I went with two girls, Mai and Anna, along with a bunch of guys who were staying at a different hostel. We split up at the train station and went our respective ways. Our hostel, the Sunflower, was off the metro a bit but in a very interesting locale. They messed up our booking and the place was a little seedy, but it worked because it was $6 per night. The sheets were clean anyway.
We wandered around looking for lunch but, as I've noticed, it's pretty much impossible to find something to eat if it's not the back gate. So we at at McDonald's. It's fine, don't worry, they had a $2 lunch meal special. I don't mind. Then we took a cab to the Nanjing Massacre Museum or Memorial for compatriots killed in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Forces of Aggression, as the Chinese call it.
This was an incredible museum on so many levels. I don't mean incredible in a good way, just in an awed, thought-provoking, shocked way. You may have heard that the displays are incredibly graphic, including many photos of dead, mutilated corpses as well as an open display of skeletal remains. I'm not so much shocked by that aspect as much as the rhetoric and propaganda in the translations of the exhibit explanations. After leaving, the three of us were speechless. There was nothing to say that could describe the confusion we all felt after seeing the museum. It summed up China quite well, with all the contradictions it comes with.
The sculpture and design of the place were unique and interesting. This was my favorite part. They made me check my backpack for 3 kuai. This was my least favorite part, especially since the museum was free.
The generally accepted number of victims, but still unknown.
That night we met up with our fellow CIEE classmates and ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant, of all places. It was recommended by Lonely Planet. We spent the meal pointing at tables guessing that the guests had been reading Lonely Planet. It was, however, a fantastic meal.
We returned to the boys' hostel, which was far nicer, but a little out-of-the-way. We hung out in their common area and returned to our sketch 8-bed room where all the other guests were asleep.
The next morning we took off to Purple Mountain. We failed miserably at acquiring breakfast so we pretended we were fasting for religious reasons. We arrived at Sun Yatsen's mausoleum and attempted to make contact with several other groups in Nanjing. Epic failure. So we drank expensive Lipton tea and planned our day. We decided to go into the Ming Tomb Scenic Area on the mountain, but not after having a strange altercation with a woman trying to cheat us and Chinese people taking our side and helping us. It was a good China day.
I love climbing!
The park was beautiful and interesting. We ended up alone on a crazy hike through the woods by the city wall. We saw stone sculptures and ancient ruins. I could wander for hours. Later in the day, when the haze makes it seem much later than it really is, we headed to the train station. With one hour to kill, we decided to take a paddle boat out onto the lake. It was seriously the most difficult paddle I've ever undertaken, but luckily we made it back.
Nanjing is a beautiful, beautiful city without too many foreigners. We were stared at quite often and I spoke a fair amount of Chinese. I will hopefully stop by there again!
This week is Thanksgiving. We're supposedly getting Western food on Thursday night. Wish me luck!
loves and kisses,
ellen
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