Qingdao Report

[Huzige]

Almost a decade ago, I managed to convince a couple of bros who have been frequenting Thailand to visit China for a change. I suspected they didn’t quite believe some of the “wild” stories I’ve been telling them. Indeed, I’ve been spending Christmas-New Year breaks in the mudder-country for many years before that, with friends asking “WTF” even though commie China was allowing some limited church services during Christmas. But of course, I was there to select my own Christmas pressies, or more correctly pussies. In the end, many photos of pretty mei-meis convinced them they should come check the place themselves just before the count-down to another new year. First stop was Shenzhen and they were impressed by the BBS areas at Xiangxicun向西村, ShaZui沙咀 & Futian福田, as well as FLs hanging out near SunShine Hotel阳光酒店 and other areas, not forgetting the friendly footie gals, etc etc… and they had so much fun that it took a bit of effort to convince them to get their asses on the train to visit CP.

We checked into Lions Hotel (雄狮) which at that time was one of the better hotels in CP, as well as for its central location, even though the area where Miraton is located was then pitch black at night. I remember the receptionists at the hotel have never seen a Singaporean passport, and they could not read the information on the passports. And for days, the mei-meis at the BBSs, KTVs, footie joints kept asking what language we were talking in. We jokingly told them we are speaking “bird language鸟话” from “Niao (Bird)鸟国 “ in Africa. Another brother joined us on a subsequent trip, and that’s when ADF (African Dysfunctional Family) came into being. Many mummies were amused by a family cheonging in CP together, especially my “son” (ErZi儿子EZ) and my “godson (GanErZi干儿子GEZ) being the focus of attention – we told them, where we came from, family that bonks together stayed together. Some older mummies still call me “LaoDie老爹LT” and how time flies!

Looking back, the “family” sure has lots of fun. It was the early days of CP, before the massive influx of tourists (and “spoiling” the market), when the best BBSs were found behind the little factory in MuLun (木伦), and Amazon (亚马孙@凡尔赛) was the KTV to go, with its shows and flower street – and photos were allowed! We also introduced the place to many other bros, including “Uncle” Sinoview, and as they said, the rest was history! Regrettably, we can only now reminisce about the “good old days!”

The family has also visited many places beyond CP over the years, including ZMT樟木头, HL横沥, DL大朗, SL石龙, HM虎门, HJ厚街 & CA长安 nearby, ZH珠海, ZS中山, NKS南昆个山, QY清远, DS淡水, CJ陈江 & HZ惠州 not too far away, and many other places; some of which we have written “private” FRs that we distributed to other “relatives” but also submitted some to the old Delphi Forum (our Hainan trip, visited before Sanya became so commercialized, expensive and rip-off), as well as in SBF for our expeditions to the north (http://sammyreviews.store/showthread.php?t=141699) and to the south (http://sammyreviews.store/show...php?t=164899); paiseh, just realized we never quite completed our write-ups for these trips.

To prepare the “celebration” for our 10th anniversary, EZ & I decided to start a new thread so that we can just share some info and our thoughts on our recent and future trips. Hopefully, they can help bros to prepare for venturing out of CP, as they complain about its increasing “commercialization,” as well as the effects of recent YDs.

[Huzige]

This “expedition” came about when EZ and I met one of my old flames in SZ earlier in the year. She is from the TuJia minority group (土家族) from EnShi (ES恩施) in Hubei湖北 Province, and is now working at a local travel agency promoting this new (even for mainland Chinese) destination for tourists. As we have also been discussing about where to visit next, my old flame’s suggestion of visiting her during the annual local “Valentine Day” (女儿会) in August easily helped us to decide. We have to travel via either Chongqing (CQ重庆) or Wuhan (WH武汉,) and we decided to arrive via WH and depart via CQ while allowing time to check out these two places. We subsequently added YiChang (宜昌) as it was “on the way” to ES and the site of the famous Three-Gorges Dam (三峡坝). This is the travelogue of our just completed trip.

I was on a business trip to Qingdao青岛 in Shandong山东 and it was the time of annual Beer Festival. With the huge crowd at the popular destination during the summer for the locals, as well as exploitive pricing by the greedy businessmen, I was more than happy to leave in order to avoid more drunken nights with my very hospitable hosts. EZ was coming from Singapore, via Shenzhen and we arrived in WH within 30mins of each other. Luckily our flights were on schedule, despite the frequent havocs due to the summer rains.

We were a bit lucky in WH, as XGX (新干线) has just started a new operation here. It has been almost a decade since I last visited WH and we decided to tap into XGX’s resources here to avoid all the hassles of finding out new places. The local contact, a Taiwanese by the name of AhAn (AA阿安) was most friendly and helpful even before our arrival, giving us good information and comments. He met us at the hotel he recommended. I was immediately “impressed” when I saw the hotel’s logo, and EZ promptly nicknamed it “Hard Dick Hotel” and at RMB238/nite, I dare say it is better value for money than the more famous “Hard Rock Hotel”– being new and very centrally located.



After dinner on the first night, AA brought us to a popular SN located a short taxi ride from our hotel in Hankou汉口area of WH, and boasting about 100 mei-meis. Compared to usual practice in DG, the difference here is that customers were seated in their private cubicles, completed with curtain to provide privacy that we suspect corrupted officials would appreciate – but we prefer to keep the curtain opened so that we can see the mei-meis walking past and to take note of their numbers, although the managers and waitresses frustrated us by pulling the curtain close again! I would say the quality of the gals I saw was not too bad, or was it because of my “vegetable diet” during the past week of heavy drinking at the Beer Festival in Qingdao?

It was a busy night even on a Monday, and we were escorted to our assigned room individually, once a room is available. The mei-meis were then brought in and introduced with all-in price given, not unlike the standard procedure in DG. I saw a line-up of 10 and easily picked one at 700. Although she didn’t give the full CA-ISO style service, I found it sextisfying and nothing to complain, especially since she tries her best to please without the commercial feel of DG. It was perfect way to break my vege-diet. The joint also provided some decent complimentary noodles and other snacks “post-exercise,” consumed in the privacy of our cubicle, of course!

After we got back to our hotel, AA suggested we took a walking tour of the BBS streets nearby. These are the back lanes of the local residences and the joints are easily recognized by the pinkish & blue light that seem to be associated with this trade. There are anywhere between 3 to 8 gals at each of the 20+ joints we saw, and I would rate them 3-7, but they only do on-site at 100 a pop of 30mins. As EZ and I were already “full” we decided against checking any of them out personally.

We decided to call it a night and to play tourist the next day. I first visited the historically famous and popular Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼) when it was rebuilt about 27years ago and looking to revisit it.

[Mekatulia]

Short Pre-cursor

I would like to think that the ADF has established a somewhat "reputation" that to a certain extent superceded us. This was clearly so whenever LT, GEZ or EZ walks down the infamous bad part of the town, very soon we will either hear the Mummies from the nearby BBS shouting "老爹！老爹！", or LT's handphone will ring a few minutes later. I still recall once when me and LT were in Humen, checking out the BBS, one girl called out "爷爷,打炮！".

It took quite a bit of convincing from LT, with pictorial evidence, before GEZ and EZ decided on our maiden trip to mudderland some 10years ago and boy, there was no turning back after that.

The start of this thread marks the 10 Year anniversary of the expeditions of the ADF which, we have recently evolved and starting a new "business model". (Details may be revealed later, depending on how the story pans out).

The ADF has witnessed the rise and probably about to see the fall of some of the early playgrounds in mudderland. From "你的护照是哪里？" innocent days, until now I purposely disassociate and not reveal myself originating from the "Land Of Carrot Heads", and sad to say, I feel ashamed sometimes .The ADF has definitely no regrets, only pity that we continue to see and hear the common follies being made by more carrot heads wherever they go. And the ADF will simply just continue to explore further, for greener pastures.

The ADF in the early days, has met some of the nicest people whom we still kept in touch with and one such friend so happen to now reside in Hubei, prompting us to pay a visit to her home town in EnShi.

The ADF all these years have 闯南走北，from as far north as DongBei on foot walk in to Russia, to as far south as Guangxi on foot walk in to Vietnam, this trip will very much be another on foot expedition of Central China.

Hubei has a special place in EZ's heart because EZ is a self taught Chinese history buff, and also whenever asked where I am from, I will say that I am the "Wild Man of Hubei" 湖北野人的地方, aka 湖北神农架. After all these years, I still managed to surprise or I am surprised that even if they are from Hubei, many don't know where 神农架 is, and this has been the perfect cover for EZ. Though recent years, 神农架 is becoming a popular local tourist spot.

As the title of this thread is so aptly put, before I recount some of the more juicy parts of our Hubei expedition, allow me to indulge myself in providing some of my own broadly summarised research and findings on the historical and cultural significance of Hubei.

[Mekatulia]

Historical and Cultural significance of Hubei

Hubei 湖北 has a rich history and a culture of its own dating back to the Pre-Qin dynasty先秦. During then, it was known as Chu楚. We often hear this common saying "天上九头鸟，地上湖北佬", which loosely translated to hold both extremes of having degratory and complimentary meaning. The people from Hubei are known for their craftiness and intelligence. With their rich historical and cultural background, many people can obviously see why.

Pre-Qin 先秦（春秋，战国）

During Spring & Autumn 春秋 and Warring States 战国 period, Chu 楚 was already by land mass, one of the biggest and one of the most powerful and resourceful state. The unification of Central Plains 中原, was an inevitable process, and as we know Qin 秦 finally united all the other states, while most of them are fully captured, but Chu agreed to surrender. The significance of this was, when the Qin regime and control imposed too many harsh laws on the unified Central Plains, the common notion was there will come a day an uprising to overthrow Qin. Amongst those who are able to, bearing in mind that it was then still a very much noble 贵族 and family 家族oriented society, the consensus was that Chu will be the one leading the uprising 灭秦必楚也, reason being, Chu had most of their society structure, the nobles, intact because they surrendered to Qin rather than being slaughtered. It was proven that after 15 years of Qin rule, it was indeed Xiang Yu 项羽 of Chu making the head waves in the revolt against Qin.

Three Kingdom Period 三国

If by then the historical and culture of Hubei is not impressive enough, then perhaps the Three Kingdom Period saw some of the most glorious battles and some of the most famous people made their names in history, mostly concentrated in Hubei. The 3 Kingdom period is one where many people are familiar with, giving birth to a very unique break in the Chinese culture, and set a stage for many tales of heroic deeds. Many battles were being fought, but most historians grouped the 3 main battles during this period were:

1. Battle of Guandu 官渡之战 (current approx. HeNan 河南封丘西)
2. Battle of Chibi 赤壁之战 (current approx. south of Wuhan)
3. Battle of Yiling 夷陵之战 (current Yichang 宜昌)

Out of the 3 main battles that occurred during the 3 Kingdoms period, 2 happened in Hubei. There is also 1 small battle that happened at Changbanpo 长坂坡 (current approx. JingZhou DangYang 荆州当阳) which was very famous. That is where Zhang Fei shouted and broke the bridge stopping the onslaught of Cao Cao's troops, and also where Zhao Yun 七进七处ran back into the enemy territory 7 times to rescue Liu Shan, son of Liu Bei.

At that time, some of the best minds of the country were residing in Hubei, LongZhong 隆中 (current XiangYang 襄阳. Note: It was known that the name of the city was recently changed to 襄阳市, previously was known officially as 襄樊市), this is where ZhugeLiang was happily spending his time tending to his QQ农场 before he was being recruited.

Novel 射雕英雄传

In the novel, the frequently mentioned city XiangYang is where the protagonist GuoJing 郭靖 spent his whole life unofficially helped holding the fort.

Late Qing Dynasty 晚清

It was said that one person Zeng GuoFan 曾国藩 help extended the rule of the Qing Dynasty which otherwise would have fallen some 20 years earlier. He recruited and organised the Huai Jun troops 淮军, which comprises recruits from AnHui, Hubei, HeNan and the surrounding area. This troop basically defended against and subsequently eradicated the "Taiping Kingdom of Heaven" 太平天国.

Han Yang Metal Works Factory 汉阳铁厂, now a district in Wuhan, was the first heavy industry set up by the late Qing government, which was a sign of a late and not much successful effort at modernization.

1911 to Post WW2 China

I am not too familiar with the long march and other internal strife, but basically, Hubei is where the 辛亥革命 XinHai Revolution successfully started.

[Mekatulia]

EZ's recount on the first night in Wuhan 武汉

I arrive on separate flights landing in HK then taking an internal flight from SZ to WH. LT has timed his flight to arrive slightly earlier. Like any other capital city of the province, WH looks very much, the same, and traffic is the usual chaos. Once we alight from our taxi, AA is already waiting there for us. The hotel is located just 5 meters off the main street.

After the check in at the "Hard Dick Hotel", we proceed to dinner with AA, taking the opportunity to get ourselves better acquainted with the Wuhan. Earlier, AA has suggested that if we decide to check out the SN, we might as well just head straight out to dinner without washing up since we are expected to be thoroughly washed later anyway.

After dinner, we hop on to a taxi with AA leading us to the SN. We really appreciate having a guide who has the knowledge of the local information, saving us a lot of effort and trouble checking this huge city out ourselves from scratch, that would be so tough.

Business at the SN was hopping, we were ushered into a small little cubicle with curtains drawn but we can see the legs of the girls walking from the rest area into the rooms for the parade. We waited for awhile before a room was available and LT told me to go ahead first.

The manager arranged 1 girl and asked if I was ok, I took the first option available since the girl was that bad looking. The SN rooms are a bit run down, probably have seen too many "battles" taking place. I think I will skip all the details since a lot of readers out there are probably very familiar with the ISO certification criteria of the SNs. I will rate this bonk a 7.1/10.

After time's up, I went back to the holding area where the cubicles are, and AA was waiting there patiently for us. He then motioned me to sit with him at the small open area, at first refusing to get into the cubicles, so that we can continue to oogle at the girls at the resting area. Overall, the girls at this SN are roughly 7s and 8s. The standard dress code was black/red/blue gowns, but there are a few in white some sort of pants suit, who double up as PR as well as can be had. And so these couple of PRs move around the cubicles and I observed that the patrons there are mainly return customers, which means this joint maintains a certain standard to continue to attract the crowd.

After the SN, AA arranged to let us drop off slightly away from the Hard Dick Hotel, so that we can take a tour in the dark side alleys where the BBS are. There are about less than 10 BBS joints located close to each other in the intertwined dark back alleys a few streets away from the Hard Dick Hotel. Each BBS has on average 5-7 gals, mostly 5s and 6s. It is cheap though for a pop, something like 100 or 150. Most will require you to do it in house, unless they know you well enough then they will agree to go to a nearby motel for better ambience. Their concept of overnight is actually 2 pops for 3 hours.

Well, we decided that since we are already adequately satisfied at the SN earlier, and none of the BBS girls give us the "oomph", we decided to call it a night.

End of NIght 1, stay tuned for more...

[notsonewbird]

very informative. camp here

[Pink_Flyod]

Walau... LT and EZ, how come don't chio me.... I can cry you know. I intent to disappear for a few days this coming November... too much work and I got burned.

[Mekatulia]

Originally Posted by Pink_Flyod

Walau... LT and EZ, how come don't chio me.... I can cry you know. I intent to disappear for a few days this coming November... too much work and I got burned.

Bro PF,

Aiyah, you 大忙人, very difficult to even meet your schedule. Close friends all know, the LT and EZ team always on a major trip annually, 明年请趁早报名 .

I thought your work is to play?

Got burned means spent too much time frolicking at which beach resort? Tell me which MM forgot to put sun tan lotion on your back and I'll teach her

LT kept saying he is going to post part 2 of our 湖北 trip, for days already, still no sound no picture until I doubt he is ever gonna continue. Too busy on his phone playing 微信 sianning the MMs.

[Mekatulia]

Originally Posted by Huzige

To prepare the “celebration” for our 10th anniversary, EZ & I decided to start a new thread so that we can just share some info and our thoughts on our recent and future trips. Hopefully, they can help bros to prepare for venturing out of CP, as they complain about its increasing “commercialization,” as well as the effects of recent YDs.

While waiting for LT to post his continuation, if he is. I re-read carefully some of the things written and I felt kinda nostalgic about this particular part.

10 years ago, I was there, facing the hotel recep of Lion Hotel when she asked me "这是什么国家的护照"？ Since then, until some of the recent bad experiences that I don't even bother to mention each and every conversation with the spoilt MM. I have seen CP changed, but better still, I also reflect on how I have shifted.

I noticed in myself, the before and after, the propsensity to take risks, to venture out beyond the "comfort range" of CP including the nearby towns.

To get away from the comfort zone, is slightly more than given the opportunity, but is more about finding the opportunity. Sometimes, it can be out of the physical safety range especially when travelling alone.

That's how the ADF got started, and the ADF family motto is "Family that bonks together, stays together."

Somebody once said "Stay hungry, stay foolish"

I say "Stay horny, stay smart."

[Pink_Flyod]

Next year do let me know the plan hor... I intend to go...

[Mekatulia]

Originally Posted by Pink_Flyod

Next year do let me know the plan hor... I intend to go...

Knowing a lot of guys have a very busy schedule, very hard to fit everyone's timing. What we will do is, we will set a time, place, if we see you there, we see you there. The ADF expeditions are really expeditions, we really really sometimes go "blind", and walk a lot! Not the common sure nap shot can find makan type like in CP, but many times we are in the local areas where "boh bow jiak" one hor!

To give an indication, the ADF have covered Northern Dongbei and Russia, Southern Guangxi and Vietnam, recently Central Hubei. The most likely next destination will be either far far wild wild West, or far far wild wild Inner North West. So stay tuned.

I guess LT is still busy playing 微信, before I left him, he say he will complete his FR part, but until now, still a bad "Charlie Chaplin" movie, no sound no picture. I do hope he is getting some results from 微信 and post the extra FR here!

[Mekatulia]

After LT open up my eyes to the hotel logo, it was like acid burnt into my mind. I quickly named it the "Hard Dick Hotel" and it is where we stay put for our entire time in Wuhan.

Not only do they have the logo right at the recept area, the floor of the lift as we step in, best of all, the logo was right there every time I walk out of my hotel room. We were allocated the 2 rooms closet to the lift, and LT's room is opposite mine, and somehow, the logo on the carpet is directly facing me, greeting me every morning.



RECAP
For the first night when we landed in Wuhan, we tried the SN. If I recall correctly, I think the name is ‘一号会所’ . There was a look out who will greet you when we entered, after taking the lift, we have to weave through a passage way like a maze to get in. The place is packed mostly with locals. After my round, I spend some time with AA, sitting out there in the open, near to where the girls resting area, just "bird watching" all the gals who walk past to go into the rooms for their line up parade. There were a couple of 8s I'd say, although I have tried 1, the standard is ok, but slightly less than a quarter notch below the DG ISO standard.

SECOND & SUBSEQUENT NIGHT ACTIVITIES
In the day, we did the usual tourist stuff, visited one of the hot tourist spot, 中国四大鼓楼之一 《黄鹤楼》, due to one of the ever famous poem by 李白：”故人西辞黄鹤楼，烟花三月下扬州".

The few other tourist spot that we visited were a large park by the lake, 东湖, 1911 辛亥革命纪念馆 but we were slightly too late and didn't get in, just walked around the area. The 武汉博物馆 which seems to be newly renovated or something, and therefore entry was free.

We did wanted to try walking across one of the old bridge designed by the Russians, but it started to drizzle, that discouraged us to try because we don't want to be stuck with wind and rain coming in all sides in the middle of what it would seem to be a pretty long walk across the bridge. However, we decide to explore the 江边 a little further before we try to catch a taxi to head back to the 汉口 side.

Although there is a BBS area about 2-3 streets down where our hotel is located, after the 1st night walk, it is apparent that at best, the standard is a 4 - 5.5, which neither LT or EZ found any one with the "oomph" factor.

So on the second night, we decided to take up AA's delivery service offer. The gals are supposedly FLs with a day job, and there are 2 group, 1 that will come by 9pm, and the other by 12mn. Price range from 900-1200. The way they arrange is through phone call, there is no standard place like the BBS where you can preview the goods per se. So I guess the FL must then really be OL by day, and moonlight this after working hours. We were assured of a certain "standard", and we can also reject with taxi fare included.

I had a short, quite busty gal knocking on my Hard Dick Hotel room door at midnight, quite on time. I didn't reject altho by most of my benchmark, she wouldn't have scored any higher than a 6.9.

But most importantly, it is not the looks but the attitude, which in this case, lucky me, she was definitely a much more fun and personable gal to be with compared to the gal that I had the next night.

This short busty gal is from Guizhou, and piecing the bits of information together, seems like she is working somewhere near Hard Dick Hotel. She definitely "enjoys" her part time job but is no simple push over. After 1 round, she was busy on her 微信 and have quite a lot of admirers trying to get into her pants.

The next night, LT and EZ decided to get AA to send us another 2 FLs, we were just being too lazy and not too motivated to check out the BBS. It was later the next morning, then I kinda realise that the 2nd gal I had must be the 1st gal that LT had the previous night. After the 1st night, LT and EZ exchanged notes. By validating what LT has recounted from his first experience, the gal's behavior kinda matched.

I wouldn't say that the 2nd gal I had was bad, just that the morning session was quite different from the night, and in comparison to the first gal, there was a distinction in attitude between the two. The first gal was altho seemingly a "player", but at least she was enthusiastic. The 2nd gal was, what I would say, inconsistent.

Although we took a stroll along the street with the pubs, but we didn't try. We also did not try the KTV as the feedback from AA was that there is no guarantee that the gal will go out, and the charges are pretty high.

So that sums up our short exploration of Wuhan for now, SNs seems to be the best choice compared to the other options.

Stay tuned.

[Huzige]

It’s just my bad habit – I can’t stop trying to sianing all the MMs and exploring new “opportunities” – old habits die hard. Then again, I have some interesting results from my “current projects.” Anyway, since EZ told me I better finished my FR on WH, here I am…

We spent the next two days playing tourist in WH. It has been at least a decade since I last visited the city and noted the fast transformation expected of a Chinese 2nd tier city. But we’re not the normal tourists and therefore have our “Sunshine Tour (ST)” and “Moonlight Tour (MT).” The ST during the day is more boring for most bros visiting SBF, nevertheless we visited the following popular tourist places during our limited time. I’ll just provide brief comments and won’t elaborate since bros can easily goggle and find loads of info.

1. Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼) : This is one main tourist spot of WH. The original one was built in 223AD during the time of the “Three Kingdom” and I believe the current one is “Version 3” completed only 27 years old. The main tower was the only attraction when I visited it not too long after it was opened, but the place has now been expanded into a park, with a new entrance on the other end complete with large car park to accommodate large buses bringing in tourists.

Yellow Crane Tower with Yangtze River Bridge & GuiShan TV Tower (龟山电视塔) in the background.


2. Memorial Hall of Wuchang Uprising (亥革命武昌起义纪念馆 ): This is within walking distance of the new main entrance to YCT, but we never made it in time as we got there after closing time, but there were posters next to the statue of Dr. Sun YatSen giving the historical account of the 1911 Wuchang Uprising.



3. Yangtze River Bridge (武汉长江大桥) aka 1st Yangtze Bridge since there are now more than one. We were walking around the area near the Memorial Hall, but didn’t see anything “exciting” and was going to walk across the 1.6km bridge until it started raining as we reached the first tower with a lift that brought us to a small exhibition room of once grand bridge built in the 50s, and down to the road level. We walked along the river bank near the bridge, but didn’t find anything interesting and so head back to get ready for the MT of the day.

4. DongHu or East Lake (东湖) : With 33sq km, it is the largest urban lake in China and the locals like to remind visitors that it is larger than Hangzhou’s East Lake. But walking through it, I told EZ it is great for a bit of romantic stroll, or a day out with a MM.

5. Hubei Provincial Museum (湖北省博物馆): Located near the East Lake, we kind of wandered into it late afternoon, and surprised that the admission is free. It has interesting exhibits, including a special exhibit of Chu State (楚国) complete with the King’s sword (not sure if it is the sanzhai version on display), and incredible artifacts dating back to 2400year old.

6. Guiyang Temple (归元寺) : A popular Buddhist Temple in WH, with a hall of 500 LuoHans. It is developing into a “religious park” with adaptation of modern technologies, and we found it somewhat more “commercialized” than what we expected of a temple. It even has a website: http://www.guiyuanchansi.com.cn/

As for MT, we have the following choices:
1. KTV: AA told us these are expensive and even mommies & water-boy expect or ask for tips. And the MMs are “unpredictable” even for their pricing – and we decided “why bother?”

2. BBS: we revisited the area near where we stayed, but didn’t see one that "motivate" us enough to find out the physical conditions these joints, since AA told us the MMs usually just do on-site at 100RMB for a 30mins session and do not normally go to your hotel. There are other BBS areas in WH but we didn’t have the time to check them out.

3. FLs: AA has managed to link up with two mommies so far, one with a pricing of RMB900 and another with RMB1200 overnight. When asked what’s the difference, especially in term of MM quality, he was honest to say (and that’s why I like about him) he couldn’t really tell the difference, except that’s the price insisted by the individual mommy. He suggested we take the 900 and we were not disappointed. The MMs will come at either 8pm or 11pm (note: EZ got this timing wrong) and will stay for 12hrs but I believe this is AA’s understanding with the mommies. We decided to take these for both the evenings, since it allows us plenty of time for ST, especially the very bad traffic and seemingly shortage of taxi during the peak hours around 5-7pm (and that’s also when they have their change of shift – beats me why such timing!). We arranged for them to come around 11pm and we were told we can reject and just give taxi fare of 3/40RMB. My only disappointment is that none of them is local - one from Guangxi and another from Zhejiang, but neither disappoint and quite fun to be with. One told me why she dislikes HB and relating all the negativities of the locals, claiming that she couldn’t wait to go home once her 1yr contract is over. Both the MMs claimed to be working in the boutiques across the main road near the hotel.

4. SNs: I've described this in my earlier posting.

5. Bars: We have seen various variations but didn't check out any.

Like EZ, I continue to be tickled by the Hotel Hard Dick’s logos, and but it also has the appropriate “tag” that any cheongster will appreciate:

[Huzige]

In between ST & MT, we did have time to check out one footie joint near our hotel. No hanky panky, but my MM is quiet chio, very friendly, no makeup and easily put many of the MMs @ CP’s PZL to shame – only wish I’ve more time! The session is nothing unlike in other footie joints I’ve been to in China, with the exception of cupping therapy for our feet!

Cupping our feet at a local footie joint…


We also checked out the area near Hankou River Coast Park (汉口江滩公园) and some called it “Bar Street” (more like “Bar Road”) due to many bars on both side of the road.


One of the bars on the Bar Road…



We have also decided to join a 3 days 2 nights tour to YC宜昌, to save the hassles of arrangement. This was arranged through AA with a local travel agency. We paid extra for single occupancy, as well as the extra night, instead of returning with the group to WH and finding our own way to ES. It works out to RMB820/person. We were part of local tour group, thus offering the opportunities for insights to “local cultures” and staying at a 2-stars (by local standard) hotel.

AA didn’t know about the cheonging scene in YC and I only have old notes. Moreover the place has changed so much due to the spillover effect of the 3-gorges dam project, and we were so tired after the day tour that we didn’t really feel that we need the extra nocturnal exercise. We did walk around in the evening around our hotel, near the bank of Yangtze River that has plenty of healthy activities, but no tell-tale signs of FLs. We also walked the streets of the nearby residential area, again nothing except KTVs that we didn’t bother to check. Yeah, we can honestly say we were genuine tourists.



I will let EZ to take over from here as I need to disappear for another private expedition on my own. And based on our experience, I would highly recommend AA's service for first time visitor to WH. He tries hard to please, but unfortunately he only speak Chinese.

[Mekatulia]

Originally Posted by Huzige

5. Hubei Provincial Museum (湖北省博物馆): Located near the East Lake, we kind of wandered into it late afternoon, and surprised that the admission is free. It has interesting exhibits, including a special exhibit of Chu State (楚国) complete with the King’s sword (not sure if it is the sanzhai version on display), and incredible artifacts dating back to 2400year old.
...
The MMs will come at either 8pm or 11pm (note: EZ got this timing wrong) and will stay for 12hrs but I believe this is AA’s understanding with the mommies.

Just to add:

On display was supposedly the Sword of Gou Jian, King of Yue (越王勾践). A lot of the items were tagged as "replica" which is as honest as they can be, but not for that sword. My take is, a bronze item, given 2400 Yrs of oxidization and plenty of tomb raiders, I doubt its authenticity.

Sorry that I got the timing wrong, I must be working on TH or VN or some other timings.