Nanjing is the capital of the Jiangsu province that I live in and only a few hours away by bus, but it has taken me over 6 months to get here and really experience the amazingly rich culture that the massive city has to offer. Along with a fellow teacher, Rachel, we spent the first day exploring around the city, biking, eating and planning the highly anticipated hike up the "Purple Mountain". This mountain has a peak height of 448.2 meters and it is usually enveloped in mysterious golden purple at dawn and dusk, hence its name.
Exploration (Day 1)
We biked around Xuanwu Lake, along the old city wall and base of the purple mountain. The best parts of the larger cities is that foreigners can rent these "city bikes" for little excursions, just like locals (this isn't available in Zhangjiagang). There are large parts of complete greenery, which felt like a getaway from the typical Chinese pavement and shopping malls. The lake had some great street food and snacks around that was perfect after the biking exertion. We visited the "1912 District" which is popular for nightlife and it was a beautiful few blocks, but we ditched pretty quick to go find the sketchiest shisha pub we could... in typical style. The BASSMENT has the darkest entrance and crazy long black hallway... but with live music, a pool table and the most nostalgic selfie center I couldn't have been happier. PS: I kept the egg...
Hike till your legs to numb (Day 2)
Buying a whole day park ticket for the Purple Mountain Scenic Area... we wanted to make the most of it and take advantage or actually doing a hike. Boasting vigorous exercise for at least 6 hours and walking close to 20 KM's (big deal when I can brag about it on WeRun) I was very proud I only bitched a little bit. I never thought I would miss pushing my body to hiking extremes, but it was worth it to see all these amazing places with such rich history and stories, including the following:
Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum
Highest peak
Purple Mountain Observatory
Xiaoling Mausoleum of Ming Dynasty
Meiling Palace
For more info: https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/nanjing/purple-mountain.htm
**Downside to this: the amount of pictures, stares and random locals yelling at us. Be prepared to get laughed at when you ask them to stop filming you... you are nothing but an attraction to some of them. Luckily, most people seemed to avoid the hike and that was the most peace and quiet I have had in months.**
Last Night (Day 2)
I was on my own for the last night and had a hostel booked in the Fuzimiao District, which is a 5 minute walk from the Confucius Temple and along the Qinhuai River! Rachel and I had walked this street a couple times during the day, but at night it becomes a whole different place. Lit with beautiful lanterns, hundreds of people walking around, free samples of everything (like top shelf Costco), those little "Shit Shops" as I say... with hundreds of random souvenirs and just an overall amazing vibe!!! I highly recommend visiting this area and the city in general!
