Flowing Water Against The Dyke and Endless Greenness China - Part 13 - Nanjing Day 9

Our last day in Nanjing - and some more crappy CNN to awake to. God the CNN ads are pishing us off... IF I SEE ANOTHER PROMO FOR "AFTER JESUS - THE FIRST CHRISTIANS" I WILL WRITE NASTY LETTERS TO WHOEVER OWNS THIS CRAPPY NETWORK... I can pretty much recite the sound grabs from this ad "It's all about power. It was the first revolution."... agghhh! Also the Indian Elephant Polo ads are giving me the runs.

We check out from the hotel in Nanjing - for which we had a pleasant stay. The staff were nicer here than in Shanghai (damn that front entrance door opening dude in Shanghai who sounded like Frankenstien's and Johnny Cash's bastard love child - "Gooodha Morrnnis Suiuur").

Ant did a bit of quick expensivo internet stuff (wanted to check his bank balance but not at sleasy internet cafe). This was 2 Yuan for 2 minutes (30cents Australian - expensive people!).

We walked to Deji Plaza to "Bread Talk" yet another crazy Asian bakery places. After managing to get stuff that didn't have bits of BBQ fish in the middle - I ordered my first coffee (sort of expensive at $5AUD a pop). It was OK - but she kept giving me all these cups (thinking I was going to share a small cup of coffee with Ant or something). Strangeness...

To hell with walking and the environment - we caught a taxi directly to the Dr Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum (situated in the Purple Mountain). $2.50 AUD for a 20min ride rocks. A quick history lesson or something - Dr Sun led the Nationalist Movement against the Qing Dynasty or something. And he has a pretty kick arse mausoleum in his honour. It is set into the mountain and has a 1km (well it felt like it) corriodor leading up to the crypt... There was also about 20000 stairs as well so it was a bit of exercise getting there.

Entering the Mausoleum area was a bit like Disneyland or the Gold Coast - we bought the "4 park wonder pass" which gave us entry into multiple things including the Mausoleum. There were heaps of little train like people movers everywhere and lots of touts selling stewpid cicarda things that make horrible noises (must be the lastest thing that will hit Clints and Hot Dollar this xmas). The Mausoleum was packed full of tourists - but no western ones. We have sort of come to the conclusion that Western people don't live in or visit Nanjing - which is a bit of a mystery considering all the sites and history in the place...

After the packed Mausoleum - we wandered (through a forrest) to the next thing on our tickets - the Dr Sun memorial museum... which was dead quiet. It was an interesting little muesum with a great chinglish moment "Sick to death, Dr Sun signed his will on March 11, 1925". I'd be sick to death too - signing all that paperwork associated with wills... Also of interest - Ant managed to unlock the inner "hacker" in him - and hacked two computers. On one - we played "Mindsweeper" and on the other - we turned it off... Watch out Pentagon mainframe computers! Anyway - I've run out of time at this sleasy internet cafe - stayed tuned for Day 9 continued... Yeaeeeah!