. Then we started descending to the lake and made our way to the old town.

There are significantly more people here and it's very crowded. We walked through many gardens with small ponds and past many temples, taking breaks whenever we found a shady spot, as the sun and heat were quite intense. Along the river, many people were sitting and enjoying the good weather. In another small park, we took our last break and then left the area, as so many people became overwhelming, especially when everyone looked at us as if we were an 'alien', as Sophie put it. Back on the street, it immediately became loud again and we took the same way back. Since we were all a bit tired, we took a break for an hour and a half before having something different for dinner at Pizza Hut. Afterwards, Thomas went back to the hotel, and Sophie and I went shopping for about two hours. There are many malls in the center, and Gōnghuāyuán Park 公花园 has two levels with lots of stores. Most of them are too expensive for us, but one had a sale going on and we couldn't resist. It's a bit strange that in most stores, someone is constantly following you around. We found it quite uncomfortable, but otherwise it was a lot of fun. We walked about 18 km that day and we definitely felt it, so we were very happy to finally get into our beds.

Day 3 - Tàihú Lake Scenic Area

Since Thomas had some stomach trouble, we set off a bit more relaxed than usual. Our first destination was the metro, as we wanted to go to the Tàihú Lake. The metro was initially very crowded, but fortunately it emptied out very quickly. We got off somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Our plan was not to just take a Didi, but to walk as much as possible, which turned out to be a good idea in retrospect, as there was a traffic chaos at our destination. So we started walking from the metro past a campus of Peking University in the scorching heat. We had no idea where we were going or if we would even get there, as I completely relied on my Maps app. In theory, we just had to find a path over the hill in front of us, and then we would be right by the water. This led past an industrial area into a side street and further into a small alley. Everything was a bit run-down and there were some dogs running freely, which made me feel a bit uneasy, but fortunately, they didn't care about us at all. The alley opened onto a path that led uphill through gardens or plantations to our destination.

However, not for long, because we quickly came across a more well-trodden path and we were no longer the only ones there. This new path led through gardens or plantations to our destination.

And all of a sudden it was loud again and there were people everywhere. We joined the crowd and made our way to the entrance of the Sānguó Shuǐhǔ Scenic Area 三国水浒景区. This was once a film set for Chinese TV series and looks very interesting, but it's too crowded for us and too expensive. Hoping to find a nice spot somewhere else, we walked along the road south while the sun relentlessly beat down on us. There are vendors and parked cars everywhere, and there doesn't seem to be any peaceful or nice place to be. Eventually, by chance, we found a small cozy restaurant. We made ourselves comfortable with a cup of tea.

In the following hours, we continued to look for nice empty places, but they all turned out to be dead ends. It's amazing to see how quickly the transition is between tourist spots and places off the beaten path. Immediately, everything is littered and run-down. Since we eventually got tired of it, we just wanted to get away. There was gridlock everywhere and even the bus queues were over 50 meters long. So we had to walk 2 km along the road until we found someone who could give us a ride. On the way there, you could really see how one by one the windows went down on the other side and everyone looked at us. But eventually, we found a spot by the shore of the lake and were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset before heading back to the hotel. Finally, we could take a shower and Sophie and I sat by the river with a beer to end the day.

Day 4 - Huìshān Forest Park

Originally, we wanted to visit the big Buddha in the Lingshan Scenic Spot today, but when we saw that it cost 200 ¥ and was 2.5 hours away by bus, we cancelled that plan, as there would probably be a lot of people there as well. Instead, we took the metro to the Huìshān Guójiā Sēnlín Gōngyuán (Huishan Forest Park). First, we passed by the Tàipíng Temple 太平禅院. There was a prayer service going on, so we were only allowed in the entrance area, but I always find the atmosphere with the chanting very cool. Then, according to my app, we somehow made our way up the first mountain and had a very good view over the city, although the smog somewhat obscured it. After just a few meters, we were completely soaked in sweat as the temperature had already exceeded 30°C by 10 o'clock in the morning.

After a short descent, we encountered some stairs and a trail that took us further up to the second peak. There are some abandoned buildings there, but unfortunately, there is no view. However, since Thomas had problems with his ankle, we took a break in the shade before looking for a way down. This led us past several small temples and many flights of stairs back into the city.

After another good 16 km, we drove back to the hotel exhausted and took a break for 2 hours before walking along the canal to a small park to watch the sunset.

Unfortunately, it wasn't as beautiful as yesterday, but we didn't really care. To end the day, we went out for dinner, took another stroll through some stores, and Sophie and I sat by the water in front of the hotel with a beer again.

Day 5 - Departure

The departure went quite smoothly. We got breakfast from the bakery, went to the train station, and were in the waiting hall about an hour before departure. The return journey went well, even though Shanghai Hongqiao was super crowded, but that was to be expected. It's funny that you can drive the 150 km from Wuxi to Shanghai faster than the 20 km from the train station to the campus.

In conclusion, we are very satisfied with our short vacation. Everything went well and we saw and experienced a lot. Plus, we finally didn't have to think about university, which was quite relaxing. However, now we have to continue with preparing and following up on lectures, and unfortunately, the day off on Monday will be made up on Saturday, so next week will be very busy again.

Thank you for reading and greetings from abroad :)

written by: Friedemann