"Test Tube Infant" - Awesome.

We did a lot in Nanjing, and I don't want to write a novel. So go go go!

Upon arrival, it was nice to see a subway system. Once more, they give you cute little blue tokens to use. At 2 RMB a piece (30 cents), it's pretty cheap too. Not to mention they would make really cool poker chips.

Our hostel was a bit of an ordeal to find, because it was inside another building complex. It looked like an old military base, with all sorts of gates and guard buildings. We walk in and eventually find a sign, in front of a path into the woods. For serious? After walking this path, it opens up into a bar with a pond and a cat chilling out.

I like this place.

I'm there, promise.

It had the added convenience of being very far from the road, but not very far from the train tracks. I slept through them, but on occasion the train would rumble on by to wake everyone up. Bastard train drivers! But it was in a great location and cheap. Can't beat that.

The first night was some walking about the street markets near the Confucian Temple. That's where we found the aforementioned bunny pastries. It was pretty late, so onto day two.

Pictured - the best thing ever.

Day two was a trip to Purple Mountain. There was Dr. Sun Yat Sen's memorial, which is pretty far up this gorram mountain. The Chinese really like their stairs. Afterwards we took a boat out onto the lake. Our navy man Sean was our Captain, and only managed to beach the boat once. That evening was dinner at a genuine German beer garden, which was pretty much the best thing ever.

The next day we went to the park, I got to feed/hold pigeons, another museum where I'm not really sure what was about, and a walk along the city wall of Nanjing. Quite pretty, that is. After we went to see the actual Confucius's Temple, and I got drunk on another boat. Well, tipsy I guess. I bothered the driver with questions such as "Can you make this boat go really fast?" and "Can Sean drive?" That night we had Indian food, which was amazing but Guru in Cincinnati is still better. The final full day was the Rape of Nanjing Museum, but like I said that deserves it's own entry. The next morning we went to an exhibit about the Taiping Rebellion, something you've probably never heard of. But 20 million people died, and the rebels controlled about half of China at one point. They also blew up the Death Star.

Godamn rebels.

I went to Nanjing this weekend. It has stuff like bunny shaped baked goods.

It's National Holiday in China, marking the end date of the Republic of China (AKA Taiwan), and the founding of the People's Republic of China (AKA, the current government). I guess before it didn't belong to the people? Well, whatever. Go big red.

Regardless of circumstances, I get a week off of work, so yay to whomever. Myself and 4 others decided to pop up to see Nanjing, aka the south capital. Seriously, that's what it translates to. Beijing means north capital. Not very inventive with names, the Chinese.

Perhaps known as the actual capital of China during the ROC years (1912-1949), and best known as the place where the Japanese got a bit nasty during WWII. AKA The Rape of Nanjing. Twas a bad time. I went to the Memorial/Museum, but I'd rather do a separate entry just on that to keep this one more upbeat. It's not good.

Anyway, modern Nanjing has a rep as a cool place. I will say this - it was cleaner than Hangzhou, but not as pretty. Does that make sense? Maybe it was just the weather, but the sky was more blue. Overall I honestly didn't care for Nanjing all that much. I mean, the trip was fun. But I wouldn't want to live there. It just seems, somehow, to have less character than Hangzhou. The subway's nice though. The next blog post will be about what we actually did there, but for now, I have to give the finger to Nanjing.

You sit on a flowery throne of lies

On three separate occasions, I/we got cheated pretty badly. I'm used to haggling in China. Honestly I love it. You negotiate, talk everything back and forth, get what you want, you both have a laugh, and go on your way. In Nanjing it's like that, except for the part when you get what you want. I had a nice conversation with a dumpling lady in Chinese that went as follows:

Meat dumplings please.
I only have two left.
No problem, two is fine.
2 RMB, thank you!
<bite>
These are cabbage dumplings.
Oh, I guess I had none left.
Soo... can I have my money back?
No you cannot!.

Other scams were a cab driver suddenly wanting the fare to mean "per person" instead of total. We overpaid a small amount because when we told him to get bent, he of course wouldn't give us change. And a guy who took money for a SIM card we didn't want, and refused to refund it.

So overall, I find Nanjing people to be more rude. Also the girls were not as cute as in Hangzhou/Shanghai. There, I said it Nanjing. Step it up, you're lacking behind in my stupid Chinese city ranking system. I'm on the internet, it's kind of a big deal.

Right, except nobody in Nanjing can see this.