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Published: August 12th 2007
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I woke up early to get to Nanjing this morning; I wanted to take a 7:50 am train. I took the metro about 30 minutes to the Shanghai Railroad Station. Good thing I gave myself a lot of extra time because there are literally a million people everywhere. The train station ticket line is a zoo. I got my ticket to Nanjing - a bullet train that only stops once in Wuxi. The station is huge, but easy to navigate, I got to the platform, got to my car number and found my seat. The train ride there was nice, except that it smelled a little mildewy. Also, there wasn't really fresh air circulating, so next time I'll take some airborne. Right when the train starts moving, the train attendants immediately start coming by every few minutes to sell things like tea, coffee, water, muffins, chinese sausage, maps (I bought one), toys, etc. Trust the Chinese to always come through with trying to sell you something.
Anyway, I got to Nanjing and got immediately bombarded by agents and guides trying to sell me tours of all the places I want to go. I refused and told them all that I
wanted to go at my own pace. I read online and in travel books about the special public tourist bus lines that take you around to the major attractions. I asked around for these particular bus lines and of course everyone I asked was trying to sell me their own tour, so they all told me there is no public tourist bus. There are a zillion busses outside the Nanjing train station, mostly tour busses and some public transit, but I couldn't read any of it! I almost surrendered and hopped onto a bus full of foreign tourists. I am thankful that Dr. San Yatsen's name transalates to "Middle Mountain", which are two of the easiest characters to recognize, so from there I could be sure it was the right bus line. I found the bus I was looking for - 1 rmb a ride for a non airconditioned bus, what a bargain! I was pretty sure I was on the right bus, but since my map was in Chinese, I wasn't quite sure where to get off or where anything was. The man behind me was stuck listening to all my horrible questions - "Where is Sun Yatsen Memorial?",
"What stop do I get off at?" This guy wasn't from Nanjing either, so he wasn't so sure. The guy was all the way from Shan Dong. Anyway, he figured it out, and told me when to get off. Then he asked me what I wanted to see, and I told him my plan, but he didn't quite say, "Me too." However, when I got off the bus, he waited for me. Ok, so either I tagged along, he felt pity for me, or he just assumed since we wanted to go to the same places we'd sightsee together? Not so sure. I didn't even find out his name until 3 hours later. What bad manners I have.
Shan Dong guy turned out to be in army and was vacationing in Nanjing. Sounded like he uses most of his vacation days to travel throughout China. He was a few years younger than me and he wanted to call me "Fang Jie Jie" (meaning, Fang older/big sister). For the record, I refused to call him "Di Di" (younger brother). He didn't speak a lick of English and could only understand a few words. Oh well. So we walked the sights
together and he explained some Chinese history to me, I asked him questions about the China army, he tried to explain all the carvings to me, etc, but I literally only understood 30% of what he said all day. I was just happy that there was someone to walk around with. I would have gone home early and skipped out on some sights because it was so hot and there was so so so much walking. We were both uncontrollably dripping sweat. It was so miserable and disgusting. I managed to get 16 bug bites on my legs too.
So.. Nanjing. Nanjing reminds me of parts of Shanghai, but less ritzy. First stop was Dr. Sun Yatsen Memorial and Tomb (80 rmb). It has hundreds of steps leading up to his grave and is quie nice. Lots of tourists. It seems that people here have great reverence for Dr. Sun Yatsen, both mainland and Taiwanese. I think it's interesting that Chinese politicians are so fond of Dr. Sun Yatsen, even though he basically started the Kuomintang. I'm a bit confused about this dynamic. Nonetheless, he is considered a great leader for overthrowing the Qing dynasty and starting the PRC.
Next, Ming Tombs. Tomb of first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Xiaoling. There is a long walkway leading up to the tomb that is tree lined with stone carved animals, made to protect the tomb. I really liked this part of the tomb - the stone animals reminded me of the terracotta warriors in Xian. There is then another long hall leading up to the tomb (2600 meters) and there are different archways and walls protecting the tomb. We walked hiked up entire mound/tomb... nice trees, but nothing to see. It was a bit disappointing considering my shirt and shorts were now both completely damp and stuck to my skin.
Because everything was so spread out and it was raining at times, I didn't make it to Fuzi Miao (Confucious Temple). The Nanjing Massacre exhibit is under remodeling for the next year! I guess I won't be able to see it. I was exhausted by the heat and felt so sticky and smelly I declared it a day and headed back to the train station at 5:30. On the bus ride to the Nanjing station, Shan Dong army boy asked me if I cooked for myself, and
I told him that I don't even own a pan/pot. I asked if he cooked, and he said he did. I asked, "what do you make?" In Chinese, he said, "I make noodles for myself." I said, "That's great! Tell me how you make them." He said, "I just boil them and then mix in black bean sauce." And I say, "And then...?" He says, "That's it - read to eat!" Oh dear. I felt like such a piggy wiggy. I wanted to ask him, "Aren't you hungry all the time then?" No wonder most Chinese men here are so skinny. Umm... they don't eat enough! Shan Dong boy was tall, but very thin. I wanted to take a picture with him, but I didn't want him to get the wrong idea. 😞
There was a bit of traffic and when we finally got back to the train station, I find a sea of people waiting in line for tickets. Good thing I asked because there's a separate ticket area with shorter lines for Shanghai trains. When I get the front, all the trains back to Shanghai were sold out until the 00:00 (12:00 AM) train. I panicked, but
Nanjing - Dr. Sun Yatsen
Dr. Sun Yatsen's Mausoleum. then I noticed that everyone else was turning away too, so I asked what they were doing and they all said they were going on the charter bus. I guess it's common that the tickets sell out, and low and behold there's a charter bus waiting for all the rejected Shanghai bound train passengers! I considered staying the night in Nanjing and sightseeing more and then heading back, but there was no way I was wearing the same clothes another day. I opted for the overpriced (80 rmb) bus.
I sat next to a guy who was studying English and I chatted with him. Turns out he does M&A and he taught me some good new Mandarin words (i.e. hedge fund, private equity, market cap, etc). He also was able to lend some perspective on Shanghai's economic and investment environment too. I learned that there's no such thing as short-selling here; govt doesn't allow lending. I realized that when I will only be able to have more meaningful conversations with local people when I improve my Mandarin. Luckily he had pretty good "Business English" skills.
I managed to get back to Shanghai RR station close to 12:00 am
and the taxi I was trying to haul didn't want to take me home since it wasn't convenient to him. Instead I took a hired car who completely ripped me off. He claimed there was a ton of traffic. Anyway, I paid him 90 rmb for a ride home. I tried to negotiate more on my way out because there was no traffic, but he refused. I was just too exhausted to be mad over it. Oh well, I was just glad to get home as fast a possible to shower!
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Sounds like you had an exciting, adventurous day! I would have loved to have seen a pic of "army boy"!!! :(