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Published: April 9th 2007
The Tea Garden
Cold but atmospheric, with the added convenience of electric lights.Touts are rarely a welcome sight. They are often annoying, overly persistent and out to cheat the everyday traveller. However, they can be helpful in China. Most of the guide books (and I've had a look at 3 different brands) quote outrageous prices for accommodation in China. Foreigners who have tried to bargain at hotels have not had much success and it's all the more frustrating to know that Chinese tourists pay on average Y100 - Y120 for a standard twin room. Here is where a tout can help.
As we lost our booking at Nanjing YHA (another blog dedicated to hostellling coming soon!) I was worried about finding accommodation in Nanjing on a Saturday evening. Two Chinese travellers were trying to help us, but in the end they were simply astounded that I was worried at all.
You speak Chinese! You can get a room anywhere! Don't worry!
Upon exiting Nanjing Railway Station we were met by a tout with a list of prices and soon whisked away to view the rooms. The Y100 room was terrible, so we viewed the Y140 room (listed in the reception as Y280) at
Sacred Avenue
One of two paths leading to the Ming Tombs. a nearby hotel. It was aging, but reasonable, with all the bits that come with a hotel room - toiletries, tv, towels etc. For 2 people, the hostel would have cost us Y100, so for Y40 more, we had a private room in a hotel within walking distance of both the metro and railway stations. I only had to talk to the tout, I didn't need to do any bargaining. The price of the room is lower than any of the rates listed in the guide books. What a relief.
Little Alleyways Looking for food can take quite a bit of time when you're new to a place. We decided the University area would be worth a look, if only to potentially locate internet access. Thanks to the metro system, we were at our destination in minutes. The middle of modern day Nanjing, all concrete, glass and construction sites. A few corners and we spotted a 'wan ba' - net bar. Food first though, the stomach is always top priority, so we turned a few more corners and headed up a hill behind the university - we saw lights up there...
Following the lights can bring nice
Nanjing Canal
One that is devoid of neon and other tacky bits - rare! surprises, and this occasion was no exception. The twinklers led us to a little area of eateries probably aimed at the student crowd. The streets were littered with stalls filling the air with the aroma of barbeque. There were numerous places to choose from, but we liked the idea of Muslim food so entered a sparse restaurant serving Western Chinese food. I asked for recommendations from the waitress - still can't read the damn menu - and she suggested a chicken stew with potatoes and pointed to a plate of left-overs. It didn't look particularly attractive, but I thought a fresh serving would be alright. We went for it and it was actually pretty good, full of spices, but also bones... It was a huge serving, probably enough for 3. As we ate, we watched the meandering people outside, sampling kebabs and strolling along. A drunk collapsed into a roadside chair with the help of his friend. An average night out. Read my commentary on Chinese food in
Food Glorious Food at Agoda.com.
Purple Gold Hill Despite being a former capital city, there seems little evidence of imperial power as compared to Beijing. Nanjing has been largely taken over by
The Hidden Garden
Unexpected tranquility along a random path. concrete. It's still very much in the making, since there is still so much construction going on. I still rememember the S21 experience in Cambodia vividly, so I gave the Nanjing Massacre Memorial a miss - reading the book was enough. Nanjing's other point of particular interest, and pilgrimage, is the Zijin Shan - Purple Gold Hill.
Following the misleading advice of the guide books, we looked decidedly lost at the bus plaza outside the train station. There is supposed to be a tourist bus straight to the hill. No. Wrong again! The Rough Guide's saving grace was that it mentioned several bus routes from a couple of locations in Nanjing, one of which actually has a metro stop. So, a metro ride later, a few queries here and there, a longer than anticipated walk, a little wait and a bus ride later... we were dropped off outside the first site on interest - the Ming tombs.
Zijin Shan has 3 parts that people usually visit - the Ming tombs, the mausoleum of Sun Ya'tsen, and a temple with a pagoda. The last being the least spectacular.
Unexpected Gems I'm the first to admit that I
Suzhou?
Almost, but without the awful crowds! know next to nothing about Chinese history. I should probably listen to my parents a little more, but even when I do, it just goes out the other ear. So, what's a Ming tomb? Well, apart from being a tomb built in the Ming dynasty, it's like a large scale garden with paths, gazebos and temples all leading to a burial mound which holds the actual tomb of the emperor. There's a walkway lined with statues of guards. Another lined with statues of various exotic looking animals in different poses. Not that I was appreciating any of this from an historians point of view, I just thought the whole place was calm, relaxing and picturesque to boot. I can't help thinking of it as more of a park than a cemetery.
A randomly selected path led away from the main walkways and into a real parkland area that included a lake. The highlight, and unexpected find, was the Suzhou-esque garden. Ponds, trees, water weeds, bridges, rockeries, galleries ... all here and NO CROWDS! Actually, the place was deserted and our pictures were perfectly unspoiled by baseball caps! Who needs Suzhou and all that crush? This little side trip was
Reflections
A moment to savour the silence. a delightful freebie. Sometimes it pays to get lost.
And sometimes it pays to have a better map. The different sites on the hill look deceptively close on the sketch map. We tried walking and gave up half way! Then we waited for a bus. There were two guys waiting too, but there was hardly any traffic on the road and then the traffic stopped. Someone important was passing by and the guards were barking at everyone to stay off the street. A photo shoot crew were solidly told off for inching their van towards the road. After a lengthy wait, some non-descript cars came zooming past and the guards turned their backs to the road. One of the guys at our bus stop also turned - aha, plain clothed spy! How exciting! Who was the VIP? Probably someone utterly unimpressive with an inferiority complex that needs all this rubbish to compensate for ... something.
Oh Great Leader! Ok, back to knowing nothing about Chinese history. I can say that Sun Ya'tsen was the first post-imperial leader of China. I think the communist ousted him soon enough, but somewhere in there Chang Kai Shek has to fit
Sun Yatsen's Mausoleum
Rather grandiose for an anti-imperialist. However, he was the first president... in and quite frankly I don't know where! Anyway, the mausoleum is apparently a big place of pilgrimage and the price of bottled water is appropriately extortionate (Y8!!). Am I sounding irreverent yet?
The complex consists of lots of stairs leading up to a temple and then the actual mausoleum where the body lies. What you get to see is a stone statue of Sun lying in state. No photography. No talking, but this is ignored and whatever is on anybody's mind is discussed loudly with echos adding to the 'anything but silent' atmosphere. The views outside are gorgeous and it's funny watching the locals struggle up to the top - it's not that much of a climb really. At the top we noticed that it must get pretty busy at times, since there are cordons set up for lengthy queues. We were also pleasantly surprised by clean toilets.
Maybe I'm a philistine or whatever, but this all seems overtly grand and ostentatious for someone leading a nation away from imperial rule.
How The Locals Get Around After our first experience of trying to walk from one site to another, we figured we would just do
A Pagoda With A View
Quite a climb, but things look pretty from the top. as the locals do and take the 'transport' included on our entrance ticket. This turned out to be a ridiculous toy train on wheels with 'mood music' straight out of Sonic the Hedgehog - at first I thought someone was playing on a Gameboy! Bearing in mind that this set up is linking a mausoleum with a temple.
It's a five minute walk. Ten minutes if you walk VERY slowly. The temple complex that was our final stop on ZhiJinShan is probably within spitting distance of the mausoleum. Looking on the bright side, we saved five minutes of shoe leather. Plenty of energy left then, for the pagoda climb. Masochism has many outlets, if there's a staircase, climb it. Usually the effort is rewarded by nice views, and this time was no different. I appreciated the pagoda much more than the 'Beamless Hall' - a huge brick monstrosity so thickly piled and lined with bricks they didn't leave room for any beams (that's not their explanation, just my observation..). By the end of the little temple circuit, we were ready to head back into town. A random bus stood waiting, destination Fuzimiao.
For The Love Of Neon Temples dedicated to Confucius are not exactly toned down. They can be incredibly ornate and colourful. However, they are rarely, if ever, drowned in neon.
Arriving in the tourist trap area of Fuzimiao at dusk, we crossed a few classic Chinese bridges, some ornamented with red lanterns, arched over quiet canals. The scene is serene and unhurried, with locals on their way home and tourist groups wandering here and there. Then the sun set, the sky turned dark and the 'lights' were turned on.
The 'Disney woz ere' tornado has hit this 'historic' part of Nanjing and left it's aftermath. Garish neon dragons, lanterns and various other decorative items light up the temple (Fuzimiao) with a hazy pinkgreenblue glow. We did not join the snap-happy crowds clicking away with their cameras. We hurried past. The canals did not escape the 'beautifying'. Rods of neon greens, blues, reds, pinks, white and yellow lined the waterways, delighting the boatloads of tourists who seemed only too happy to part with their yuan for this viewing priviledge. We were looking for food (as usual) and had no interest in the lights, but found ourselves sitting in a restaurant overlooking a section of the canal.
The restaurant was a strange EastmeetsWest theme. Lots of plastic foliage, soft sofas and crocheted doilies. A thankful lack of neon. I didn't know if I should sit down to Tetley's tea or Jasmine. Well, whatever I choose to drink, the snack is very Chinese - sunflower seeds. We ordered spaghetti, or in Chinese 'Italian noodles' and a beef noodle dish. Both were pretty ok, although they made the usual assumption that the tomato sauce on the pasta should be sweet like candy. Complimentary water came with plenty of lemon taste in it - getting my money's worth!
Sensitive Additions Just because a place is hundreds of years old and needs updating, doesn't mean it couldn't be re-touched with some consideration. Take a Ming era tea garden. I'm sure it didn't have electric lamps in the garden back in the Ming dynasty, but a carefully chosen ornate design means that the garden is now well lit but still perfectly at home within its white historic walls. No wires were exposed and the lamps emitted a golden light reminiscent of the glow of fire. We passed the tea garden on our way out of the Fuzimiao area. It looked so attractive we just had to have a sit and sip. We sat on strange shaped stools, fashioned from tree trunks with matching tables, set amongst rockeries and running water. The place looked relatively expensive, but our attendant recommended a cheaper tea because she thinks it tastes better than the more expensive version. A plate of dumplings completed the finale to our day.
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Jason Chin
non-member comment
I'm packing my bags..
I always enjoy reading your blog. Now it makes me want to pack my bags and take 1-year unpaid leave to go all over china, minus hk and macau.