The Splendors of Nanjing

Saturday we spent sightseeing in Nanjing after briefly visiting Casa Gao.  Nanjing is not known to tourists but has a wealth of historic sights and some natural beauty.  It has well preserved city walls and gates.  It was an ancient capital and also the center of Sun Yat-Sen’s government in the last century.  The famous “Purple Mountain” stands in the city and is home to a very large park area filled with both historic and contemporary sights.

The exterior of the building of the Gao apartment which is on the fourth floor

Chunhua in her modern kitchen with great windows

The two standard cooking items - wok and rice pot.  Chinese kitchens do not have ovens and rarely have dishwashers.

Little Tianqi on right and Jun and Chunhua as young Navy officers on left

Tianqi’s dad (Jun) took us to the Purple Mountain in his car since it was raining (of course).  We first saw an observatory that served China in the 1940’s or so, but was also home to ancient Chinese astronomers as it sits on the highest point.  This we viewed in a light rain so we could not see views but the place nestled in lush jungle with the gentle rain was very atmospheric.

The ancient device for calculating star movement was wonderfully carved with dragons at the Purple Mountain Observatory

Randy and Nick admire a globe device in the light rain

The observatory which dates from the mid-20th century but is no longer used

Randy and Nick found this interesting

Jun dropped us at a top sight in Nanjing, the Xiaoling Tomb of Ming Dynasty.  This was spectacular.  A line of massive and impressive carved figures – animals, mythical beasts and humans, stood as an honor guard leading to the tomb.  The tomb has been reconstructed but remains of the original structures can be found.  We climbed many steps and took in the view from the top.  We also purchased a few souvenirs at the shop within.  It was lightly raining so this tomb was not so crowded.

We walked on a long road at the Xiaoling Tomb site lined with stone beasts and people guarding the entry

A quite modern looking horse sculpture

Nick by a lion

Alice enjoys the mythical beast that combines dragon, tiger and perhaps something else

A splendid elephant

Detail of eye and tusk

Alice by another mythical beast

Face detail

Another mythical beast - these mythical beasts originally had horns (two, one on either side of the head) and some of them are termed "unicorns" by the Chinese

Face detail of this one shows it is quite scary

The foot detail is a dragon like claw

The body is clad in dragon scales rather than tiger fur

One of the camels, which were very rare in ancient China

Head detail

A kneeling two humped camel

One of the magpies - China has two types that we saw - one white and black (or very dark blue) like we saw in Turkey and one like this which is the same shape and size but colored gray-blue and off white

The trio along the entrance way to the tomb proper

On one side of this entry way are the beasts that are shown above and on the other side are human figures such as this one.  The humans are soldiers, guards, counselors, etc.

Tianqi and Nick admire this counselor

The face shows a rather primitive artistic style

Walking to the tomb area itself

The grounds are extensive

Detail of fine stone carving that is original (not a restored one)

Another fanciful carving

Ceiling of a gazebo on the tomb grounds

The original tomb ruins

A dragon spout detail in situ

Headed to the tomb itself

The emperor is supposedly buried behind this wall

Exterior ceiling detail of the tomb

Interior ceiling detail of the tomb

To come or go to the tomb one passes through this tunnel way

One of the beautiful magpies like we saw in Turkey but this is a Chinese bird

Running your hand the entire way along the back of the turtle bring good luck or long life - I forget which - or maybe both!

Alice wants both long life and good luck!

Ditto for Randy

Tianqi tries with another stone turtle

We refreshed with a light lunch at a comfortable café nearby then took a large golf cart to the next sight – the tomb of Sun Yat-Sen.  This was massively crowded and took many steps to reach the top.  But it was interesting and worth the effort.  The tomb was built in the 20^th century and is a huge attraction for Chinese.  

Nick, Randy and Tianqi played rummy at our lunch stop

Alice opted for a fruit ice cream sundae rather than a lunch

Walking to the Sun-Yat Sen tomb

Yes, we climbed all of those stairs

The view from the top.  This is a popular tourist sight for Chinese.

A panoramic from the top

Across the way from the bottom of the tomb area was a superb nature spot that led to an amphitheater, the Zhongshanling Bandstand.  This is known as a romantic place where brides and grooms often come for pictures.  Adding to the romance are the special white doves which are kept and bred here.  They roamed freely on the grounds and roosted in the nearby vines and trees.

Nick and Tianqi enjoy the romantic atmosphere at the ampitheater

The many large white doves which are bred at the site

A detail of one of these pretty birds

After a thrilling (very fast) golf cart ride to the main parking area (where my glasses flew out and smashed on the road) we walked to the big road and got a taxi to the hotel.  That night we dined at the hotel’s Italian restaurant.  It was overpriced but provided decent food.  Then we took a taxi to the Gao’s and relaxed with the parents.

Nick and Alice road on the back of the fast moving golf cart

View from the golf cart as sped through the woods

The next morning brought another huge breakfast buffet at the Jinling Hotel.  There was plenty of Asian fare – congee, soups, stir fries, etc. along with breads, cheeses, smoked fish, bacon and sausage, salads, fruit and eggs to order.  We made ample use of the bounty both mornings we dined there.  The weather had improved and rain was no longer present.  In fact, we briefly saw blue skies later that day in Nanjing.

Some of the bounty available at the hotel breakfast each morning.  The Chinese seem to love their big breakfast buffets.

Congee and soups were always on offer

I was happy to offered Colombian decaf coffee and stashed away a bunch of it from this jar for the rest of the journey

Our huge room at the Jinling Hotel

Our walk in wet bar area

View from our hotel room of downtown Nanjing, actually the smallest city we visited on our trip

The hazy weather was typical of what we had in Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu and Xi'an

Jun Gao picked us up from the hotel and we went to the Gao’s.  Tianqi, Nick, Randy and I walked around Mouchou Lake, which is very close to Casa Gao.  This is a nice urban park surrounding a good sized lake.  It was crowded in the main entry park but more peaceful on the back side.  There were numerous people enjoying the park on this Sunday morning – from older folks playing musical instruments or exercising to young families with active (too active you might say) children.  We returned to Casa Gao for a lunch prepared by Chunhua.  Her food was very nice and we were happy to spend this time with them.

In the compound of Casa Gao in Nanjing

Tianqi gets us tickets to enter the park around the lake

A detail of a flower (peony?)

At the lake

Panoramic of the lake

Some of the musicians who come to the park to socialize and play

The dragon boats - the annual dragon boat races occurred about a month earlier and Nick and Tianqi attended them

Some of the exercising ladies in the park

With the famous statue in the park

Tianqi and Nick do lung exercises at this more remote part of the lake

A send off lunch at Casa Gao

Everything but the duck came from the kitchen of Chunhua

Lunch con familia

Nick loves the family meals at Casa Gao

Thus ended our stay in Nanjing as we flew to Chengdu late that afternoon.  Nanjing is known for its history and natural beauty.  Like Shanghai, the sky was perpetually in a white haze (pollution and humidity combination, we presume) and the traffic was challenging (though better than Shanghai).  A combination of massive new apartment high rises and older, fairly run down, apartment blocks were where nearly everyone called home.  Much of the food was not to our tastes (braised pork fat, pig feet, intestine, etc.) but much was quite tasty.  China seems to be crowded (not surprising given the population) but reasonably clean, except for the nasty air pollution.  The Chinese staff in the hotel were polite and helpful though their English ranged from non-existent to very basic. 

We liked Nanjing (though we were pretty jet lagged) and especially interacting with the hospitable and friends Gao parents.  Nick was excited to show us his “second home” and we were glad to see the environs he had enjoyed for the past six weeks.  There are some sights of interest that we missed so if we have a second visit to Nanjing we will still have plenty to explore.

Nick and I enjoy a bit of sun (finally!) in Nanjing at Mouchou Lake