Nanjing

One day Patrick and I and our roommates decided to head to Nanjing for a quick trip. Patrick brought along Monica, a girl he was seeing and Elizabeth brought her boyfriend, Chad. Because the others worked until about 4 or so we got a bullet train to Nanjing that left in the early evening. We were going to stay at a hostel there that Elizabeth had stayed at before. When we arrived in Nanjing we were greeted by one of Elizabeth's foreign friends who walked us to the street the hostel was on. After making plans to meet back up with him later on after showers and whatnot we headed to the hostel.

When we arrived we learned that Patrick had not booked enough beds for all of us. There were six of us but there was only one or two beds that were booked. That wasn't even the biggest problem. Turns out that none of the boys had brought their passports or IDs with them. Patrick and Chad just hadn't thought of it and Dan's passport was at the visa office getting a new visa. Without ID you can't stay at a hostel or hotel. We considered what we could do. Monica ended up saving the day. Actually, not just the day but our entire trip. She used to frequent Nanjing and knew of a hotel that we could stay at and best of all she had a VIP card for it and saved us quite a bit of money. She got on her phones (she had two for some reason) and started calling around. All of the hotels she talked to said that all people staying there had to have a form of ID. We eventually got a room at a hotel on the other side of the city. Because the boys had all forgotten their IDs, we decided that the girls would ride in one cab to the hotel and the boys would follow. Before heading to the hotel we met Elizabeth's friends and had real burgers and milkshakes at a nearby burger joint run by and American. We then took separate cabs to the hotel. After we had gotten the room the boys could waltz in and pretend they were picking us up to go out. It worked out perfectly. There were 3 guys and 3 girls. There were already two couples so Dan and I got put together.

The way hotel rooms work here is that your key not only opens the door but also turns on the electricity in the room. There is a slot on the wall that you put your key in which engages the power. Because it was so hot in the room we cranked the air and left the key in the room. When we asked for another key we were told we couldn't have one but when we came back the security guard would let us in our room. We headed out to a bar called the Blue Marlin and had some cocktails (which was unheard of in Xuzhou).

After some time at the bar we decided to head back to the hotel. The only problem with the room was that there was a single bed and a double bed but there were six people. We ended up pushing the two beds together and five of us slept on the huge bed while Patrick slept in the window (it was a small ledge where maybe three people could sit comfortably but still too small for one person to sleep comfortably). I don't think any of us slept very well that night due to the lack of room in bed.

The next morning Elizabeth and Chad headed off by themselves and the rest of us went to the Nanjing Massacre Museum. During WWII the Japanese raped and murdered thousands of Chinese. I had only heard of this once before but never really learned about it. The museum was amazing. Everything was translated into Japanese and English. It was actual English too. I didn't see one word of Chinglish or Engrish. Some of the things that the Japanese did during this massacre were absolutely horrific. We weren't allowed to bring bags or cameras into the museum. There were numerous things on display but there are a few that stick out to me at the moment. One was a picture of dead bodies. These bodies weren't adults they were toddlers and infants. Another was a wire cylindrical cage that had nails pointing to the inside of the cage. A person was put in the cage then rolled down the hill all the time being stabbed by rusty nails with every rotation. There were a lot of Nazi symbols because Hitler helped the Chinese during this massacre (Hitler probably learned a lot of his torture techniques from the Japanese during this time). There were interviews by survivors and by some Japanese soldiers. Some of the soldiers were very apologetic about what they were ordered to do. Some smiled during their interviews and thought they had done a great job. Outside the museum there was a bronze pathway with footprints of survivors cast in it. There were mass graves that had been unearthed that you could go in and look at. The entire experience made me realize why so many Chinese truly hate the Japanese. There is also a documentary about the massacre called Nanking which is pretty good if anyone is interested.

After the museum we went to a shopping mall to get some Japanese food (quite suiting considering where we had just visited). At this time Elizabeth and Chad showed up and we all decided to go to the Ming Dynasty Tombs. We found the correct buses and headed that way. Once we got close, Elizabeth and Chad went off on their own again. We eventually found the tombs but they were really expensive. I wanted to see the tombs because I would probably never have the chance again but the rest of the group decided that it wasn't worth it and the tombs are pretty much the same as the ones in Xuzhou. After I heard that I wasn't so bummed about not seeing the ones in Nanjing. We got back into town after waiting forever for a bus and went to a large park near the train station. Because we had some time go kill we decided to rent a small boat and drive around on the lake. From the boat (which only went about 3 mph) we saw some great buildings and got really close to the old city wall. When it was about time for the train we got on the subway and met up with Elizabeth and Chad and had some dinner. When we arrived in Nanjing we tried to buy bullet train tickets back to Xuzhou but they were sold out. We did manage to get hard seat tickets on a regular train.

We got to the platform just in time for the doors to be opened and boarded the train. This train was severely over booked. When there are no more seats available on a train here they sell "standing tickets". Basically, if you can find a seat you can sit. If there are no seats available you stand or sit in the aisle or where ever you can. Luckily we had seats. After arguing with someone to get out of our seats we were on our way. I was constantly being bumped as I was in an aisle seat. I had a man stand next to me for at least half the train ride that was constantly shoving his crotch in my face or resting it on my shoulder. I tried to nicely push him off me since my glares were not working. Eventually I ended up elbowing him every time he came close to me. There was also a family that had standing tickets. The father had convinced some college kid to share his seat with him. His daughter and wife were stuck sitting on the floor in the aisle. The poor little girl was exhausted and fell asleep on the floor but had to be moved every once in a while as a snack cart was wheeled through. Eventually we got back to Xuzhou and went home.

It was a great trip and a nice change of scenery.

Some pictures of the trip.

And some more.