China Day 6—Nanjing

What a day! Justin and I started early by running to the train station to buy tickets for our train to Beijing tonight. It was fun to spend the time together chatting and conversing about life, culture, and growing up. We grabbed the tickets, which thankfully were still available, and headed over to meet the ladies near one of the gates in the city wall. At this particular gate they've built a series of large islands that house amusement park-like rides, an aviary, a small zoo, beautiful gardens, lakes, ponds, and divers other things that we only touched on during our couple of hours. It's called Xuan Wu, or Black Tortoise Lake. The weather was beautiful, FINALLY, and got into the 60s (F) with clear sky and a light breeze that kept us happy and cool. It was exactly the type of spring weather we would have planned for the entire trip had someone consulted us on the subject. Unfortunately, Beijing will not be the same since it's 1000 km North. Alas, we cannot appreciate the warm without a bit of cold. We had fun, but I can imagine that when the islands are in bloom, it is magnificent to behold.

We saw several wedding parties, although I expect they were only doing photo shoots rather than holding actual weddings on the island. It was fun to see the brides in their fancy dresses with coats over them to keep them warm between shots. They all looked so happy, as well they should.

We stayed too long, and the bus back inched slowly through traffic, so Justin ran back to the apartment as soon as we alit so that he could prepare for his class. We met him so he could order us lunch, but we were surprised to see that he didn't have his school things. Apparently he didn't take a key with him when he left and had to run to school as he was. We were sad for him, but I think he survived.

While he attended class we took the bus to Carrefour, a European market, to gather some things we wanted to have before returning home: practical, yet inexpensive chopsticks, and some fun little souvenirs for the children. It was a long ride, but we all had fun together, and returned home just before Justin.

For dinner and evening activity we did one of the funnest things in the whole world: we headed down to the Confucian Temple and surrounding area, called Fuzi miao. We were going to go inside the temple, but it was rather a high admission rate, so we opted not to, and headed down the street for a vendor dinner. We enjoyed so many things you'd never buy in the states, much less on a stick from a street vendor! The sugar cane was delicious, but spitting out the pulp can be tedious. The watermelon was not as ripe as one would like, but the pineapple was luscious, as always, and much less acidic than what we get in the States. We enjoyed the best meat buns to date, and then headed into a central square with food vendors lining the entire perimeter. We walked through and enjoyed seasoned skewered lamb while we chatted, and it was the high bar against which all the remaining food was measured. It was juicy, flavourful, and just dripping with succulence. Justin and split a meat sandwich of some sort with carrots, lettuce, onions, and cilantro, and then the real fun began. I ate my first fish on a stick (watch out for bones!) as well as my first cooked-from-raw-in-front-of-my-eyes squid. Both were delicious, seasoned intensely, and worth every bite. I topped off my meal with some nicely fried ice cream, and we headed into the shopping square for a little fun.

The area was lit with lanterns and neon and lit dragons, and there was a canal running through on which dimly lit boats floated, probably burgeoning with well-sated tourists. We wound through the streets, listening to the "hello" from every shop keeper as we browsed and talked and laughed. Jodi lost Jaime a couple times to excited Chinese women, and Justin and I tempted ourselves with brocade ties which ultimately stayed in their beautiful boxes on their beautiful shelf. We eventually wound our way home and are just now finishing up our packing so we can head for the train. We leave around 23:15 and we'll arrive between 7 and 8 in the morning. We've arranged a hotel close to the forbidden city, and I think tomorrow is our day for the wall. We'll be sure to take pictures. Pray for good weather for us! I'll try to update with photos tomorrow, but I give no promises!