Nanjing has changed my impression of China in a big way. It feels like a place I could live. This could possibly be context. There was just four of us versus the eighty zillion brosefs I have to deal with on a daily basis. Austin, Brandon and John speak enough Mandarin to get by and we rarely went our separate ways. That made things a little easier. But I like to think there's more to it than that. The city has a certain charm. It's tiny by China standards (only like 8 million people). The purple mountain attraction made me feel like it's possible to get to some nature, maybe even find a skosh of solitude in (more likely around) Nanjing. Today was hot as hell but the skies were crystal clear, perfect for checking out the buildings. Nanjing, like all of China's cities, doesn't have a single cluster of skyscrapers, rather a few different ones. Any of those skylines were very elegant. The architecture is innovative for sure, but taken down a notch from Beijing. That place is just engineers trying to outdo each other. The subway is nicer than Tianjin, but not as nice as Beijing. Of course, to say a subway isn't as nice as Beijing is akin to saying someone isn't as proficient a swimmer as Michael Phelps. We ran into a lot of Meiggouren (Americans) which is always welcome because you get kind of sick of being surrounded by foreign people, sporting foreign customs and speaking a very foreign language. Sometimes when I'm zoning out I'll look up expecting to see white, black or latino people and am mildly surprised to find myself in a sea of asians, half of them with their bellies showing (it's a big thing with the men here to roll up your shirt and let your stomach hang out). It's similar to the feeling five or six years ago when I would wake up expecting to be in my room and find myself in a seedy motel in Arkansas or something.
Back to Nanjing. The bar/club scene was sick. Any place we walked into was straight up ridiculous. This one place apparently went back to the 70s and picked up some glowing floors. Another one had about 100 chandeliers hanging from the roof. Definitely my favorite of any bar street we've been to so far. Unfortunately it turns out that talking to Chinese girls in bars is generally futile. Traditionally they're very shy and if you can get a conversation going or dance with one the odds are she's a hooker. And despite this proclivity for literal whore-dom, regular Chinese women don't dress like whores when they go out. Also, the girls covered in glitter and wearing next to nothing who are paid to dance on bartops in south Florida is a no go here.
Another plus is that there are very few Toyotas are in Nanjing. Tianjin is littered with them. The cabs are either Toyota Corollas or a Chinese Corolla knock off. That whole mini-holocaust the Japanese pulled in Nanjing might have something to do with it. There are a lot of French cars, which I quite unfortunately have found that I really like. A couple of the cabs we took were Citroens Elysees. They have B pillars the size of Xi'an's city wall and consequently are very roomy. The ride is extremely smooth. We're talking Jaguar smooth. Any time we hailed a taxi I did my best to make sure it was of the Frog variety.
All in all it was a fruitful trip. We managed to pack a ton of tourist stuff into each day, and all of it was pretty cool. Found a Deli, ate some Turkish food and a bunch of street food. Chatted with an extremely plastered Chinese girl who studied English in Hong Kong and called Tianjin “broken” (Beijing was “amazing”, Shanghai was “perfect”). Bought some sweet gifts, and did well enough with the haggling to where the lady hit me with the poster. Unfortunately I have another 12 hours on this train listening to snoring/farting, which will entail another, more focused blog.
Back to Nanjing. The bar/club scene was sick. Any place we walked into was straight up ridiculous. This one place apparently went back to the 70s and picked up some glowing floors. Another one had about 100 chandeliers hanging from the roof. Definitely my favorite of any bar street we've been to so far. Unfortunately it turns out that talking to Chinese girls in bars is generally futile. Traditionally they're very shy and if you can get a conversation going or dance with one the odds are she's a hooker. And despite this proclivity for literal whore-dom, regular Chinese women don't dress like whores when they go out. Also, the girls covered in glitter and wearing next to nothing who are paid to dance on bartops in south Florida is a no go here.
Another plus is that there are very few Toyotas are in Nanjing. Tianjin is littered with them. The cabs are either Toyota Corollas or a Chinese Corolla knock off. That whole mini-holocaust the Japanese pulled in Nanjing might have something to do with it. There are a lot of French cars, which I quite unfortunately have found that I really like. A couple of the cabs we took were Citroens Elysees. They have B pillars the size of Xi'an's city wall and consequently are very roomy. The ride is extremely smooth. We're talking Jaguar smooth. Any time we hailed a taxi I did my best to make sure it was of the Frog variety.
All in all it was a fruitful trip. We managed to pack a ton of tourist stuff into each day, and all of it was pretty cool. Found a Deli, ate some Turkish food and a bunch of street food. Chatted with an extremely plastered Chinese girl who studied English in Hong Kong and called Tianjin “broken” (Beijing was “amazing”, Shanghai was “perfect”). Bought some sweet gifts, and did well enough with the haggling to where the lady hit me with the poster. Unfortunately I have another 12 hours on this train listening to snoring/farting, which will entail another, more focused blog.
Sweet building in what seemed to be downtown Nanjing.
Sweet rock island in the middle of giant koi pond at the Taiping rebellion museum.
Part of Nanjing's main city gate. It's really four gates in one building. You're looking at the second to last one from the third one. Unfortunately it didn't keep the nips out.
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