Alright, 18 car super slow K (for Kuài, or "fast") train. Hahaha.
On the way down, I had a hard sleeper, top bunk (late buyers settled for these, but they're cheaper).
People don't like climbing up to the top, but I didn't mind — I didn't have to worry about the lights from the windows, and with earplugs, slept quite well.
Since it was the turbo slow train, most people just sit around killing time (eating, chatting, and playing cards) for the first 5 hours or so. I read a book.
After arriving in Nanjing and having some beef noodles for breakfast at 7am, I started wandering around the city. There are lots of pretty canals and the like all over the place, and they give it a nice feel.
Being a modern Chinese city, there are skyscrapers under construction everywhere.
I started out near the city government offices at a small park.
It was pretty tiny, but has a lovely little pagoda tower thingie.
And ladies who will absolutely 100% go tàijíquán on your ass if they have to!
Pagoda towers are always nice.
This mentions the Nanjing Heping (Peace) Bell Tower and was unveiled in .... 2006.
Like all parks in China, this one was full of elderly people making sure they stay nice and limber into their old age.
Here are the city government offices. It feels weird tourist-ing around as everybody is rushing off to work in the morning. It's only about 8.30 or so now.
Lots of old folks here doing their morning exercises.
This is the Jimingsi (鸡鸣寺), a rather famous temple here in Nanjing. It's a large complex and very well maintained.
It's got its own little pagoda tower thingie. Alright!
There were already some ladies checking it out this early in the morning.
I started my day at what's left of the city walls, first built during the Ming Dynasty (who made Nanjing their capitol too) some 600 years ago.
Only about a mile seems to still readily be visible, but it's pretty cool, and only 15 RMB to get in (some 2$ USD or so).
The views from up top are quite nice, including these of the Xuanwu Lake (玄武湖) park area.
And old folk exercising! What's that you say? You want a panorama of what everything looks like from up top?
Axe and ye shall receive. Xuanwuhu as seen from the top of the city walls.
We're right next to the Jiming Temple on the wall here.
Walking up to the top of the wall ...
... to be rewarded with beautiful views of the temple complex!
More of the (natural) lake and the little islands in it.
The wall is large, and covered in grass.
You can even enter the temple directly from here.
Uh oh, end of the line!
The wall is some 10m tall or so.
Looking over the city on a crisp autumn day, there's a haze (smog) that covers everything, but it's still a nice fresh outdoor feeling.
A tour bus full of Austrians showed up, with their wacky accented German. It's pretty hard core when your touring day starts at 8.45am or so.
Next, I worked my way to the Xuanwu Lake park area.
Lots of people out and about here as well getting in their morning exercises.
The lake is huge, and quite calm.
There's a weird space dome thing in the distance, which all the maps claim is some sort of shopping centre, but I'm not sure. The specks in the picture aren't dirt, but birds.
More pagoda-like tower thingies.
You can rent boats and tool around on the lake. Even in the cold autumn, I saw a few people doing this today.
Awwww .....
The park is extremely well groomed.
And full of bridges between the various islands.
Autumn is always my favourite season, with beautiful colours.
These are called the twin dragons. They're famously huge and extravagant.
Rawr!
Apparently, my 30 RMB park ticket gets me into this little bird park area as well, so I suppose I'll go check out all the birds and stuph.
This is a man-made hill thingie, home to a zillion pigeons and seagulls. They're birds.
Next, the peacock cage. A good 30 or so of them in here.
"Please give me food"
Next, you can walk into the giant aviary they've built on the island, where there are a good couple hundred large birds.
Including more peacocks ....
... ducks and geese ...
... egrets ...
... and even a black swan.
The peacocks don't seem all that phased by all the people strolling around (well, all 4 of us).
There are some larger herons or cranes or something.
And even a couple of Emus!
This giant crane / heron bird didn't like people at all, and flew away if you ever got within about 10m of it.
These geese, however, just waddled around being, well, goose-y.
As I was getting ready to leave, all the young peacocks started getting excited about something.
When your feathers aren't that big, however, it's not that exciting ....
The old dude just ignored the other guys.
I continued walking around seeing more of the park and various islands.
Here were a bunch of guys dredging out this lotus pond that had eutropified a bit too much.
Wedding photos. At 9am. Eeeek!
Lots of pretty ponds and other areas.
Restful bear is resting.
I spent a total of two hours at the lake park, and then continued on. But not before taking a photo of this weird leaf-trapped-in-a-spider-web-that-looks-like-a-bird thing.
Next stop, the Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum (Sun Zhongshan in Mandarin).
I had originally thought of walking there, because the map didn't make it look too far, but it was a hefty 9 or 10km away (apparently the map is NOT to scale), and took a good 20 minutes by taxi.
Despite Dr. Sun's repeated requests not to be given any sort of formal burial or special treatment on his death from cancer in the mid 1920s, everybody pretty much ignored what he said and started working on a monstrous home for his body.
And, of course, you can use that as an excuse to charge 80 RMB to get in to see everything.
But the results are nice — it's a gorgeous park. What you don't realise if you don't read the signs, is that you have to go some 700m uphill, and up some few hundred steps to finally get there.
Starting at the bottom.
About the park. There's more in this park talking about the park than about Sun Yat Sen himself .....
I just followed the hordes.
The first stop, after a few hundred metres.
Behind it, up some steps, is the next building. Oooh, is that the main one? It's nice!
Strike a pose!
Fancy Chinese writing
As you walk out behind the second building, however, you see where the real excitement is at the final mausoleum building. It's a ways up there.
It helps to stop every 30 steps or so for photos.
I think this girl was trying to chat with me, but I didn't understand a thing she said (in English).
Looking back down the hill.
Up top, there's not much to do, and the inside of the mausoleum has one room with a coffin in it (and you're not allowed to take photos).
I think people hang out here for a long time just so they think the trip up was worthwhile.
More displays and signs talking about ... how the memorial to Dr. Sun was built.
Not much about him, though (he's awesome). He's such a national figure, that the locals probably assume that everybody knows everything about him.
Going down is much easier.
I was trying to take a picture of this girl, but I forgot I had my zoom on full, so it just looks like I'm a total creep.
That's better.
I took the cheap bus (2 RMB) back into the city, and continued walking around, past more canals and friends.
I found this cute little alleyway street thingie and strolled down it for a while.
Kinda similar to Beijing, except no heaters here, so even though it's always about 7-10C warmer than Bejing, winters are uncomfortably chilly.
Taxis here are much nicer than Qingdao's, and friendlier. The accent is just bizarre, however. Takes a while to understand what they're saying.
Finally, I ended up at the Fuzi Miao (Confucious Temple) area. I spent the entire time looking for a temple or something ....
... before finally realising that the entire area is a temple compound-cum-large modern shopping area. Stores and restaurants galore.
And tourists, of course!
It's well after lunch now, so the people were out en masse, although a few drops of rain fell here and there.
There are a tonne of McDonald's and KFCs in this city. Even a few Burger Kings. Hugely popular with the kids.
"Foreigners? They're lazy right? They'll of COURSE want to pay too much money for us to drive them around!!!"
No ancient-like Chinese place would be complete without huge gates with vaguely meaningful characters up top.
Arriving at Beijing early early early in the morning, to a much chillier city than Nanjing. A quick subway ride back home, and then ins Bett, for some recovery sleep.
An excellent trip. I will definitely do this again to other cities.