14.
Dr. Sun Yat Sen
After the train stopped, we got off and our
new tour guide Bill walked with us to the hotel. I found this
interesting because usually we would get a bus to take us to the
hotel. Also, our luggage was not properly received; Bill had to
talk with the luggage handlers and make sure all our luggage was
there. There was a short time until the next stop so we were able
to take a short break at the hotel but many of our rooms were
not ready so we had to double up. I found out later that Bill
is a replacement for our real guide and that is why everything
went awry as soon as we stepped foot in Nanjing.
There were a few trivial stops after the break and then it was
time for lunch. We did not get breakfast on the train so everybody
was really hungry and dishes disappeared in a very short time.
One neat thing about today's lunch is that 3 soups were brought
to the table whereas a normal meal would only have maybe one soup
dish. The topic of discussion was the fact that we had only 6
days left in China and how it was bittersweet to be close to the
end.
 The
next stop after lunch was the tomb of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, often called
the father of modern China. Dr. Sun Yat Sen first proclaimed the
Republic of China in 1911 and the monument was built in the late
1920's, around the same time as when the government moved the
capital from Beijing to Nanjing. The monument starts with a memorial
arch (called Pailou and leads to the main gate. From there, 400
steps lead up to the main memorial hall with a statue, memorial
tablets, and a recessed circular cavity in which Dr. Sun's sarcophagus
lies.
Next up was the Yangtze River Bridge. We went to a small shop
that was located inside one of the tower supports. People who
were not interested the goods being sold could take an elevator
up to the top. The view was fantastic from the top of the tower;
you could see the Yangtze River on one side and the skyline of
Nanjing on the other side.
 Our
last stop for the night was a night market next to a small river.
My dad told me about special stones that became sparkly and glossy
when immersed in water and I saw them there but did not buy any.
Rather, I walked around to the different shops (it was like an
outdoor mall) and bought a few DVDs. I found it ironic that each
shop or mall that we go to offers things found in previous malls
such as jade, silk, terra cotta soldiers, etc, so it's almost
pointless to shop after the first few cities. Nonetheless, I enjoyed
the night market scene and how people in China have an active
nightlife while people in the States tend to reserve nighttime
for quiet hours.
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下午我們參觀現代中國之父孫中山博士陵寢，他於1911年創建中華民國，陵寢建於1920年代後期，約在中國首都自北京遷到南京之時，陵寢進口有個巨大的牌樓，然後是400個階梯通往紀念大廳，內有銅像，國父孫中山博士的墓就在此。
