So, I decided to go down to Nanjing for a long weekend. I left Qufu Wedensday afternoon after my class and got into Nanjing in the early evening. I met up with my friends who live in the city and we had a nice dinner of duck, vegetables, and tofu.
I did not take any pictures of the food and in hindsight, I regret it because some of it was amazing.
On Thursday, I had a nice sub sandwich WITH CHEESE. Despite not being the best sandwich in the world, I did not care and I ate it like a little kid who had been given ice cream for the first time. After that, I decided to check out the Presidential Palace. Since Nanjing was the capitol of China for a really long time the homes of the emperors were there. Parts of the Presidential Palace were over 600 years old. Most of the signs were in Chinese only, so I mostly just walked around and took photos of things that were either interesting or pretty.
I did not take any pictures of the food and in hindsight, I regret it because some of it was amazing.
On Thursday, I had a nice sub sandwich WITH CHEESE. Despite not being the best sandwich in the world, I did not care and I ate it like a little kid who had been given ice cream for the first time. After that, I decided to check out the Presidential Palace. Since Nanjing was the capitol of China for a really long time the homes of the emperors were there. Parts of the Presidential Palace were over 600 years old. Most of the signs were in Chinese only, so I mostly just walked around and took photos of things that were either interesting or pretty.
If it is not clear from the map and the number of pictures, the Presidential Palace was huge. I am sure I only went through most of it and that took me 3.5 hours. There was more, but I had to get back to go to a dinner with friends. Since I was not oriented in Nanjing, I got lost trying to get back to where I was staying. I walked around for over an hour, trying to figure out where to go. Eventually I did make it back, showered quickly, and went to a nice dinner, where we had lots of really nice dishes. For dessert we ate crepes. Mine was kiwi fruit with banana and chocolate ice cream. Very good. After that, I was tired and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
The next day, I went to the Nanjing Massacre Museum and Peace Park. That was a very strange experience. Although my family has no connection to the massacre that happened in December 1938 to January 1939, I felt a little guilty and responsible for some of the things that happened during that time. Not completely rational, but not totally insane either. The museum was very nice and had a lot of information. Depressing, biased information. I understood that those who created the museum exhibits wanted to get a point across, and it was definitely clear who was at fault for why the museum existed in the first place. But there were some signs and captions that I felt pushed the boundaries a little too far. I only wondered if the Japanese translations of those captions were the same. I tried to read them, but sadly, most of my Japanese language abilities have been lost.
I think the most difficult part of the museum was the mass graves. Seeing the remains of the victims was rather difficult and reading some of the stories was also a touching experience. I seriously think the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. has a contender for "Most Depressing Museum." But speaking of the Holocaust, there was a temporary exhibit on Auschwitz in the museum. I had just gotten done with the museum and then I am confronted with the Auschwitz exhibit. It was not nearly as well done as the massacre exhibits, but it did have some interesting information about those who tried to escape or the medical experiments done on prisoners. Yet, the tones of the massacre exhibits and this Auschwitz one were very different. To me, it felt like the curators of the Auschwitz exhibit thought that Auschwitz was not nearly as bad as what western culture has made it out to be and that it was not nearly as traumatizing for those involved as the Nanjing massacre. But, that is my opinion, I am sure there are reasons for the different tones. The last part of the museum was the Peace Park. There were doves that lived in the park and they flew around the gardens looking for food. It was a nice, uplifting end to a very heavy experience.
The next day, I went to the Nanjing Massacre Museum and Peace Park. That was a very strange experience. Although my family has no connection to the massacre that happened in December 1938 to January 1939, I felt a little guilty and responsible for some of the things that happened during that time. Not completely rational, but not totally insane either. The museum was very nice and had a lot of information. Depressing, biased information. I understood that those who created the museum exhibits wanted to get a point across, and it was definitely clear who was at fault for why the museum existed in the first place. But there were some signs and captions that I felt pushed the boundaries a little too far. I only wondered if the Japanese translations of those captions were the same. I tried to read them, but sadly, most of my Japanese language abilities have been lost.
I think the most difficult part of the museum was the mass graves. Seeing the remains of the victims was rather difficult and reading some of the stories was also a touching experience. I seriously think the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. has a contender for "Most Depressing Museum." But speaking of the Holocaust, there was a temporary exhibit on Auschwitz in the museum. I had just gotten done with the museum and then I am confronted with the Auschwitz exhibit. It was not nearly as well done as the massacre exhibits, but it did have some interesting information about those who tried to escape or the medical experiments done on prisoners. Yet, the tones of the massacre exhibits and this Auschwitz one were very different. To me, it felt like the curators of the Auschwitz exhibit thought that Auschwitz was not nearly as bad as what western culture has made it out to be and that it was not nearly as traumatizing for those involved as the Nanjing massacre. But, that is my opinion, I am sure there are reasons for the different tones. The last part of the museum was the Peace Park. There were doves that lived in the park and they flew around the gardens looking for food. It was a nice, uplifting end to a very heavy experience.
After spending time in the museum, I tried to find my way back to my friend's place...only to get lost. I think over the three days I was in Nanjing, I walked through at least half of the city. And Nanjing is not a small town like Qufu, it is rather large. But I kept getting confused about which direction was which and which streets led back to where I needed to go. Eventually, I did make it back and I took a quick power nap before going out for dinner. We decided to go have hot pot. But not just any hot pot. We had bullfrog hot pot. We went to a place that specialized in bullfrog. However, like many a time before, the menu was all in Chinese, so we had to get some help in ordering food. We managed to just pick random things and ended up with just the right amount of food. Bullfrog has a nice texture. It has the consistency and texture of something in between fish and chicken. But it was very tender and very good. Everything we ordered was very good and we left full and happy. I relaxed for the rest of the evening and tried to figure out what to do on my last day.
Since I had basically been walking around for three days straight, I thought it was alright to sleep in a little bit. After I got up, I went to the Western food store. Yes, I went to a store that sold food from home. I basically went crazy and bought half a month's budget of food. And cheese. I bought a packet of cheese...it did not make it the five minutes back. I was a little hungry after shopping, so I dropped everything off and got another sub sandwich. About an hour after that, I went for a duck lunch. We ordered duck, tofu, squid, a delicious watermelon juice, and this soup that had dumplings in it. All of it was very good and relatively inexpensive.
After lunch, I went to the Confucian temple in Nanjing. It was 30 yuan to get in and again I underestimated how large it was. I thought I could get through it in a couple hours, but I do not even think I got a third of the way into it before I had to meet up with friends for dinner. It was all very beautiful and I was pleasantly surprised to find an exhibit about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Taiping Rebellion. In short, the Rebellion was from 1850 - 1864 and the Kingdom was an oppositional state against the Qing dynasty with its capital being Nanjing. The Kingdom existed from 1851 to 1864, when the Qing army, with the help of France and Britain, defeated the revolutionary forces and ended the Rebellion. The exhibits were mainly in Chinese, so I just took pictures of whatever I thought was cool.
Since I had basically been walking around for three days straight, I thought it was alright to sleep in a little bit. After I got up, I went to the Western food store. Yes, I went to a store that sold food from home. I basically went crazy and bought half a month's budget of food. And cheese. I bought a packet of cheese...it did not make it the five minutes back. I was a little hungry after shopping, so I dropped everything off and got another sub sandwich. About an hour after that, I went for a duck lunch. We ordered duck, tofu, squid, a delicious watermelon juice, and this soup that had dumplings in it. All of it was very good and relatively inexpensive.
After lunch, I went to the Confucian temple in Nanjing. It was 30 yuan to get in and again I underestimated how large it was. I thought I could get through it in a couple hours, but I do not even think I got a third of the way into it before I had to meet up with friends for dinner. It was all very beautiful and I was pleasantly surprised to find an exhibit about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Taiping Rebellion. In short, the Rebellion was from 1850 - 1864 and the Kingdom was an oppositional state against the Qing dynasty with its capital being Nanjing. The Kingdom existed from 1851 to 1864, when the Qing army, with the help of France and Britain, defeated the revolutionary forces and ended the Rebellion. The exhibits were mainly in Chinese, so I just took pictures of whatever I thought was cool.
For dinner, we went to a Korean barbecue place. So, just like the one in Qufu, the grill was in the middle of the table and ordered lots of dishes from the exclusively Chinese menu. The waitresses probably thought we were all helpless foreigners, even though most of us had been living in China for at least 2 months. So, one of them cooked all of our food for us. It was a little awkward with her hovering, but all of the food was very tasty. After dinner, we headed to a cafe/lounge where we all talked and hung out for a while. Eventually the food comas set in and some people left. Those of us that stayed played some games of darts. I failed miserably. We met up with other friends and headed to a different bar to shoot some pool and to talk with other people. We stayed there for a little bit, but then left and went to yet another place to hang out. After talking some more with friends, we all said good night at about 3 am. At that point, I was glad I chose an afternoon train to come back to Qufu. Overall, it was a lovely way to end a nice (but short) trip in Nanjing.
I feel like although I did do a few things in Nanjing, there is a lot more to see and do there. I would really like to go back and go to Zhongshan, or Purple Mountain. It is where Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum is located and there is a lot more history within the city that I would like to see. Below are just some random pictures of the city.
I feel like although I did do a few things in Nanjing, there is a lot more to see and do there. I would really like to go back and go to Zhongshan, or Purple Mountain. It is where Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum is located and there is a lot more history within the city that I would like to see. Below are just some random pictures of the city.
My haul from the western store. Some of it was for others who asked me to get things.