2008-02-13:
I came back yesterday late evening from a nice and relaxing trip to some beautiful places outside Wuhan city.

We started our trip on Sunday morning around 10.00. We - this is An Yan's family, some friends and classmates with their children, and me.
First we drove to Mulan. We met some more friends and - right: we had lunch, a proper lunch. After lunch we continued, and we drove to Mulan mountains that is roughly 30 km from Wuhan. On the way to the mountains we eyewitnessed an accident. The driver of the motorbike had his lucky day, his very lucky day. If he had entered the main street half a second later or if the driver of the car hadn't had such a good reaction he would have been killed.
What stroke me most in the Mulan mountains was the clean and fresh air. We had a nice walk, I was told the sad story about Mulan's history (a woman commited suicide), and we continued our trip to Mulan lake. A really luxurious villa was our home there, with a phantastic view over the lake. After a proper dinner we made a good firework.
On the next morning we drove to the Tangchi Hotsprings. We arrived on time for lunch. After lunch we all were somehow tired, maybe due to the fresh air. So, it was decided to rest a little bit. I went to bed to take a nap around 15.00, and I got up at 16.00. At a quarter past four somebody knocked at my door, I was told to "wait a minute", and after half an hour, I got some tea with the remark: "wait a minute", and then finally at 17.30 we went for - dinner. Well, I was somehow prepared for that kind of afternoon, so I was not really surprised; but still: it would have been somehow pragmatic to announce it in advance clearly... But maybe this is only my preception ;-).
After dinner we went to the hotspring to take a bath. The hotspring was huge, I was told that it had more than 100 pools. It was a really relaxing experience...
I had my fun: At the entrance we received a big towel and slippers. Inside the hotspring I learnt how Chinese take care of their towels and slippers. They simply don't take care at all! If someone should take their towel or slippers they just take someone's else ones... So, I changed "my" towel and "my" slippers more than 10 times.
Close to midnight we were back in the hotel.
Yesterday morning we left around 11, met in the next city some friends, had a good lunch and continued our way back to Wuhan. A friend of An Yan invited all of us for dinner and late evening I arrived at the flat.
I am still amazed that everything seems to be organized around food...

Mulan Mountain:

Mulan Lake:



Tangchi Hotspring: