Sorry for taking so long to update. It's taken me a couple weeks to be able to write about our visit to Nanjing.
The city, itself, was beautiful and most of the trip was very good, but a few details spoiled a lot of the enjoyment. Cary was able to book our bus tickets for Saturday morning at 9:27. Our bus got stuck in traffic for about an hour and during our rest stop break, we had to wait on one lady for probably close to a half an hour in addition to the 20 minute rest stop break we had.
So, we arrived in Nanjing around 2:30. The bus dropped us off in a very random location and we had to go buy tickets to Shanghai. We decided on train tickets since the bus was expensive and slow.
After buying our tickets, we went to search for the hotel I had booked online. It was pretty easy to find, but we were told that the hotel manager was only allowing reservations from Chinese people. No foreigners. But, I paid a booking fee? Sorry. Chinese people only. So began our search for another hotel. Because it was the May holiday, every hotel we tried was booked full. Some of them didn't want to book westerners, most of them were completely full. Cary and I wandered around Nanjing, trying nearly every hotel we came to (except the expensive ones. We might as well just take a taxi back than pay 1000RMB/night.) Eventually, we started contemplating taking naps in the 24/7 McDonalds and KFCs in the city during the night if we couldn't find a place.
Finally, we called Nanjing Normal University's guest house and they had a room open. However, the Lonely Planet China guidebook told us the hotel was in Nanjing University, not Nanjing Normal University. So, after wandering around the wrong university and asking several different students where the hotel was at, we finally found some students that were nice enough to call the hotel and ask. Wrong university. Whoops.
Around 8:30, we found the hotel! It was actually cheaper than the original hotel I booked, but it was definitely one of the moldiest hotels I've ever stayed in. But, I was beyond grateful to have a room that did not cost half my paycheck. Because we hadn't eaten all day (finding a place to sleep outweighed food in importance), we had some McDonalds (surprisingly less greasy here!) and relaxed. (Hahaha! In your face mean Chinese managers, hotels, and taxi drivers! I'm gonna eat some McDonalds!!)
Monday was much better, but it was very hot outside. Unfortunately, after the frustrating day before, the pointing, "laowai!" calls, and shoving were getting to us. In the morning, we visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial. We had lunch (at Papa Johns) near Fuzi Temple. In the afternoon we rode the cable cars up Zijin Mountain. The cable car ride took probably a good twenty minutes one way. We walked along the city walls and around Xuanwu lake, but we didn't want to pay to go into Jiming Temple and the entrance to the wall that was free was closed. The sun was also beating down on us, and we were trying to stay in the shade.
We walked back to the hotel, took a rest to get out of the heat and went to dinner at a restaurant called "tacos." Despite the name, there was very little mexican food on the menu. It was mostly Chinese-Western fusion food, so Cary had tacos and I had noodles. It was pretty good, and we were entertained by a young girl that was dancing and waving to us outside the restaurant. She was five years old and practiced some of her English on us.
Our train for Shanghai left at 9:03 in the morning, and we were both more than eager to get back to Shanghai. We got back to Shanghai a little before noon (so much faster than the bus!) There were other things we had wished to visit and do in Nanjing, but we lost several hours on the first day due to the hotel hunt. (And, really, once you've seen a dozen temples, you don't need to visit every one of them.) It was also so hot that it was difficult to move quickly. Also, the city was more than overrun with Chinese tourists... everywhere! I wish I would've gotten more pictures, but here are a small bunch.
The city, itself, was beautiful and most of the trip was very good, but a few details spoiled a lot of the enjoyment. Cary was able to book our bus tickets for Saturday morning at 9:27. Our bus got stuck in traffic for about an hour and during our rest stop break, we had to wait on one lady for probably close to a half an hour in addition to the 20 minute rest stop break we had.
So, we arrived in Nanjing around 2:30. The bus dropped us off in a very random location and we had to go buy tickets to Shanghai. We decided on train tickets since the bus was expensive and slow.
After buying our tickets, we went to search for the hotel I had booked online. It was pretty easy to find, but we were told that the hotel manager was only allowing reservations from Chinese people. No foreigners. But, I paid a booking fee? Sorry. Chinese people only. So began our search for another hotel. Because it was the May holiday, every hotel we tried was booked full. Some of them didn't want to book westerners, most of them were completely full. Cary and I wandered around Nanjing, trying nearly every hotel we came to (except the expensive ones. We might as well just take a taxi back than pay 1000RMB/night.) Eventually, we started contemplating taking naps in the 24/7 McDonalds and KFCs in the city during the night if we couldn't find a place.
Finally, we called Nanjing Normal University's guest house and they had a room open. However, the Lonely Planet China guidebook told us the hotel was in Nanjing University, not Nanjing Normal University. So, after wandering around the wrong university and asking several different students where the hotel was at, we finally found some students that were nice enough to call the hotel and ask. Wrong university. Whoops.
Around 8:30, we found the hotel! It was actually cheaper than the original hotel I booked, but it was definitely one of the moldiest hotels I've ever stayed in. But, I was beyond grateful to have a room that did not cost half my paycheck. Because we hadn't eaten all day (finding a place to sleep outweighed food in importance), we had some McDonalds (surprisingly less greasy here!) and relaxed. (Hahaha! In your face mean Chinese managers, hotels, and taxi drivers! I'm gonna eat some McDonalds!!)
Monday was much better, but it was very hot outside. Unfortunately, after the frustrating day before, the pointing, "laowai!" calls, and shoving were getting to us. In the morning, we visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial. We had lunch (at Papa Johns) near Fuzi Temple. In the afternoon we rode the cable cars up Zijin Mountain. The cable car ride took probably a good twenty minutes one way. We walked along the city walls and around Xuanwu lake, but we didn't want to pay to go into Jiming Temple and the entrance to the wall that was free was closed. The sun was also beating down on us, and we were trying to stay in the shade.
We walked back to the hotel, took a rest to get out of the heat and went to dinner at a restaurant called "tacos." Despite the name, there was very little mexican food on the menu. It was mostly Chinese-Western fusion food, so Cary had tacos and I had noodles. It was pretty good, and we were entertained by a young girl that was dancing and waving to us outside the restaurant. She was five years old and practiced some of her English on us.
Our train for Shanghai left at 9:03 in the morning, and we were both more than eager to get back to Shanghai. We got back to Shanghai a little before noon (so much faster than the bus!) There were other things we had wished to visit and do in Nanjing, but we lost several hours on the first day due to the hotel hunt. (And, really, once you've seen a dozen temples, you don't need to visit every one of them.) It was also so hot that it was difficult to move quickly. Also, the city was more than overrun with Chinese tourists... everywhere! I wish I would've gotten more pictures, but here are a small bunch.
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