Teaching in Hubei!!!: Places of Xiangyang: Gulou District

Gulou has come to be my favorite part of town. It’s a gorgeous section of the city that is recreated to look like how it did in the ancient times. There are a couple large walls and gates there that have been renovated and rebuilt with new materials. The roads are stone, and the stores are all built in the style of ancient Chinese buildings. It’s really pretty. It’s located along the banks of the Han River, which I think I mentioned before is a tributary to the Yangtze River. In Gulou there are bars, coffee houses, restaurants, a small museum, a nice park area along the wall and river, and a lot of stores to shop in. It’s really a lot like a big market area. So much is happening there, it just is such a nice place to be…I’m always happy when I’m over there. A lot of times the other teachers and I have gone over there to either get food, shop, or hang out at one of the bars. Beware of little kids peeing on the streets though, steer away from random puddles on the side of the streets when there has been no rain. Hehe. One time we discovered this lovely little restaurant that serves really great dishes and the prices were really cheap. They had really great Mongolian beef and fried shrimp.

The museum has a ton of artifacts from ancient times and you can get in for free. It’s fun, but maybe only a one time thing…two times tops.

Probably my favorite thing that you can find in Gulou is place where they do massages. It’s not a spa, they only do massages, but there’s a blind lady who though visually impaired can massage like no other. Last week was the first time I had ever had a massage (massages from family don’t cut it, sorry…cuz none of you can massage like I can). And it was amazing…I was in heaven…it was crazy. And it was sooo cheap…only 40 kuai. I am so going again next week…I’m going to have to add that into my budget. She did a full body massage and the 40 kuai was for an hour’s worth of a massage. Yeah, that’s happening again.

PICS!!!!