Inside The World’s Most Hated City: Wuhan, China
I am in Wuhan China a city you have all heard of before but for all the wrong reasons just a few years ago this city was all over the news with some even calling it the world's most hated City but what is Wuhan really like today my goal is to explore the city Beyond its reputation visiting its iconic landmarks trying the city's most famous noodles seeing its incredible Skyline and I will also visit the infamous wet Market known as the starting point for the global pandemic so what does Wuhan China really like today and will it maybe even surprise us let's find out together okay and I am in front of a very interesting street here now called hubu allei which is a very Lively and popular Street here it's like a walking Street where you can find shopping opportunities but also lots of street food so I'm here to try some delicious food so I see some dumplings being sold here already that is always a good option in China but I see many more shops here so let's have a closer look I think this is a rice cake here dop yes this one right yes yeah okay can I get one portion yeah this is called doupi it is like a rice cake plate is very hot here so everything is fresh and hot and then she puts it in this little cup here and then I can sit here yes yes okay maybe this is her shop and she's just serving from this shop because the owner is currently not here okay okay let's sit down here let's give it a try and then I will figure out how much I have to pay for this first we try then we pay okay and we have the Chopsticks here on the side and then I also see there is some sauce here which I think is do you use the sauce yeah okay she looks a bit confused I think this is soy sauce but I'm not sure if you're supposed to put it on this dish or not we also have something here that looks like a chili oil which I'm going to skip because I can't eat spicy it's delicious to add a little chili chili but I can't eat spicy you know what let me try a little bit I want to have the authentic experience this is very fragrant and not spicy see okay let me add a little bit so this one it's vinegar yes oh no not delicious I don't think vinegar goes well with this okay so the dish I'm having here is called dopy it's a rice cake filled with meat and vegetables wrapped in Bean cured skin and yeah I heard this is actually very popular here as a street food snack in vuhan let's give it a try M oh the rice is very heavy I think it's a type of sticky rice and then on top we have this uh yeah it looks like a like a skin almost like a pork skin on top of the rice that's the bean Cur skin I guess and then underneath it I'm actually not sure if this is actually meat could also be tofu oh but the flavor I think the flavor is coming from the skin it's very flavorful very delicious and here there's another big piece of rice underneath oh this is actually a very heavy dish let me mix it all and get like a proper bite with everything so the rice the meat the greens oh that's a really nice combination of different flavors in my mouth now oh that is actually I think a really good start to our day here exploring vuhan let me finish this and then we see how much I have to pay for this is the meat inside pork meat yes yes pork meat okay how very good I can pay a g b so I'm scanning the code here and then I have to type in the amount how much you can type yeah 12 okay where are from I'm from Germany every time I'm trying to say du which means Germany and China most people don't understand me so probably my pronunciation of the Chinese Germany is very wrong sounds exactly the same what I said right okay sh thank you very much okay byebye okay that was a very hearty very delicious and very filling meal actually a very nice Street I could really imagine like if you're living nearby you can walk down the alley here after work collect some food take it home with you many many different options here and even some some juices over here as well it's always a bit difficult you always need to keep your eye on the roads for these electric scooters because they are all electric in China so you usually don't hear them coming because they are so quiet I think I also saw the famous Wuhan noodles on one of these signs here we are going to try these famous noodles later in the video the street is actually very similar compared to one of the food streets I have seen recently in kashka in Ching Jiang China maybe you saw one of my previous videos from there where we also walk down an alley with many food stalls on the left on the right and it actually looks similar just the city around looks very different compared to kashka and Ching Jiang China okay I'm inside a souvenir shop I'm actually looking to buy some postcards I will tell you in a minute why I'm looking for postcards are these post cards I can send with the post very old school nobody buys postcards anymore these days yeah I'm looking for postcards because my mom would like to get a postcard from me she said uh that's uh one of her Christmas wishes to get a postcard from me my mom is a bit old school but uh yeah this is not the first time I'm trying to find the postcard it's very very rare to find postcards these days nobody buys them anymore I guess and by the way we are walking straight into a very residential neighborhood here I think so this is the end of the food Street and then you can walk straight into a local residential area actually I'm also curious to see a little bit of a local neighborhood so let's have a quick look around this area before we continue to the next destination we have some murals here on the side they're actually looking pretty good actually wondering what is this construction here looks like a place where you can hang your clothes to dry right but why would that be here right next to the street if anyone of you can explain what this is let us know in the comments I don't know it looks like a shopping scene inside a an old school School shop maybe maybe this is an old school Chinese restaurant here many murals here actually and of course somebody uh cleaning the streets that is something that I really notice in every Chinese City there are always so many people around and usually to be honest it's older people cleaning the streets so I guess they are employed by the city and yeah my impression is that a lot of older people are doing these jobs probably because that is something that they are still able to do plus they outside in the fresh air but yeah that leads to the fact that all the Chinese cities are always looking very clean I mean you can have a look around here right and I think they also separate their garbage here same what we do in Germany we have different categories what type of garbage you have belongs into what color of trash bin and I think they're actually doing something similar here so for example we have one category for harmful waste food waste other waste and recyclable raced and yeah my first impressions here in vuhan the city actually feels like a small town almost I mean there are 14 million people living here in Wuhan that is a huge City actually that's that would be by far the biggest city in my country Germany but if you have a look around and we are not somewhere on some quiet outskirts areas this is the city center basically of vuhan although I guess because the city is so huge there are more areas in the city or several different areas that you can call City Center but we are quite in the middle of the city now and if you have a look around it feels quiet it feels relaxed it almost feels empty oh hell and we have a friendly smiling local people here but I also think that most of the cars here are electric I mean you can hear or you can't hear them that's that's the point because oh this is a nice German Mercedes here that probably is not electric and also the truck here is not electric oh now that I'm trying to prove a point we have a lot of non-electric cars around also we have so many of these bicycles here that you can you just scan a QR code and then you can use them to cycle around the city I'm wondering though if anyone of you can explain what is the difference between the yellow and the blue bikes is it maybe just different companies we also have a green bike here but yeah does this look or feel or sound like a city of 14 million people no right and yet the name of the city vuhan comes from the combination of three neighboring towns Vu Chang hu and hanyang and yeah these three towns merged in the early 20th century forming the city that we know today as vuhan oh I can't believe how empty it feels here where are all the 40 million people that is insane I mean we are going to see different areas of the city later in the videos so maybe they will be busier and we have a park here public park where people play how do you call it in English baton that is also something that I noticed every Chinese City I have visited so far and I think this is my 10th City or so in China all of these cities they always have a lot of parks in the city centers well-maintained areas where you can have a walk around enjoy relax some of these Parks I've seen they also have like a little cafe in the middle and usually you can find a lot of old people in these Parks yeah I don't want to draw a conclusion of the city now I will do that at the end of the video but yeah my first impressions here are actually very nice and I'm curious to collect more Impressions throughout the day here throughout this video okay and we are now at probably the most famous place of Wuhan the yellow crane Tower which is one of the most iconic historic places in all of China but I'm actually not sure if the entrance is here the taxi driver just dropped me down there and yeah it also started ter rain a bit so I have an umbrella now yeah so later in the video we are going to see more of the modern and futuristic side of the city but I thought I also want to show you an ancient historical side of the city hello can I get a ticket for the yellow crane Tower yeah can buy here yeah yeah okay how much 17 17 yeah yeah I need to scan here oh okay welome thank you very much okay here we are so to my understanding this is actually quite a large area yeah I know the weather condition is not the best so imagine this in full bright Sunshine but nevertheless it actually looks quite beautiful already here but it is a bit like like a ma here have to figure out where to go wondering what they are doing here they're making some some sounds some some music I would be curious to know what they are doing but I don't want to interrupt them and ask because they seem to be uh busy making uh making the Sounds here so this behind me is the yellow crane Tower which is considered one of China's most iconic ancient structures it was initially built in 223 ad during the Three Kingdoms period but it has been reconstructed several times due to damages from Wars or natural disasters so the tower that we are seeing here today is not 100% the original tower anymore oh I wonder why these cigarettes are famous he's taking a picture of the cigarettes yeah what is this cigarettes I think the tower is on the package of the cigarettes ah interesting I don't know maybe this is a famous cigarette brand here in China and it has the tower on the package you can see here so the the building on the package is exactly this building right here oh very interesting okay that's an interesting marketing strategy right putting an ancient building on your cigarette package ah look at that there's a sign here saying post so maybe they're having postcards here I'm not sure if this is a postcard I can actually send to Germany to my mom is this a real post card that I can send to Germany I think only to China can I only send it within China ah yeah okay okay this is a real postcard but I cannot send it internationally but I think if I buy it and then if I go to the Post Office and buy another stamp pay a bit extra then I can probably send it if I go to a post office and buy a new stem can I get them send it to Germany you know what let me just buy one because this is actually the first time I come across a real postcard in a while I think the last time I saw somebody selling real postcard was in in Mumbai in India maybe you remember how much is one okay let me uh one that I'm going to send to my mom because yeah she wanted that as a Christmas gift I cannot buy one I need to buy all 20 per set okay okay then I then let me get the set thank you very much so Mom if you seeing this video this is the card that hopefully has arrived already by the time you're watching this video okay this is the inside the main hall so you enter right over there and then we have this impressive picture here which is a very popular photo spot with a yellow crane flying over the tower oh it's a cool feeling to be in here like remember how old this building is and people actually walked up probably not exactly these stairs but similar stairs hundreds and hundreds of years ago already yeah as usual in China places like this are always quite commercialized like we have book shops in here souvenir shops tourist shops it almost feels like an ancient Mall in here like we are in such a historical building and you have shopping opportunities here so at the inside like the first floor was basically like a shopping area but the other floors are yeah almost like a museum in here how many floors are here I didn't count but I think this was the fourth floor already so we have at least one more and yeah so this is the view from the highest floor this is the area where we just coming from and the entrance area is over there and also here you can walk all around so you can enjoy the view 360° all around but yeah it's a bit unfortunate that the weather condition is not the best today unfortunately it's a rainy day today okay and now we have seen the ancient historical side of Wuhan but stay tuned later in the video we are also going to see the futuristic and modern side of the city and trust me that side is quite impressive okay I'm actually trying to find the Metro now and yeah if you saw my previous video my arrival here then you probably remember that Google Maps is not a big help here and I can't really use the Chinese map so for example if I'm having a look on Google Maps there's no metro line near me but I know for sure that there is a metro line somewhere here actually let me open the Chinese map yeah we have so many different colors here on the on the Chinese map that I'm not really sure which one is a metro line I think here's a metro station so I need to walk straight and then right because yeah I am going to take the metro to the next interesting area of the city and then we are trying to find the infamous seafood market where everything started a few years ago but first I have to find the Metro ah here's the Metro that looks like the entrance to the station I was just walking by here and then I I noticed oh that's actually the entrance I think we have line five here I'm actually not sure which line I have to take also very typical for Chinese metros they are built very deep underground uh the good thing about heing metros in China is that here everything is also in English restroom welcome to vuhan Metro tickets and trains over there oh yeah the Metro System here in vuhan is huge so the station where I want to go to is near the vuhan museum but I don't know the actual name of the station do you know which station I have to go to if I want to go to the bham museum can you help me out okay let me take a picture of this she even translated it to English y cryo so I change here and then change here hu railway station this one yeah okay okay sh thank you very much okay hu raway station okay now I know the final station name I'm very helpful of her looking it up in her map and then telling me so uh English hu railway station okay I have to pay 4 un and I can pay with Al pay I have the feeling that taking a metro in China is always very affordable according to her screenshot the journey takes about 37 minutes and I paid 4 un now which is like 50 cents us okay I have to scan my back I think scan the back okay and here was my back nothing dangerous inside actually I just have a hoodie inside because I think it might get colder in the evening now I'm just wearing the jacket and the t-shirt we have about 15° in case you're wondering okay entering here okay I just missed the train but I guess they are running quite frequently okay I'm definitely have to take the train on this side and then just one station and then we figure out how to continue yeah I'm not really sure where the station is located that I'm going to now so we have the vuhan museum here and then the infamous seafood market where I want to go to is basically right next to the museum so I hope that the station where we are going to is somewhere in this area but uh yeah I don't know I can't recognize the station on the Chinese app and they don't exist on Google Maps so let's just take the train and then when we have arrived at the final station we're going to see if I'm right look at this this is also very interesting passengers riding on the middle of the train will be hit with a strong blast of air conditioning while those on the first and the last Carriage will be subject to much less intenses AC so you can see here the trains in the middle are much colder than the ones at the beginning or the front that is a very interesting system so I want to go in here actually it feels quite warm in here okay but we only have to go one station and yeah the station names are also in English here so that is no problem and you can even see on which side of the Train the doors are open okay literally a minute later we have arrived already and I guess this station will be a bit easier because we can transfer here to another line and I think it's line two I have to transfer to okay the station looks much bigger than the previous station but uh yeah I have to say well organized here you have many many signs here indicating where you have to go line two line two line two line two so another sign line two so you can't miss it basically just need to follow the signs to your next line I know there's a train just arriving here but is this the right train where I have to go on I don't know I would like to double check that first yes it is okay and I made it okay I'm pretty sure I saw the station where I need to go to on the on the map so then actually we should be crossing the river now so this should be quite a long ride to the next station also I like it that the colors in here represent the color of the line I am on so you can see here it's all painted in pink which is the the color of the line of the metro line I'm on at the moment what's also very interesting so there are signs hanging on the sides here and I just took a picture of the sign and translated it and this is actually an information about a healthy diet that is fascinating they're educating the people here inside the Metro about what is a healthy diet you will definitely never ever see that in my country Germany but I have to say it seems to work because you hardly see uh overweight people here in China very very well we are arriving at hu railway station so that was actually only like 20 minutes now and here we are so because this is a proper railway station I think it's going to be very busy so let me see if I can find a way out here and yeah I can see myself again on the map and we are basically exactly at the vuhan Museum so exactly where I wanted to go through so thanks to the lady who guided me to the right station putting in the coin here and I can leave the station and that was a pretty easy and convenient journey I have to say so thumbs up to the vuhan Metro System oh and look at the color of the sky that looks beautiful already right yeah it is about 1 and 1/2 hours before sunset time now now and I have something planned for sunset time and then also for the time after Sunset so stay tuned for that I think that's going to be very impressive but here we are now this is another railway station yeah maybe you remember my previous video when I arrived here in Wuhan with the train I told you there are three train stations in Wuhan and I wasn't sure which one I arrive at this would have been another option and yeah before I'm trying to find this Infamous seafood market now I actually want to see if I can find a place where I can eat the famous Wuhan noodles I have the Chinese name written here so let me ask if they have it hello do you have this yeah I think it's actually very easy to find these noodles from what I've heard it's very very popular here in Wuhan okay one yeah okay over there there heating the noodles up by the way in the water this might be already my portion right here adding a little bit of that a little bit of that and this sauce oh that looks delicious already okay how much I pay how much how much you can type in four oh 4 4.5 ah okay 4.5 you okay so these are the famous Wuhan hot dry noodles and the ingredients are of course the noodles soy sauce Sesame paste pickled carrots and garlic and my first impression is I can really really smell the Sesame it smells like sesame noodles now and yeah these are the pickled carrots but then I also see I think these are peas and yeah this is a very traditional dish here in Wuhan and what's unique about it is that it's not in a broth like most other Asian style hot noodles and yeah I have heard that this is actually a very popular breakfast here in Wuhan you can not only find it in restaurants like this you can also find it as a street food and yeah it's very quick to prepare it was literally finished now in like a minute so the noodles are precooked I guess and then they are just adding the different ingredients on top and then you have a hot bowl of noodles like this let's give it a try oh you can immediately taste the Sesame flavor but also the soy sauce of course actually quite good but I think to be honest I prefer noodles in a broth I'm missing a little bit of broths now and what I'm also missing is meat on top I could imagine that for example minced meat minced beef for example would be perfect on top of here as well I'm wondering I might be able to actually add meat or other ingredients as well here so I could imagine that you can pay a bit extra and then you can actually add for example meat on top okay let me finish this and then we are trying to find this Infamous Market actually I want to be a bit careful with the filming in this area near the seafood market now not because I'm worried about something I just think this is the ground zero of the global pandemic from a few years ago so I could imagine that over the past year years many journalists news reporter from all over the world have been here to fil up this Market probably also other YouTubers or Tik tokers instagrammers came here before and I could imagine that that is something that the locals in this area don't really like because yeah it's probably nothing that you're really proud of when you're from this city from this area that the whole Global pandemic basically started right here so I want to be a bit careful with my camera now we have red light already J in China oh no my social credit score will fall that's at least what I can read all the time in the comments whenever I am or people in my videos are jay walking actually I wasn't sure if this seafood market was only the ground zero of the pandemic in the western Media or also in the Chinese media so I actually a few days ago I asked my Chinese friend about it if yeah according to Chinese media the whole pandemic also started here and he said yes so not only in the western media the whole thing started here also in the Chinese media okay I'm almost there should be maybe 100 m over there and then on the left side and in case you ever wondered how the area around it looks like I think this is actually a hospital right next to it so I'm almost right in front of it okay first thing I noticed there are plenty of police cars parking right in front of the market oh this is a police station I think did they change the market into a police station oh is this is not the right location here maybe this is another situation of we can't trust Google Maps this is a bank here and then maybe it is here to be honest with you I'm not 100% sure if the market is even still a market if it's still open you know I could also imagine that it closed down actually but this is oh this is uh the entrance but I see something okay and I'm standing in front of the infamous seafood market now and yeah at the beginning of the market there's a big sign that no photos or videos are allowed inside the market Market which of course I'm going to respect and I can actually even understand that because yeah I can imagine that in the past years many many people came here with cameras probably from media Outlets from all around the world just to film at this market and it's probably very annoying for the locals here so I just actually went inside the market without my camera and it's not a wet Market anymore it's not a seafood market anymore it looks basically like a shopping mall I saw some jewry shops in there some shops where you can buy phones so it looks like a regular typical little mall now so I'm pretty sure they got rid of the red Market section that costed everything a few years ago and I have to say it feels pretty pretty weird to stand here right now this Market has been all over the news a few years ago and being here now at the ground zero of the global pandemic is a weird feeling I have to admit yeah I think we all remember the times 2020 2021 all the lockdowns we've been through all the restrictions and it is all connected with this location here the first few lockdowns started I think in March 2020 I was in koal lumu Malaysia at that time and I remember I was stuck in my apartment there for three full months and I think many of you have experienced something similar back then so that was definitely an historical event something that all of us hopefully will never experience again in our life yeah it really changed the world and it all started at the market right behind me and in case you're wondering how it looks around here so the market is right there and then around here we have plenty plenty of residential buildings so probably the first few people that got infected with the virus we are probably shopping here because they were living nearby so probably in one of these areas and this is also probably the area that saw one of the first lockdowns so I guess that this area here was under a really tough lockdown maybe even the first lockdown of the whole country happened right in this area strange feeling to be here such a historical place but historical in a negative way I have to say I would be really curious if you are F vuhan please uh share the story in the comment section how did you experience the beginning of 2020 here in the city I would be very curious to read about that and I think many other peoples who are seeing this would also be curious but yeah like I said earlier it is a sensitive topic so I actually don't want to film too much here because I can definitely understand that the locals here probably don't want this attention here so I would say let's head to the the final stop of today which is going to be a very impressive stop I think okay and I want to take the Uber of China now there's an app here called Didi which is connected with the alipay app and yeah that basically works like uber in the west or grab in Southeast Asia and let's see how convenient it is to take so I enter it the location where I want to go to I can even enter it in English here and usually it's able to find it confirm destination and then I get the prices right away so the oh you even have like a premier car available a luxurious car here and then you can also take meter taxis and then the fair is approximate so but I can take the regular discounted Express for only about 13 un so that is like $150 for like a 15 minutes ride let's see how fast I can find the driver and I have a driver right away here is literally only 1 minute away around the corner I actually use this app already quite a lot here in China and it has always been very easy to use very convenient and he should be here already 5X 50x that's our guy even with a German car Volkswagen FV I like that meow hello good afternoon hello are German cars popular here so okay okay oh good okay I think he was saying that German cars are good please translate in the comments that he was doing this in the end which is a universal sign for good I think yeah I noticed that already they seem to like German cars here I'm seeing plenty of f Volkswagen also many Mercedes-Benz which actually surprises me because uh the local car brands like B byd for example they are also getting more and more popular overseas for example in Indonesia where I'm living at the moment I see plenty of byd stores in Jakarta but I don't think to be honest that there are many Chinese cars in Europe I haven't been to Europe for a few years so I'm not sure about that but I don't really think that Chinese cars would be popular on the European market despite being I think think uh one of the the leading car brands in the world when it comes to electric cars okay thank you very much bye-bye and we have arrived about 15 minutes later and yeah that was a very convenient way to travel around the city I can really recommend if you coming to China get yourself the alipay app and then alipay is also connected with Didi that was the name of the taxi app and yeah this is not a sponsored video by Didi or alipay I can just recommend having this app when you're coming to China or you can also use the Metro taxis which are also very easy to find here in China I mean there are plenty of metero taxis driving around and I took them many times here as well and never had any problems with it they're all using the meter right array you don't have to ask about that and they are also pretty affordable That's My overall impression here that the taxi rides are very affordable similar to the Metro rides I mean this was now less than $150 for 15 minutes in a taxi and Metroid taxis are also very cheap I'm from Dua Dua Germany Dua D ah my pronunciation is so wrong okay nice to meet you never mind he was very confused I think what is wrong with my pronunciation for du du that's exactly what I'm saying right d okay it is getting pretty cold actually now I'm guessing we're having like 10° now here in the evening just with a t-shirt it is very cold but it's not as cold here as in my previous videos from Ching Jiang okay just feels much warmer now much better so I need to wait until 6:00 p.m. now it is now 5:32 so in about half an hour you will see the magic when this Skyline Comes Alive cuz the skyline here in Wuhan is very impressive and yeah while I'm waiting for the skyline to come alive I want to say some things about my day my experiences here in Wuhan so far my first impression here is actually that it's a very livable city the city is modern it's clean well organized like you saw how huge the Metro system is so I think uh once you understand all the lines it's actually very convenient to be able to reach all the corners of the city with the Metro the taxis are very affordable here also the food is not expensive and I'm actually quite surprised about vuhan like we all heard so many negative stories from the city but who knew that this city is actually quite a cool place so I'm feeling actually quite surprised and yeah before coming here of course I only had seen Wuhan through the lens of the global news the negative Global News in the past years but after exploring around meeting people trying the local food I have to say now I definitely see it differently and I think you should not judge or Define a city based on the history the past it's always better to come here and see for yourself and then you maybe notice that oh this city is actually quite cool and different from what you would have expected and yeah always keep mind that behind every headline also behind the negative headlines is a real place with real people living real lives and I haven't had a single negative experience here in the city and now let's have a look at the skyline by night oh look at this this is probably the smallest KFC shop I have ever seen we have the KFC logo here hi Mommy only ice cream and coffee ice cream no chicken chicken y you have chicken here no oh KFC yes oh so small the shop I think this is the smallest KFC store I have ever seen very small mini mini mini KFC yeah mini KFC but are you selling fried chicken and hamburgers here no hamburger no hamburger your chicken chicken yes yes ah okay okay maybe later can I can I see the uh I'm looking for a place with a nice view to the skyline here yes the weather today is bad ah yeah it's very foggy if it were normal this would be great place to enjoy the scene ah yeah oh not lucky today okay I still have a look over there okay sh thank you very much yeah she said the weather is very bad today if it were normal this would be a great place to enjoy the scenery well I hope we can still enjoy it and yeah this is the youngster River the biggest river in China the biggest river in Asia and the third biggest river in the world with a total length of 6,380 KM it starts in tbet and it ends near Shanghai so very impressive actually to also see this River for the first time in my life with my own ice okay turns out the lights are being turned on at 6:30 not 6:00 p.m. but yeah have a look now it looks so beautiful basically every skyscraper that you can see on the skyline here is illuminated with the lights and the color of the lights is constantly changing like every 30 seconds or so and wow this is just so typical China having impressive skylines like this wow I really like that and even the bridge is illuminated wow what an atmosphere that is here so yeah this was a very interesting and impressive day here in Wuhan China I hope you enjoyed today's video subscribe to the channel if you haven't yet to follow the journey and if you haven't seen my previous video where I took a first class highspeed train from Chiang to vuhan then feel free to check out the video right here stay healthy stay positive and then see you on the next episode ciao guys
2024-12-21 14:29
