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Published: August 18th 2008
I’M NEARLY TO NANJING
I am excited this morning, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2008. Soon, very very soon, I’ll see my Jesse. And that’s really why I’ve made this journey halfway around the world. I have plenty of time to wait in the Beijing airport for my flight. It doesn’t board until 20 minutes before taking off. I find a place to plug in my laptop, taking a cue from the other man in the waiting area. The plug-ins at Gate 17 are hidden under metal caps in the floor. Clever. Lucky for me, it’s an all-around plug-in, not like the strange one I found last night in the hotel. There are many more holes than my 3-prong needs and it makes a slight spark when I plug it in. But the important thing is it charges. Yes. At 6:30 a.m. the shops start to open up and I go in search of some tea. A coffee shop isn’t far down the corridor. I randomly pick Bubble Tea. It sounds fun. Oh, and a bottle of water. I can’t go far without that. I long ago exhausted the two I bought in Tokyo. The tea and the water cost 8 RNB. I’ll
have to ask Jesse what the conversion rate is. The tea is deliciously flavored. I hope to become a tea expert on this trip.
I mourn the loss of my Tiger Balm, mouthwash and rubbing alcohol as I sit and wait. They were confiscated at the security check this morning. All I was told was they were flammable. One woman demonstrated by pouring the rubbing alcohol on a scissors and then lighting it on fire. Duh! But then every liquid I was carrying was flammable. Perfume, aromatherapy, etc. I’ll especially miss the Tiger Balm which I brought to ease my headaches.
Sadly, I get sick on this plane. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s so much smaller than the Boeing 747s, or if it’s because I’ve been traveling so long and my body is just done. To combat it, I dab my aromatherapy blend on my sweatshirt and start sucking mints. And I notice that there’s a barf bag in the seat pocket. Good to know. The breakfast this morning isn’t as good as the food I’ve had in the past. But then, I was brave and picked the Chinese option versus the Western one. I look
longingly at the Western breakfast of biscuit and egg that my Chinese neighbor got. I find a dish of rice gruel that looks promising but has no flavor. None at all. The bubble in the plastic package isn’t Brie or anything like it, but instead one of those pickled/rotten eggs that is black instead of white. It looks too scary to try and Jesse had already warned me against it. I put it back. The roll has some sort of filling, but is a little too sweet for me. I stick with the small dish of tropical fruit.
We’re not flying as high as the Boeing 747s did and the stewardess doesn’t come tell me to shut my window. This time I can see the breathtaking views. I’m surprised to see so many mountains during the 2-hour flight. It appears the entire area between Beijing south to Nanjing is mountainous.
As we fly over Beijing I notice what appears to be a river, a wide river, except that it’s nearly empty of water. There are bridges across, and near each bridge what looks like a small dam. In front of each dam there is a small pool of
Welcome to Nanjing
I'm here! In all, I was in an airplane 15+ hours to get here and it took 2 days.water. I wonder if this is the Yellow River, China’s mighty Yellow River, that I read about in National Geographic. It begins in the Himalayan Mountains, high to the west, and then flows towards the sea. China’s inhabitants depend on this river to bring them water. Only in the past 20 years so much has been diverted for agricultural and industrial uses. It’s becoming polluted from the raw materials plants dump into it. It now no longer make it to the sea. There was only one year in the 1990s when it trickled to the sea throughout the entire summer month. What will China do to combat the water shortage? To prepare for the summer games, huge pipes were installed to bring water up from the south, near Nanjing. But this doesn’t sound like a long-term solution to me.
I don’t see much of a city as we land at Nanjing. Perhaps I’m on the wrong side of the plane. I’ve been lucky to have window seats all the way here. And ironically, the first time I have a seat in front of the wings is the flight I get nauseous on.
As I walk to the bathroom
I realize I am the only Westerner on the flight. The only person not Asian, in fact. What an odd feeling. No wonder they all stare as I walk down the aisle.
FINALLY, MY JESSE
There are many people holding signs as soon as I reach the public part of the airport, the part after the security checks. I head straight out and then wait by the curb. 5 minutes pass. 10. 15. I wonder if Jesse forgot me? Got stuck in traffic? The African in a suit waiting 15 feet away comes over to chat with me. He’s from Tanzania, grew up near Mount Kilimanjaro. Here on business. And then I see him. Jesse is walking this way. I dash towards him, moving as fast as a person with a rolling suitcase and oh-so-heavy backpack can. I think his smile is as big as mine. “I misjudged the time from the hotel,” he told me.
The Emerson shuttle van is pretty fancy. The driver slides open my door while Jesse stows my luggage. It has leather seats, and video screens in the seat backs. I strain to see out the window as we drive. Beautiful flowers are
planted down the roads. Jesse points out the work is labor intensive and requires many Chinese to tend to the flowers and shrubs. Each shrub is carefully manicured.
We drive past the city wall - It looks amazing and I can’t wait to get closer. At a spot where it ends we see a cross section and I’m amazed by just how very wide it is. 20-30 feet wide and 60-100 feet high, I’m guessing.
Jesse has warned me about how scary the driving is, so I try not to look forward, but instead focus on looking out the side windows. In about 20 minutes we hit our hotel, the Crowne Plaza. It’s high, 50-some floors, and our room is on the 52nd level. The view is amazing. I see lots of cars, bikes, scouters, cranes and high rises. Jackhammers make noise night and day. The air conditioner in our room blocks the sound at night, though.
Our room is beautiful, with wood floors, dark wood cabinets and bamboo highlights. I didn’t expect it to be this nice. We have 2 TVs, a couch, two lounging chairs, a spacious bathroom and tons of closets in this two-room
suite. The kitchenette comes equipped with mini-fridge, freezer, sink, stove and dishes. Jesse warns me about eating any of the food lying around; apparently, it’s pretty expensive and he doesn’t want us to have to buy it. There’s a grocery store on level 6 we’ll stop by later. The room looks even more luxurious after my spartan accommodations from the night before at the Green Park Hotel in Beijing. Thank goodness here the water is clear, without the orange tint it had in Beijing. Each day we get 6 more water bottles. That’s going to save my life.
FIRST NAP, THEN FOOD
In desperate need of a nap, I lay down, and don’t wake back up for 3 hours. It’s pretty hard to wake up, but Jesse insists. I know it’s for the better as I want to make sure I sleep well at night. We head out for food; my only requirements that the restaurant be within 10 minutes. We go to Jack’s, an Italian joint just down the street that Jesse has been to a few times before. They boast about being recommended by the Lonely Planet Guidebook on their sign. They have all the Italian favorites:
Nanjing, China street view
Driving from the airport to our downtown hotel. Rigatoni, spaghetti and lasagna. Jesse gets the lasagna; I go for the ravioli. The pictures on the wall are all of Italy, but I feel so far away from that Mediterranean calm. Here it is all busy, busy, busy. So many people, so many bikes, so many cars, so many scooters. Every pedestrian crossing the street nearly gets creamed by either a scooter or a car. I try to cross with a group of Chinese so that I’m less of a target.
The food was delicious. Definitely get the cheese bruschetta if you ever eat at Jack’s. The tomatoes were bursting with flavor. Their fried, mozzarella cheese balls with peppers were also good dunked in red sauce. I left half of my ravioli on my plate, already full. Apparently they don’t do take-out boxes here. Maybe I should start bringing my own.
WILD TAXIS AND RELAXING RICKSHAWS
We caught a taxi and headed to the Confucius Temple to go shop and look around. That was a wild ride. Taxi drivers are always in a hurry to pick up their next ride. So they drive like maniacs down the road, honking the entire way. Get out of my
Crowne Plaza
Looking up from where the taxi dropped us off. Our hotel is tall, and we're in one of the top floors, #52. way, bicyclist. Move over, scooter. Speed up, car. When we narrowly pulled out in front of a bus, I decided not to look back again. It was better to focus on the side view, much better for my sanity.
The Temple is not a temple at all, although according to my guidebook there really should be a temple somewhere in the area. Instead it is a market that stretches on and on. People sell everything from backpacks to watches to rocks to jewelry to jade to wood carvings to toys to clothes. We see few Westerners.
Jesse haggles first for a backpack. He talks the woman down from 220 RNB to 120 RNB just like that. I am impressed by his skills, and laugh at his dramatic approach - he uses wild hand gestures and crazy faces. I decide I need a watch and we go scouting for a vendor that will bring us upstairs to show off a finer selection. When we hit a KFC I decide I’d better use the toilet. I can’t believe the line to the women’s bathroom - it’s like 15 deep. The Chinese are not good with lines and always crowd up
- they’re not schooled in Minnesota nice from birth apparently. An old woman tries to jump up 5 in line. The younger woman who was next gives her a severe scolding. The older woman lucks out and dashes in next though, succeeding at jumping 4 in line after all. Once it’s my turn I’m shocked to discover there is no toilet - at least not the kind I’m used to. It’s better than the holes in the ground in Papua New Guinea, but just. There’s a porcelain fixture on the floor and you have to squat to use it. It flushes, but the bathroom smell strongly of urine so I don’t think most people remember. It’s definitely harder than peeing in the woods. It takes me about 20+ minutes to get through the line. Jesse’s waited patiently, glad for the chance to sit.
We pass the rickshaw drivers again and I give Jesse my best smile. He waves two drivers over and we hop in. The seats are just big enough for one. The drivers are brightly dressed in yellow suits with big straw hats. There are bells that jingle as we move. For fun, they bring the rickshaw
Lunch at Jack's
The Chinese take on Italian food was pretty darn good. Jesse had lasagna and I had ravioli. The restaurant boasts that it is recommended by Lonely Planet travel guides. up and down, up and down - it feels a little like a roller coaster. We see people snapping photos and video of us as we go past. The ride lasts about 10 minutes. I wonder if they get tired. We go really fast on the downslope of one bridge as they take advantage of gravity. The ride is marred only by the increase in price they charge when we finish. We’d been told 30 RNB a piece but they charged 40 RNB when it was done.
Jesse scoped out watch vendors as we rode and we walked back to where they were located. The first one was a bust. But at the second we both found styles we liked. Jesse got to work as I watched. At the end, the vendor looked at me and said, “He’s good.” He’d talked them down from 550 RNB to 150 RNB for his watch. Although they’d taken a link out of mine to make it fit as he negotiated, when it was done they just about shoed us out of there. They wanted nothing more to do with us after that deal!
After relaxing for a few hours in our
Entrance into the Confucious Temple
It's really a market and we went shopping. hotel room, we head out for dinner. And what is more nutritious than ice cream? (Nothing if you ask Jesse.) We set off for the Hagen Daus next to the Jinguu hotel down the street. It’s a relatively short walk. The Haugen Daus is fancy, with couches instead of chairs. I’m amazed by the menu which lists fancy concoctions. I expected just to grab a cone or one of those cartons you see in grocery stores. Hungry, I waiver between two or three scoops, but figure two should do it. I didn’t factor in the the fact that Chinese scoops are less than half the size of American. And we spent as much on the ice cream as we did on lunch at Jack’s. Wow. Guess we won’t be treating ourselves to German ice cream very often.
It’s been a full day. Once back in our room, I collapse in bed. It’s all of 9 p.m.
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Amy
non-member comment
Love the photos!!
I read your post out loud to Gabe, and we both enjoyed your commentary! Isn't the internet amazing? So fun to get to see your photos and hear some stories BEFORE you come home! I cannot *believe* that toilet!!