You know the city. It’s starred on every late night talk show in America. But would you recognize Wuhan, China if you saw it?
Wuhan (which is pronounced Juan by locals) is a sleepy blue collar city in China, more of a Pittsburgh than a Chicago. You won’t find a slick skyline, just a few o temples and old timers who still take a morning dip in the Yangzte.
Hubu Alley 
Typical Temple Wuhan 
Yangzte Swimmer Wuhan 
Yanzste River Wuhan 
Portable Library Wuhan 
Wuhan Train 
Local Eats Wuhan 
Curious Kid Wuhan 
Muslim Noodles Wuhan 
Train To Wuhan 
Wuhan Train Station
I was in Wuhan for three days and didn’t see any westerners, not even at any of the several Starbucks. I did make friends with this robot who was also staying in the Atour hotel where I got a sweet deal on my room.
How seriously is COVID taken in Wuhan?
Masks are required everywhere, which was brutal considering the wring-me-out-now humidity. Bus drivers show no mercy, as I witnessed on the 514 when a mask-less lady boarded. The bus driver stopped the bus, stomped to her seat and hovered over her while she scrambled through her purse for a mask. Luckily, the woman seated behind her had a spare to share. That would never happen on Chicago’s 151.
Covid Curious?
It wasn’t as if I was expecting a gold star on the sidewalk at ground zero for COVID 19 in Wuhan, China, but yeah, I sorta was. I wanted something to signify that this is the place where time stopped in 2020, the Greenwich Village with the Prime Meridian for Pandemics.
But there wasn’t.
While Covid wasn’t news in Wuhan, it’s a shame the virus is still making headlines in other places. I cringe reading about monks in Thailand cremating Covid victims in temples and the delta variant causing havoc in the States
Maybe instead of focusing on where the virus started, the world should lock hands on how to end it.