An Excursion to the Southern Capital

As the Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel warned years ago, to forget a holocaust is to kill twice.  --Iris Chang The Rape of Nanking

After bidding farewell to Joseph, Naomi and I returned to the Qingdao Train Station and headed south to Nanjing for a two-night excursion.  We were lucky to be there before this summer's heat wave swept through Jiangsu province, but still spent most of our time there drenched in either rain or sweat.  I remember being about 12 years old and taking a tour with my family to Nanjing and only hating it for the heat.  After a few more years worth of Chinese history since then, I wanted to go back and try to appreciate Nanjing again.

Naomi and I took a separate train, so while I was waiting for her I took a walk from our hostel to this river by the Confucius temple 夫子庙 where there are boat rides and lots of overpriced touristy food stands. 

Outside Confucius temple.

Instruments within the temple

Our first morning there, we took the Nanjing Subway to pay homage to Kuomingtang leader, Dr. Sun Yat Sen's mausoleum 中山陵.

Subway tokens instead of tickets.

Felt really hopeless looking at all these stairs.

But, we finally did make it!

My friend, Sun Yat Sen.

Entrance to the silk museum.

My brain started to hurt, trying to figure out how this machine works, but it makes beautiful textiles!

Just across the street from the architecturally traditional-looking museum was the sleek and modern Nanjing Massacre Memorial.

Nanjing Massacre Memorial

Poem in a dark, candle-lit room.

Eerie to look at all the candles and think of all the live affected.

Found it a little ironic they were memorialized with Japanese cranes.

Skeletal remains

Outside the memorial.

30000 victims.

Roughly translates to..mankind's catastrophe

The memorial for the Nanjing Massacre was much more sophisticated and modern than those which I saw of the Cambodian genocide in Phnom Penh.  I'm respectful of attempts to memorialize the past so as to remember what mistakes mankind has made and the sufferings they've endured.  Somehow, though, the sheer scale of this memorial gave me a feeling that Chinese still hold a strong sense of, dare I say, resentment within them.  Thinking back to the experience, I'm reminded of a lot of the elderly Chinese generation, my grandparents included, ranting about 日本仔 (Japanese rascals) to me.  The past is difficult to get over, indeed.  Being in China for seven months has only affirmed my hope that it can be a nation which moves forward well.

The next day, Naomi and I had some time left in Nanjing before our train to Suzhou.  We had a lovely morning workout with an hour-long foot paddling session among the lily pads at Xuanwu Lake 玄武湖.

There were many other rustic looking lakes along with waterways and alleys throughout Nanjing which gave it a distinct charm that set it apart from other cities I had traveled to.  At this point in my summer, I remember being exhausted and sleep-deprived but somehow running on the adrenaline of self-lead travel.  It was a real test at times to deal with bad service and other tourists along the journey, but has been a sure-fire way to sharpen my patience, resilience, and a optimism.  Now that I'm adjusting to another stressful semester at Berkeley, I've found that is one of the ways frequent travel has helped me deal well with difficulty.  Definitely developing a new found appreciation for the life skills navigating a foreign country can teach you.  High-speed train onto Suzhou!

Last Days in Qingdao

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." --Lao Tzu

I've been back in the states for exactly a month now and yet I have over a month's worth of time in China to recount!  Perhaps it's a good thing that I'm taking time now to catch up after having procrastinated on this blog for so long.  It gives me a chance to stop and remember that I did go abroad for seven months and the experience is something I want to take home and not forget.  And now that I'm getting into the swing of things since classes have started for a week, it can sometimes feel like I never left this place.

So after two days of being with Joseph in Qingdao, my friend Naomi (whom I met the previous year in Xian), joined us in time to visit what is perhaps the most well-known tourist attraction in the city: Laoshan 崂山, or Mount Lao, the birthplace of Taoism.

Naomi is here!  We endured an hour-long, trafficked bus ride to make it to the foot of the mountain.

It was a rainy and foggy day, but beautiful nonetheless.

There are many paths you can take up the mountain once you arrive.  We chose the one which heads to Taiqing 太清 palace where Taoism was known to have been founded.  But we mostly chose it because we heard it was the easier path.

Taoist shrines everywhere.

Along with beautiful landscapes.

Laoshan is known for its spring water from which the first Tsingtaos are said to have been brewed from.

After a long day of hiking the mountain, I insisted we go to the nearby Shilaoren 石老人 beach where we made it just in time for sunset!  Letting my sore feet seep into the wet sand while staring at the colored sky was the perfect end to a tiring hike.

I remember us being really tired the next morning after a full day of hiking and walking so we slept in and then walked to the pier nearby to take a more leisurely cruise.

Little Qingdao from the ship.

There's a lot I don't remember about our day-to-day activities, but it was fun to experience another part of China and rely on my phone's travel apps to get to the many attractions in Qingdao (many of which I didn't even include here).  Overall, I loved Qingdao for its architectural charm and breathtaking landscapes.  The downside is it really epitomizes the Chinese tourist experience of large crowds and obnoxious hawkers getting in your face and trying to sweet-talk you into their tours.  Oh well, it's part of the experience.  I also feel very blessed to have had friends accompany me on the journey and enjoy good food with me.  Hmm...About time I post some food pictures again.  Our last night in Qingdao we ditched the local seafood specialties and dined Cantonese style.  As much as I love trying other foods, nothing will ever replace dim sum's place in my heart.

Pineapple bun 菠萝包 and radish cake 萝卜糕

Egg custard bun 奶黄包 and shrimp dumplings 虾饺

And now, Qingdao

Returning to Beijing after Inner Mongolia, I took a couple days' rest and hit the road again.  Well, the high-speed train tracks to be more precise.  I have never in my life taken Amtrak after my 21 years of existence being born and raised in the states, but have probably spent more hours on Chinese trains this summer than I would have liked to.  

My travel itinerary for the next couple weeks.

 After about seven hours, I made it to my hostel in Qingdao and began to explore the surrounding area.  The next day, Joseph joined me from Korea and we went from tourist attraction to tourist attraction via bus and foot using my handy Baidu maps and Baidu travel apps.  The days were tiring but full as there was really a lot to see!  Qingdao is a coastal city in Shandong province which was once colonized by the Germans, so it is well known for beaches, German architecture, and, of course, Tsingtao beer.

Walked along the pier near our hostel.

Recognized the Tsingtao logo.

Hi Joseph.

Toured around the naval museum.

The famous Chinese poet Lu Xun has a beautiful park here in Qingdao.  And yes, that is me on the rock.

Qingdao was named after Qingdao Island which is off the coast of Qingdao.  Qingdao Island is an island shaped like a violin.  Here we're facing the neck of the violin and catching a beautiful, albeit foggy, view of the city.

May 4 Memorial

Day 2: We hiked up a hill in Signal Hill Park and got this view of the city.

Of the German-looking buildings, many of the nicest ones are churches.  This is the charming protestant church at the foot of Signal Hill Park.

Within the church.

The former German governor's mansion.

Tsingtao beer factory!!

Tsingtao everywhere.

Beer street at night.  In August, there is an annual beer festival here with beer from all over the world.  It seemed crowded enough on a normal night.

And that was all in less than two days!  More to come on Qingdao.