China: Nanjing

As of 2012 - The one word that comes to mind to describe Nanjing is muddy.  High-rises, shopping malls and upgrades to roads are pervasive everywhere and so downtown is one never-ending construction sight.

I forgive them because they made this future overlord building.

It's also nigh on impossible to catch a taxi in the middle of the day near the city centre.  All the cabs that drive by all have passengers in them, and if you go to a taxi stand there are 100m long queues of people who say they have been waiting for an hour to catch a ride.  Maybe I should become a cabby in Nanjing…

Or a construction worker - a job with a view.

Off to the Ming tomb - it's a nice enough park, but when you finally get to the tomb there's not much there.  The sign says that the tomb is under the hill but hasn't been excavated.  Call me suspicious but I have a sneaky suspicion there's not much under there.

"We were going to take a look at this culturally and historically important site, but then got bored and were like - you know - whatever."

We get a chairlift ride up the mountain which is surprisingly long and takes about 30 minutes each way.  As we were going up the hill (I wouldn't quite call it a mountain) we became shrouded in mist and so may or may not have had to fight off forest zombie hordes.
 

Fine.  There were no zombies.  Only terrifying chair ghosts.

And the Evil Mountain Buddha.

Among other things we also visited the Nanjing war memorial museum.  It contains a very modern exhibition chronicling the events of the rape of nanjing.  Surprisingly it's not overly emotional or patriotic but it rather even handed, and tells the story through a fascinating series of photographs timelining some of the very nasty things that happened there.  The museum concludes at a mausoleum with the bones of victims.  Worth a look...

China: Nanjing Hostel Fun Times

I wake in the morning in Nanjing to find that I'm not allowed to stay at the hostel because they can't accept my temporary passport.  The immigration office in Shanghai has my passport for a week and they have given me a temporary document with my photo on it to use in the meantime.  The hostel staff don't think that my temporary passport can be used and so won't let me stay there.  


Every accommodation has to register your passport details with the local police station - that's just how they roll here, so I insist that she calls the police station.  She doesn't want to bother because she tried it once before and they said no.  


I insist again.


She begrudgingly calls the police station and talks to a someone for 30 seconds and says that the officer won't accept it.  


I ask for the police station's phone number so that my friend can talk to the officer instead.


She doesn't want to and protests but finally gives the phone number to my friend who calls up, explains that my piece of paper was given by the Visa office and that it's legit.  The police officer says OK then it's fine, and asks to be put back on to the hostel staff to get the registration details.  The hostel girl then proceeds to convince the police officer that she doesn't think it is a good idea and so shouldn't accept it. 


Bitch.  


I ask to see her manager who comes in and is absolutely useless and says there is nothing she can do. 


Grrrrrr.  


It takes a lot to piss me off, but this really takes the cake and I have already had enough of hostel staff in general just not giving a fuck about their job.  I angrily check out (bringing Dutch with me who was equally pissed off) and we go to a Chinese Military Hotel across the road.   The hotel has a cool vibe - like it was built in the swinging 60s and it hasn't been refurbished or refitted since - complete with old carpet smells.  Still - at least the receptionist called up the police station when I handed her the temporary Visa paper who was told by the police officer that yes it's fine and all they need is my passport number.


ProTip:  Don't bother to stay at Jasmine International Youth Hostel in Nanjing.  Their staff don't want you there.