Nanjing and Around

from Xi'An to Nanjing

Yesterday we dedicated the day to visiting the center of Xi'An and more precisely to some super shopping malls. Obviously enormous and super equipped, even though the prices are definitely higher than those you find along the street. In the first shopping mall we entered we found an unexpected surprise... Sara, an Italian (and here it's not exactly easy to find an Italian) who studied Chinese in Venice and has now been living in China for 10 months to master the language. Now she works in a super five-star hotel as guest house manager, and yesterday she was in that shopping mall to promote made-in-Italy cuisine products. Specifically, she was doing a demonstration of how to cook some typical dishes and involved us as reliable test subjects for tasting the first two dishes. The Chinese cook's effort was there, even if the result wasn't entirely Italian.

We nevertheless appreciated the effort and, given our hunger and limited funds, we celebrated and partially filled our stomachs.

Then good old Charles led us to the station for the second train odyssey (20 hours of travel for the sum of 30 euros per person). Meanwhile, quietly, slyly, good old Charles presented us with his fee for a sum of a good 87 euros for a mileage that was at the very least questionable: 365 km in two days (a monstrous price that left us as usual speechless); not even the overnight stay in the hotel entailed such a financial effort... oh well, at least he was nice, though he certainly ripped us off... are you kidding me!

We caught the train to Nanjing; as usual, in our sleeper berth there was no room for our backpacks; a nice Chinese family had preceded us and occupied the best spaces. As usual, though, these Chinese are truly adorable and didn't hesitate to move their luggage to make room for ours.

Once the boarding operations were finished, we discovered that the young Chinese man with whom we shared the berth speaks English, and he spoke it all too well, so much so that he wouldn't leave us alone anymore, perhaps eager to improve his language. The night passed without any particular problems, and today here we finally are, having arrived in Nanjing. We took a taxi and dashed to the hotel, and now, in an attempt to survive this adventure too, we're desperately looking for someone who can speak a minimum of English... we wish ourselves good luck, we fear we'll need plenty of it!

Nanjing

Despite the by-now well-known language difficulties, we have to thank our friend Lee (the jeans one) who booked us a beautiful hotel in Nanjing. An extra-luxury room at the modest price of 27 euros for three people. We found ourselves faced with a cheerful little town populated by young go-getters all busy shopping. Actually, the part we visited was fairly limited and resembled a permanent street festival: sweets, rides, fruit and fish markets, a little lake with pedal boats, and everything else you could think of. We tramped far and wide without denying ourselves the various local treats with their intriguing appearance and delicious taste. Our luck was having the hotel a stone's throw from the pedestrian area; this allowed us in just two days to get as realistic an idea as possible of how this city lives.

After a day spent stuffing ourselves with the strangest things, we listened to the voice of our stomachs crying for mercy and decided to skip dinner... but surprise, surprise, the big man's hunger was not yet satisfied and a stop for him at the hot pot was obligatory.

The evening ended early, given the imminent departure for Shanghai.