Hangzhou

Computers at our previous hostel weren't working and we couldn't find an alternative so we had to wait until we got here to post.

The past three days we were in the city of Nanjing. Our hostel was located in the tourist area of Fuzimiao. At night all the lights are lit and the entire area, including the pedestrian mall the goes to the Confucious Temple, is all a bustle with locals and tourists (both foreign and Chinese). There are not that many foreigners around this area and this time because Nanjing is known to be the third hottest city in China. Still, plenty of Chinese tourist visit this city.

Peter and I found our way around town via the only Metro line they have recently opened (a new one is still under construction). The line goes from North (Magaqioau?) to Southwest (Olympic Stadium). The area in the middle, Xinjiekou, is the shopping place lined with huge malls, including WalMart Supercenter. At WalMart, the deli section and grocery section were filled with yummy looking Chinese snacks/food items, etc. Clothes are not that popular in WalMart, mostly just Chinese household goods - clothes are cheaper elsewhere.

For lunch, we found a food hall at the Grand Ocean Mall. We had some sort of Asian cuisine which was not oily. Thank goodness.

We meandered around town accessible by Metro. On our last day we took cabs to the out of the way tourist sights: Yuejiang Tower on top of Lion Hill which has a view of the Yangtze River (the area was very hazy due to the smog) and Olympic Stadium (went up the Sports Science and Technology Center tower). We wanted to visit the Nanjing Massacre Museum unfortunately they were closed on Sundays.

For our food we simply looked for places that offered interesting stuff, like steamed buns and this place where lots of locals stand in line for, a soup dumpling restaurant. I tried the "stinky tofu" - fried fermented tofu (Peter thought it disgusting and very stinky, but I thought it was pretty good). Our last night's dinner was at Chili's (Korean and Western) restaurant.

Nanjing is a city which is very modern, some of the old city wall still remain scattered around the city. It is a very nice place to visit and to stay longer than 3 days. The Zhongshan area should be a good place to sightsee.

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Early this morning we took a cab to the Nanjing Rail Station (north) and boarded the train to Hangzhou (supposedly an express train but had stops at 4-5 stations prior to our destination). We were surprised at how orderly and clean people were (except for some few who still spat in the train car). Seats are reserved so there's no worry about that. Toilet was the usual squat and suprisingly un-smelly. Overall a pretty good 6 hour trip.

Hangzhou's weather is cloudy. Very good for walking along the West Lake. Will post again later.