Nanjing has a reputation in China for being hot. So hot in fact that it’s described locally as one of he ‘Three Furnaces’ – the hottest places in China each summer. Well, we’re brave – or at least after Delhi’s 41 degree Celsius we thought we could survive anything – so we didn’t let that put us off. And just as well as Nanjing is a nice place to visit. Very lively, some lovely parks, good for wandering, has a great subway line, and it wasn’t at all hot when we were there. My one complaint would be the rain – Nanjing was more of a shower than a furnace!
It never really stopped raining! I’ve rarely seen weather so miserable – and you have to remember this is written by a Welsh girl. It just drizzled on and on and on… Which is a bit of a shame as we got soaked repeatedly (even after buying a spare umbrella), and we didn’t wander around and explore as much as we’d have like to. We did manage to have a look at a big park full of lakes and islands at the north of town during the only break in showers in the 5 days we were there, but even then we got a bit damp at the end of our stroll. Truly impressive wetness.
In a way Nanjing is one of the better places in China to survive wet periods. This is mainly because it is thriving – it has lots of shopping arcades and malls or covered areas to explore. And they are worth exploring as they are so different from the ones in the UK. Our favourite was an endless underground labyrinth called ‘Fashion Lady’ which consisted of two layers of interconnected cave-like tunnel networks, lit with lots of neon and fake flames. It was entirely filled with tiny boutique girls fashion shops – although how you’d ever find one you specifically wanted I don’t know as it is impossible to navigate in the place. Just finding an exit is a major undertaking! It’s like an entire underground (and highly fashionable) city, complete with restaurants packed in a long row, gaming arcades, and of course more and more shops.
Anyway, we’re now moving on to Suzhou now, a smaller town with pretty gardens and canals. And we get to travel by posh Chinese Bullet trains again – while in Nanjing we perfected the art of buying rail tickets in China! And this is a very useful skill to have believe me! All you have to do is check a rail timetable on line in English, chose the train number you want, and then write down your request in Chinese on a slip of paper. Hand this to the ticket office person (who will speak only Chinese) and you get exactly what you want with minimal hassle as long as you book a few days in advance to ensure the train isn’t full. You just have to remember to write down all the details, translating to Chinese symbols using the Rough Guide of course: town names (departure and arrival places with a nice friendly arrow from one to the other), date of travel (the Chinese write dates in exactly the opposite to the way we write dates in the UK), train number and time of departure (easy – no translation needed!), soft-seater class, number of tickets, and thank you at the end! Simple! Ah well, it worked a treat to leave Nanjing, and you do get a real sense of accomplishment for buying your own tickets in a completely different and very difficult language – especially if you manage to totally avoid agencies and hotels.
It never really stopped raining! I’ve rarely seen weather so miserable – and you have to remember this is written by a Welsh girl. It just drizzled on and on and on… Which is a bit of a shame as we got soaked repeatedly (even after buying a spare umbrella), and we didn’t wander around and explore as much as we’d have like to. We did manage to have a look at a big park full of lakes and islands at the north of town during the only break in showers in the 5 days we were there, but even then we got a bit damp at the end of our stroll. Truly impressive wetness.
In a way Nanjing is one of the better places in China to survive wet periods. This is mainly because it is thriving – it has lots of shopping arcades and malls or covered areas to explore. And they are worth exploring as they are so different from the ones in the UK. Our favourite was an endless underground labyrinth called ‘Fashion Lady’ which consisted of two layers of interconnected cave-like tunnel networks, lit with lots of neon and fake flames. It was entirely filled with tiny boutique girls fashion shops – although how you’d ever find one you specifically wanted I don’t know as it is impossible to navigate in the place. Just finding an exit is a major undertaking! It’s like an entire underground (and highly fashionable) city, complete with restaurants packed in a long row, gaming arcades, and of course more and more shops.
Anyway, we’re now moving on to Suzhou now, a smaller town with pretty gardens and canals. And we get to travel by posh Chinese Bullet trains again – while in Nanjing we perfected the art of buying rail tickets in China! And this is a very useful skill to have believe me! All you have to do is check a rail timetable on line in English, chose the train number you want, and then write down your request in Chinese on a slip of paper. Hand this to the ticket office person (who will speak only Chinese) and you get exactly what you want with minimal hassle as long as you book a few days in advance to ensure the train isn’t full. You just have to remember to write down all the details, translating to Chinese symbols using the Rough Guide of course: town names (departure and arrival places with a nice friendly arrow from one to the other), date of travel (the Chinese write dates in exactly the opposite to the way we write dates in the UK), train number and time of departure (easy – no translation needed!), soft-seater class, number of tickets, and thank you at the end! Simple! Ah well, it worked a treat to leave Nanjing, and you do get a real sense of accomplishment for buying your own tickets in a completely different and very difficult language – especially if you manage to totally avoid agencies and hotels.
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