南京 4-6 May / Monday, May 14, 2007
Nanjing trip- 3D2N Free and Easy. One very eventful trip indeed. We started off waking up very early, reaching 上海南站 (South Shanghai Railway station) at about 8.20am to catch our 9.15am train, all excited about the first class seats on board the bullet train. It was not long after that we realised we were at the wrong train station. We are supposed to be at the 上海火车站！Just as we were rushing to take a cab, the staff at the station advised us to take the MRT. We will definitely not be able to reach the station on time if we took a cab. So all 6 of us hurried our way to take the MRT, panicking and praying hard that we will be able to reach on time.
9.05am- There we are at the train station. Ruizhong, Anna, Zhiyong and Weixuan had their tickets cut and entered the waiting area, and we all thot we were just in time. Not until when the guy cut my ticket, then he realised that he should not have because they have stopped people from boarding the train. We were told to go to the ticketing booth to ask for exchange to another train or at least get a partial refund. At the ticketing booth, we met this lady and she started chatting with us. Telling us that it's impossible to refund/change our tickets since it has been cut and that even if they allow, there will be an admin charge or sth. And we thought she was a fellow tourist experiencing the same situation. But we were wrong! She's actually selling black tickets. I suppose, the tickets were fake and that you probably have the same seat number as someone else. Fortunately, we managed to change our tickets to the 10.15 am train. That lady totally sian diao and look so super disappointed. hahaha.. and Ruiz was like laughing away at the lady.. hahaa.. gloating over the fact that she can't sell us black tickets.. hhaha..
10.15am- Finally on our way to Nanjing! Our train was bound for Harbin and our seats were 卧座, meaning its a bed.
From a 2hr ride by bullet train, we took 5 hours to reach Nanjing on a normal train instead. Was chatting with the uncle in the train and he was like, from Shanghai to Nanjing, is there a need for a bed? hahaa.. well, we had no choice you see. If I'm not wrong, most of them are going to Harbin and the train will reach Harbin at 5pm the next day. Meaning, more than 30hours train ride..
3+ pm: Finally, we are at Nanjing!
First stop: 夫子庙
Met up with Ah Cheng and Ah Rong from Hongkong at 夫子庙. Spent the rest of our day 1 there. Bought a lot of things from the street market..
Day 2:
Signed up for a day tour of Nanjing for 175RMB at the train station when we first reached. Attractions include 朝天宮, 雨花台, 夫子庙, 瞻园, 中华门(passed by), 梅园, 中山陵。One thing bad about it is that we spent the day rushing from place to place that you don't even have sufficient time to look around.. 
孔子
at the museum
@雨花台
秦淮河@ 夫子庙
passed by the 总统府
This is at 梅园 the place where KMT and Commuist held talks and discussions. The crack signifies the falling apart of the talks between the two parties.
at 中山陵 (Dr Sun Yat-sen mausoleum)- a magnificant place
climbed 392 steps to get to this place- Tomb of 孙中山先
vacuum packed 南京特产-盐水鸭
盐水鸭- ready to eat
Day 3- All the places (except the 南京大屠杀纪念馆, which was closed) that we planned to visit were all covered in the tour. Hence in day 3, we visited Nanjing 1912 (recommended by Ah Cheng and Ah Rong), a place something like the 新天地 in Shanghai. Walked around, went for lunch and proceeded to 玄武湖. After which, walked along the lake to reach 南京站 to get back to 上海.
The great company I have for the trip made it really enjoyable. Here it is, a collage for the trip. Looking forward to more trips together!
Next trip!- Beijing from 17 to 21 may :)
Jun blogged at
1:21 PM
