Touring Nanjing - Thursday & Friday

We toured the Dr. Sun Yet Sen Mausoleum.  A brief description of the Mausoleum can be found at: http://web3.asia1.com.sg/tnp/journey/travel/echina/ecnjsun.html  I climbed the 398 steps to the top, but Ginger opted to stay at the bottom with Amanda and another mother and baby. It would have been easy if we could have switched off carrying Amanda, but she still would not let me hold her.  One young girl, perhaps six or seven years old, kept staring at me as I toured the Mausoleum.  She had obviously never seen a westerner in the flesh before.  I waved at her and she hid behind her father. Her father, noticing what was going on, talked to her for a moment, then she offered a shy wave back. While waiting, Ginger and her crew drew many stares from the Chinese and a few would come up to here and ask if Amanda was a girl. One person even took their picture. There are several small shops on walk way near the Mausoleum.  I found the prawn crackers that Amanda loved at one of these. The large shop at the base of the hill at the Mausoleum had silk pajamas, and pearl necklaces at good prices.

We then had a traditional Chinese lunch (40 yuan). After lunch, Ginger, Amanda and I broke away from the group and bought some film. Kodak film was available nearly every where, but the label on the package was all in Chinese, even the number of exposures and the film speed.  Fortunately, we had some paper and a pen to write with.  We then to the Ming Tombs. More information about the tombs can be found at:  http://web3.asia1.com.sg/tnp/journey/travel/echina/ecnjtomb.html

There was also a shopping stop by the soccer stadium.  They had lots of silk pajamas, embroidery, carvings, and "Rolex" watches.  Our doctor friend bought a very nice figurine here. I am sure that it was intended to be a "medical doll", a naked figure of a woman used by a modest patient to show the doctor where it hurt. The store clerks had never heard of such a thing, however. Several places had the local specialty product, "Rain Flower Pebbles". When dry, these agate stones are whitish and rather plain, but when wetted, they show a wide variety of colorful stripes and patterns. Ginger saw a set of stones in a box shaped like a butterfly at our hotel. She very much regrets not buying them. That evening we received a fax from our agency in the U.S. saying that they were asking the Beijing office to do what it could to get us to Guangzhou earlier.

On Friday we went to the Yangzi Bridge.  It was quite foggy and we could only see out to the third pylon of the bridge.  In the lobby, there was a huge statue of Mao. At the top of the bridge there is an observation deck and a gift shop. Although the shop was small, we found several interesting items there including a great picture book of Nanjing and paper cut book marks at very reasonable prices. There was an armed military guard at the bridge and I made the mistake of taking a picture. He shook his rifle at me and made it clear that I was not to do that again.

A picture and a description of the bridge is at: http://web3.asia1.com.sg/tnp/journey/travel/echina/ecnjyang.html

Our guides told us that due to the worsening weather, that we would leave for Guangzhou on Saturday, if everyone was willing to pay an additional $90.00 U.S. per couple.  Everyone in the group was relieved at this news. Dinner was pizza ordered from the same restaurant that we had eaten in a couple of days before. We opened all the room doors, sat on the floor in the hall and had a party!

After dinner we started to pack our bags for the flight the next day.  We unloaded a bunch of stuff, clothes that were the wrong size, the now empty Polaroid camera, extra diapers, some snacks.