Day 4: Is that Brad and Angelina? Oh, no, it’s Nathan and Heidi
What a day for a daydream, or at least a field trip. Today was the day for any history nerd, so it is a good thing I (Nathan) was there to experience it. Our first full day in one city was a welcomed rest although we did little resting. It all started with a traditional Chinese breakfast which in the US we would consider the variety and amount of foods to be more in line with a large lunch or even a special dinner. With everything from noodle soup (the noodles were made fresh by hand right in front of us) to beef and mushroom something, and of course rice. Once the eating was over with we grabbed our tourist gear and met up with our tour guide “Joey” who happened to be wearing a Facing the Giants t-shirt which he got after meeting the director of the movie.
Our fist stop of the day was the Nanjing Massacre Memorial. This is a very solemn place. It is in memoriam of the people who perished during the Japanese takeover of the are in 1937 during the beginning stages of WW2. During this battle over 300,000 Chinese perished in less than six weeks. The memorial is very similar to those remembering victims of the widely known Holocaust let by Germany. The museum recounts events leading up to the takeover as well as the time during and after for the rebuilding. There are many cases displaying photographs, artifacts, and even on e area surrounds an actual dig where archeologists have uncovered mass and singular graves of the victims. This really puts it into perspective when we can see first hand the result of this tragedy. Nanjing has gone on to be a large and successful city in China despite this large setback.
Once the tour of the memorial had concluded we went right across the street to the Nanjing Brocade Museum. Brocade, from what I gather, is the type of weaving used to make the material. Everything form ties to wall hangings are made this way. The looms require two people, one on top to organize the strands of fabric, and the other a the head of the mechanism to operate it by foot pedals and slide shuttles with various colors of thread through to produce the design. The workers produce intricate patterns and magnificent pieces of art often only going by a small picture of what the final product should be. These machines, made of wood and bamboo, have been in operation for hundreds of years, and the overall practice and design for almost 1,000 years. On display were ancient wardrobes worn by officials and even emperors. At the end of the tour we enjoyed a raspberry popsicle.
Our third spot of the day was by far the oldest. It was the grounds of a temple build almost 2,000 years ago and is now known as a Confucian Temple. The temple is still used by monks and followers of the faith. However, the main attraction is not the temple but the literally hundreds of shops that have been built around the area. In these shops you can find scarves, tea pots, rocks, home made food, jewelry, and even a McDonald’s. in this area you get to bargain for the products. We were told to go about half of the asking price. This was quite successful with our first couple of purchases and I was able to get some good deals. Then Heidi wanted to try her hand at bargaining. We found a painting that was beautiful and Heidi tried to convince the lady we only would pay 60 yuan for it even though she was asking 100 yuan. Apparently the lady thought we agreed at 100 so when Heidi said 60 is all we have her face showed the disappointment. This, of course, tugged at Heidi’s soft heart and she gave the lady $5 American money. All in all she paid more than the 100 yuan originally asked for the painting. We spent quite a bit of time here, not only to see what items were for sale, but for the scenery and because we were famous. Yes, Heidi and I are known the world over. People stop, point, stare, wave, secretly try to take our picture, want us to hold their children, and want to take their picture with us. Although I really don’t think they know us or usually even care who we really are, it seems to be obvious that we don’t exactly blend in. The Chinese have a keen eye to notice that we are not Chinese, but American. Heidi is tall, long brown hair, beautiful, big eyes and I am, well, not Chinese. With these traits we stick out fairly well.
After the famous hour we were treated to a very special and traditional Nanjing dinner with traditional music. The dinner included approximately 17 courses, each course being a small bowl of some type of soup, or a piece of meat, or our favorite, a boiled and fertilized chicken egg. Sticking a straw into a fertilized egg and sucking out whatever would come out then eating the, well, you know what grows in a chicken egg, is not something we could eat. It is a Chinese delicacy but we were too chicken to try it. All in all, most of it was not tasty. Heidi did not enjoy the duck blood soup either. Nothing against the wonderful people of Nanjing, but our dinner plans are not the same. Needless to say the Big Mac, French fries, and non-fizzy coke that we ate after the special Chinese meal were delicious.
Once we left the dinner, Nathan and Elizabeth stayed with us to go back to the shops. We had seen most of the touristy ones with the knick knacks, but now we wanted to visit the really Chinese shops and check out the fashion. Since I absolutely LOVE shopping, I was so ecstatic to find an open seat to sit while Heidi looked around. It was very busy in the clothing store which was completely underground. There were clothing racks packed into every square foot with young and not so young Chinese people swarming around. The overhead speakers were proudly booming American pop music. As we looked through the clothing we had to admire the attempts at English on the clothing. For example, instead of the popular “PINK” brand, there was an identical line with the title “PNIK”. This type of almost name brand clothing was seen throughout the store. The fashion in China is definitely edgy and not what we are used to seeing. Heidi ended up with a purse and scarf, and I ended up carrying it all.
It was an exciting day with plenty of culture to intrigue us keep us excited for what is to come for our trip.
