Yichang Bimble
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Yichang Bimble    We left the Three Gorges Dam and headed
the short distance to town. At a roundabout we did not expect to see the Eiffel Tower featured. Behind it
was a huge mall with Walmart, quite bemused as we
stopped at the coach / car park near a jetty. Off we
set for a riverside bimble. Yichang is a prefecture-level city located in
western Hubei province, China. It is the second largest city in the province
after the capital, Wuhan. Population just over four
million.
    Huge
residential tower blocks.
 Many more currently under construction. If you live in a ‘normal’ house, very
wealthy indeed.
  
Enough staring at the tower blocks, we crossed the road, passed a car parked under a tree that had shed impossible-to-wash-off, very sticky leaves, seeds and old petals, to a tower we saw peeking out from a green area between the road and the river.
Actually, as we crossed the road we were impressed at how neat things are, immaculate road and path, pretty planting beautifully trimmed. Once on the park side we found not a scrap of rubbish and mown grass like a snooker table felt.
A well tended tree, lovely flower beds.
Tianran Pagoda or Nature Tower is said to have been built by Guo Pu (276-324), a noted scholar of the Jin Dynasty. The existing brick and stone structure was rebuilt during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
The octagonal seven storey pagoda stands at forty-two metres and is supported by eight stone Buddhist warriors at its base. The top of the pagoda used to provide fine views over the port, the river and the wooded Wulong (Five Dragon) Hill on the opposite bank, sadly, the tower has been closed to the public for a number of years. At sunrise, apparently, the reflection of the pagoda on the river meets the reflection of Five Dragon Hill, and the scene has been described as 'the whip beating the dragons.' Not on a misty day like today, methinks.
We found the culprit that makes the sticky mess on cars and our favourite.
One final look back at the tall housing, we always wonder how much rice ‘that lot’ gets through a day, the toilet rolls, the rubbish produced. They must look like an army of ants when they all go off to work in the mornings. Enough musing, we cut through the park to the riverside.
Construction of The Yichang Yangtze River Railway Bridge started in December 2002, completed in 2008 and carried the Yichang-Wanzhou trains across the river. The bridge has two spans of two hundred and seventy-five metres. The railway line, according to the chief engineer, was the most difficult to build in China, it runs for three hundred and seventy-seven kilometres. The journey from Wuhan to Chongqing now takes five hours whereas it used to take twenty-two.
We were lucky enough to watch a train.
On we bimbled under the bridge, I saw something in the water..........
A man was actually taking a swim, thankfully towing a marker buoy.
We watched him fight the current before turning and drifting at speed.
He got out at the jetty.
A quick pit stop at the bus stop before we went in search of the market.
ALL IN ALL A FAIRLY DRAB PLACE THAT HAS A PERMA-FOG FILLED IN SOME TIME........... |
