Mao's Democratic Republic of China - Part 11 - Nanjing - Day 8 AM

After our big day yesterday of walking and walking and checking out closed tourist sites and walking - we slept in till 9am (pretty good for us). There was incredibly an interesting story on CNN about the "biggest shopping mall in the world" in China which was a bit of a disaster. There are heaps of vacancies as retail space supply seems to totally outstrip demand... Perhaps this could explain why Deji Plaza is like a "Ghost Mall"...? The shops in Deji Plaza are quite ritzy - but there weren't a lot of ritzy looking places for people to live in Nanjing... so the mind boggles! After tearing away Ant from watching "American Pie - Band Camp" - we wandered over to the Deji Plaza area to another bakery in an attempt to get some more healthy breakfast. Unfortunately - the bakery we picked was just about as greasy and sugary as the cake shop from yesterday - which yet again made Ant feel sick for the rest of the day...

We caught a metro ride to the Xuanwu Lake Park. The Lake Park was quite scenic - but strangely enough - you have to pay to get in. But unlike Vietnam (where only Westerners pay and Vietnamese get in for free) - everyone has to pay so you don't feel like you are getting totally ripped off.

I think the entry fee was more than worth it just to check out the "Children Park" and the "Theme Park" on a couple of the islands. They were very communistic - and clapped out looking. I'm sure Disney would probably sue with the unlicensed use of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and the Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion movie. The rollercoaster was incredibly clapped out looking - and it even goes up side down. I'm all for extreme scary rides - but I'm not really into the sort which are maintained by the Chinese Communist Party and could be fatal. Some excellent chinglish on the "death" coaster was "An Abyss of Despair. Dare you come on!!". Couldn't say it better really.

There were heaps of bad chinglish signs all over the park - another favourite was "we can hear the waves beating against the dyke and are greated with endless greenness".

We even walked past a few wedding photo sessions - with the bride and groom decked out in white (both of them).

One of the best things about the park was that there was no traffic - so you didn't run the risk of getting mowed down by a murderous motorbike rider or bus. The lake was nice to look at - but in Lake Burley Griffin style - it wasn't so nice close up (algae and pollution)... Plus it smelt a bit woofy in parts.

Day 8 to be continued... oooh awwwh....