wuh-what? a city that's part river, part chaos - Wuhan

so i just got back from wuhan and honestly? my brain feels like yesterday's congee. i just checked and it's 9.12°C right now, feels like 8.75°C, hope you like that kind of thing. if you're expecting some polished travelogue, you've clicked the wrong link. this city's got more layers than a doupi roll.

they say wuhan's shaped like a dancing butterfly. all i know is it's split into three parts by rivers-hankou, hanyang, wuchang-merged in 1949. someone told me that during the 1911 uprising, revolutionaries just... started shooting here. imagine that for breakfast.

the rivers are EVERYTHING. yangtze and han rivers divide the city like spilled ink. and lakes? forget it. nearly 200 lakes covering a quarter of the urban area. east lake's 33km² of water. here's some water near a castle? maybe? who knows:

food's... something else. hot dry noodles for breakfast-sesame paste, chili oil, noodles. doupi's these bean skin rolls. someone told me the river seafood's so fresh it's practically swimming when you order. also someone told me the spice here'll make your tongue do the tango.

if you get bored, huangshi, ezhou, xiaogan-those cities are just a short drive away. 32 million people in this circle. population's 13.7 million here alone. they call it 'oriental chicago' for the transport chaos. trains, planes, ports... it's a human anthill.

climate's not playing around. humid subtropical-cold winters, hot summers. they call it one of china's 'four furnaces' in summer. someone told me locals just sit in rivers when it hits 40°C. air quality's... variable. traffic's a nightmare. take the metro or you'll die of heatstroke waiting for a cab.

notable people? sun yat-sen started a revolution here. shi zhengli's the virologist from wuhan institute. math genius su buqing. 80 universities-so many students. calabash culture? whatever that means. probably about gourds.

so yeah. bridges, lakes, noodles, and heat. if you go, bring an umbrella and an appetite. and maybe a map. i kept getting lost in the butterfly wings. peace out.

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