My Nanjing Adventures
Right now I am on the bus to Suzhou from Nanjing. We were supposed to be headed for Shanghai right now, but since we could not buy tickets to get all the way to Shanghai, we decided to go part of the way and stay the night in Suzhou. Apparently they have good food in Suzhou, so the five of us are not too disappointed.
Nanjing Part I and Nanjing part II photos.
Two days earlier my two classmates, Taili and Jimaike, and I took the train the Beijing to Nanjing with one of our teachers and her friend. We had decided that since we spend so much time studying that we should see some other parts of the country. Before we left I was a little hesitant and I was thinking about spending our break in Beijing. Now, however, I am really happy that I decided to travel with my classmates.
On Sunday night we got on the train in Beijing. Because we are in the middle of a week long national holiday, more over we did not buy tickets early enough, we had to pay extra for the soft sleeper. I did not mind because it made the ten hour train ride really comfortable. After we all got to know each other, and we joked about how I resemble Russia's president Putin, we played a game. The game was to say a phrase in Chinese and then the next person would have to use one of the words you used in another phrase. I did not do so well, but I learned alot.
At 7:30 am on Monday we arrived in Nanjing. After arriving we had to find out how to get to Nanjing University because that is where my classmates and teacher had friends that could show us around the city. First we had to make it through the crowd of people peddling maps, offering taxi rides and city tours. One lady even followed us for twenty minutes trying to help us, despite the fact we told her that we did not want to go on her tour. She thought that if she helped us and continued to push her tour we would end up buying it. It was very annoying. Once the other people around noticed her talking with us, other people came up to try and sell us stuff and try to help us. Some of the people's intentions were nice, but we did not need the help. When we told them that some of them got upset as if they were going out of their way to try and help, when in fact they were trying to sell us stuff. I was happy when we left for the bus stop because I did not like the people at the train station.
Once we got on a bus we were able to make our way to Nanjing University where we met our teacher's friend. All of us walked around campus together and then we made our way to the foreign students dorm. Unlike in the states, foreign student dormitories are more like hotels, so people can stay their for a couple days if they are travelling.
My classmate put it best when he said we get what we pay for. The three of us each payed 70 kuai, or roughly $9 for our room. When we went to our room for the first time we realized that we were not getting a good deal. The hallways still seemed to be under construction and their were exposed wires in the ceilings. Some parts of the walls were dirty from when they changed the piping system and stuff still leaked out of the old pipes. Our room was a little nicer. All the walls were complete and there was actually a television and a phone, which only worked after we told the people at the desk that they did not work. The worst part of the room were the beds. I think they were just plywood boxes that they threw sheets on.
The first afternoon we spent walking around some more and eating lunch. We got a big bowl of dumplings. After eating lunch we went to the site of the 1937 Nanjing massacre. This is a site where the Japanese army murdered a large number of innocent Chinese people. At this site and other surroundings sites the Japanese army murdered around 300,000 Chinese. Overall it was a really somber place, but I did notice some other things. The first was the cryptic music they were playing behind one of the attractions. This kind of music can be found in any video game that is set in a crypt or some sort of underground area. For example, the underground level in Mario 64. The music added to the atmosphere, but it seemed over the top. This was teh feeling I got from a lot of the art and statues in this area. It seemed as though they were do everything they could to protray the suffering. I also thought that for the most part the captions and stories were pretty impartial, but there were still quite a few descriptions that seemed to convey the idea that the Japanese were beasts and all they did was come to China to destroy, rape and pillage. Now I want to do a little research on the internet to see what this situation was like. I kind of wonder how the attitudes reflected at the massacre site are related to ill feelings towards the Japanese that the Chinese have. Specifically, if sites like these are intentionally used to prolong these feelings, or if it is just a side effect? Also, will a lot of these feelings disappear after the older generation passes, just like slavery in America?
After viewing the massacre site some of our group went back to the hotel, but I decided to find an internet cafe. This place was hard to find. I had to ask about 5 people where it actually was. The entrance to the place was on a small road, more like an alley, and was very small. I think it was actually the basement of some old house. It served it's purpose and I was able to send some emails, so I was happy.
That evening we met up with my classmates friends and my teachers other friends from Nanjing, so our group of five grew to eleven. We took taxis to a place called Fuzi Miao. It was a pretty happening place. Fuzi Miao is a big shopping area with restaurants and lots of little shops to buy snacks. There are lots of neon lights on all the buildings. It was interesting to see some of the older style architecure being outlined in bright neon lights. After we ate dinner we walked around some more, made fun of the pepsi clothing store and then left.
Our new friend we met through a classmate took us to a bowling alley near the university, so we spent a couple hours there displaying our bad bowling skills. It was fun to get out and bowl since I have not done it for a while, plus I got to learn how to do a little more socializing in Chinese.
This morning the five of us woke up early so we could go to Purple Mountain, Zise Shan. This mountain has a lot of historically significant sites, including Sun Yat Sen's tomb. If anyone has studied Chinese at the UW then they know what it was like .... ren2 shan1 ren2 hai3! There were so many people! A few of the highlights include riding a big iron turtle, walking through the "Hell Room", which was more of a passageway and walking through Dr. Sun Yat Sen's tomb. It was all very interesting.
In the late afternoon we returned to our hotel to grab all of our stuff, eat dinner and then catch our bus to Suzhou. This morning we bought tickets for the 5:30 pm bus to Suzhou. At 4:15 we started to eat some food at a nearby restaurant. We were all in a rush, so as soon as the food came out we started to eat. Unfortunately, they brought one dish out at a time, so we would finish before the next one came out. After we ate our food we grabbed our stuff then caught some cabs. This was about 4:50 pm. We started to get a little worried because we needed to make it by 5:30 because that is when the bus was leaving. Because there were five of us we needed to take two cabs. The first cab, with one of my classmates and teacher made it to the right place at about 5:10, but our friends were taken to another place. We started to get worried because they had to walk from whereever they were dropped off to where we were. After some frantic phone calls, some looking around and me standing on a bench we were able to spot them. We all ran inside with our luggage and then got in line at 5:29! We went through the gates and into the parking where we were able to catch the bus just in time. We were all relieved at this point.
Now we are all on the bus and everyone is sleeping except for me. I can not wait to get to Suzhou. When we get there we are going to eat some more food because the snacks in Suzhou are supposed to be very good. The lady I am living with is from Suzhou, so now I can go back to Beijing to let her know what I think about the food I will eat.
Nanjing Part I and Nanjing part II photos.
Two days earlier my two classmates, Taili and Jimaike, and I took the train the Beijing to Nanjing with one of our teachers and her friend. We had decided that since we spend so much time studying that we should see some other parts of the country. Before we left I was a little hesitant and I was thinking about spending our break in Beijing. Now, however, I am really happy that I decided to travel with my classmates.
On Sunday night we got on the train in Beijing. Because we are in the middle of a week long national holiday, more over we did not buy tickets early enough, we had to pay extra for the soft sleeper. I did not mind because it made the ten hour train ride really comfortable. After we all got to know each other, and we joked about how I resemble Russia's president Putin, we played a game. The game was to say a phrase in Chinese and then the next person would have to use one of the words you used in another phrase. I did not do so well, but I learned alot.
At 7:30 am on Monday we arrived in Nanjing. After arriving we had to find out how to get to Nanjing University because that is where my classmates and teacher had friends that could show us around the city. First we had to make it through the crowd of people peddling maps, offering taxi rides and city tours. One lady even followed us for twenty minutes trying to help us, despite the fact we told her that we did not want to go on her tour. She thought that if she helped us and continued to push her tour we would end up buying it. It was very annoying. Once the other people around noticed her talking with us, other people came up to try and sell us stuff and try to help us. Some of the people's intentions were nice, but we did not need the help. When we told them that some of them got upset as if they were going out of their way to try and help, when in fact they were trying to sell us stuff. I was happy when we left for the bus stop because I did not like the people at the train station.
Once we got on a bus we were able to make our way to Nanjing University where we met our teacher's friend. All of us walked around campus together and then we made our way to the foreign students dorm. Unlike in the states, foreign student dormitories are more like hotels, so people can stay their for a couple days if they are travelling.
My classmate put it best when he said we get what we pay for. The three of us each payed 70 kuai, or roughly $9 for our room. When we went to our room for the first time we realized that we were not getting a good deal. The hallways still seemed to be under construction and their were exposed wires in the ceilings. Some parts of the walls were dirty from when they changed the piping system and stuff still leaked out of the old pipes. Our room was a little nicer. All the walls were complete and there was actually a television and a phone, which only worked after we told the people at the desk that they did not work. The worst part of the room were the beds. I think they were just plywood boxes that they threw sheets on.
The first afternoon we spent walking around some more and eating lunch. We got a big bowl of dumplings. After eating lunch we went to the site of the 1937 Nanjing massacre. This is a site where the Japanese army murdered a large number of innocent Chinese people. At this site and other surroundings sites the Japanese army murdered around 300,000 Chinese. Overall it was a really somber place, but I did notice some other things. The first was the cryptic music they were playing behind one of the attractions. This kind of music can be found in any video game that is set in a crypt or some sort of underground area. For example, the underground level in Mario 64. The music added to the atmosphere, but it seemed over the top. This was teh feeling I got from a lot of the art and statues in this area. It seemed as though they were do everything they could to protray the suffering. I also thought that for the most part the captions and stories were pretty impartial, but there were still quite a few descriptions that seemed to convey the idea that the Japanese were beasts and all they did was come to China to destroy, rape and pillage. Now I want to do a little research on the internet to see what this situation was like. I kind of wonder how the attitudes reflected at the massacre site are related to ill feelings towards the Japanese that the Chinese have. Specifically, if sites like these are intentionally used to prolong these feelings, or if it is just a side effect? Also, will a lot of these feelings disappear after the older generation passes, just like slavery in America?
After viewing the massacre site some of our group went back to the hotel, but I decided to find an internet cafe. This place was hard to find. I had to ask about 5 people where it actually was. The entrance to the place was on a small road, more like an alley, and was very small. I think it was actually the basement of some old house. It served it's purpose and I was able to send some emails, so I was happy.
That evening we met up with my classmates friends and my teachers other friends from Nanjing, so our group of five grew to eleven. We took taxis to a place called Fuzi Miao. It was a pretty happening place. Fuzi Miao is a big shopping area with restaurants and lots of little shops to buy snacks. There are lots of neon lights on all the buildings. It was interesting to see some of the older style architecure being outlined in bright neon lights. After we ate dinner we walked around some more, made fun of the pepsi clothing store and then left.
Our new friend we met through a classmate took us to a bowling alley near the university, so we spent a couple hours there displaying our bad bowling skills. It was fun to get out and bowl since I have not done it for a while, plus I got to learn how to do a little more socializing in Chinese.
This morning the five of us woke up early so we could go to Purple Mountain, Zise Shan. This mountain has a lot of historically significant sites, including Sun Yat Sen's tomb. If anyone has studied Chinese at the UW then they know what it was like .... ren2 shan1 ren2 hai3! There were so many people! A few of the highlights include riding a big iron turtle, walking through the "Hell Room", which was more of a passageway and walking through Dr. Sun Yat Sen's tomb. It was all very interesting.
In the late afternoon we returned to our hotel to grab all of our stuff, eat dinner and then catch our bus to Suzhou. This morning we bought tickets for the 5:30 pm bus to Suzhou. At 4:15 we started to eat some food at a nearby restaurant. We were all in a rush, so as soon as the food came out we started to eat. Unfortunately, they brought one dish out at a time, so we would finish before the next one came out. After we ate our food we grabbed our stuff then caught some cabs. This was about 4:50 pm. We started to get a little worried because we needed to make it by 5:30 because that is when the bus was leaving. Because there were five of us we needed to take two cabs. The first cab, with one of my classmates and teacher made it to the right place at about 5:10, but our friends were taken to another place. We started to get worried because they had to walk from whereever they were dropped off to where we were. After some frantic phone calls, some looking around and me standing on a bench we were able to spot them. We all ran inside with our luggage and then got in line at 5:29! We went through the gates and into the parking where we were able to catch the bus just in time. We were all relieved at this point.
Now we are all on the bus and everyone is sleeping except for me. I can not wait to get to Suzhou. When we get there we are going to eat some more food because the snacks in Suzhou are supposed to be very good. The lady I am living with is from Suzhou, so now I can go back to Beijing to let her know what I think about the food I will eat.
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