Day and Night 7
5.45 morning call
Due to a 3 hour bus ride to Nanjing, and the need to be at the airport before noon, we encountered our earliest wake up call yet. At 0545 hours. Thankfully I had packed the previous night, and unlike some others, did not have to rush.
Considering that almost everyone was partying till the wee hours of the morning, almost everyone was fast asleep on the ride to Nanjing. Including myself.
We were supposed to visit the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, and were greeted by a long snaking queue of mainly Chinese schoolchildren. We tried queuing for about 20 minutes, and then gave up, as it simply took too long, and we had a flight to catch.
The long and snaking queue reminded me of those at the Tokyo Expo, which I had visited last year. At least we didn’t queue for 3hours this time! ;)
So on to Nanjing International Airport, where we were supposed to eat lunch.
Due to a lack of fast food, and given time constraints, my group purchased instant noodles to eat for lunch. Supposedly, SIA was the only international airline to operate out of Nanjing. (not counting Dragon Air…).. Nonetheless, we entertained ourselves, discussing dfs and more, and soon enough, we were boarding the plane to take us back home.
Caught a couple of movies and played a few games on the way back, in an otherwise uneventful flight.
Touched down at approximately 1940hours, and was on the way home by 2010hours.
Great Trip, but nonetheless, its great to be back.
Cheers.
photo credits go to: Joel Khoo, Seow Chun Ming, Ronald Ip and myself...
Day and Night 5 [Part II]
After the SIP, we proceeded on to the Master of the Nets Garden.. which I suspect was literally translated, but unfortunately couldn’t find the original Chinese plague to check against it..
Nice backdrop for nice pictures to be taken against =)
有山有水.
Guanqian Street was a pale comparison with the opulence of Nanjing Road, and the great deals at Xiangyang. Nevertheless, we were spellbound, watching a really accomplished Magician demonstrate his card tricks and more. Mingyi and Anthony purchased some really unique items. Ask them to demo it haha
Having been to Suzhou before, the Silk Factory was not a place I hadn’t visited prior to this trip, and still has the repugnant odor produced when the silk worms are boiled.
Day and Night 6
Luzhi Water Town.. where you see old buildings (constructed without any nails), water, villagers, nice bridges and thresholds to walk over.
Nice place for pictures though….
The tour through the water town proved to be the longest had experienced on this trip. With the twisting passages and maze-like alleys, it was not a surprise, that several members of the entourage were lost, and the tour agents had to do a search and rescue mission.
Grand Canal.. the second largest architectural and engineering feat in China, after the Great Wall. It supposedly stretches from Hangzhou to Beijing, and is used for trade, and transportation purposes. Construction started during the Warring States period. Again, do not underestimate them.
The Embroidery Institute showcased the epitome of Chinese fine art, with delicate hands weaving pieces of thread into works of art, the most impressive of which resembled an oil painting.
As I mentioned previously, Breadtalk has come to China. What do people do when they see a good product in a country that doesn’t really care about intellectual property rights?
They Pirate it.
Holiland Bread was a fine example of how Breadtalk has been copied in China. Same colour scheme, same concepts, but. Interestingly,
Better Products.
I wonder if they’ve moved on from piracy to innovation already. Certainly, they seem to be walking in Japan’s footsteps…
Imitate – Innovate – Invent.
Our last dinner was an interesting affair, with a san hu (?) player taking requests and singing whatever songs which we requested for. Within those 20 minutes, he had made a grand total of 140 元. Hmm....
