Nanjing, the South Capital
As opposed to Beijing, the North Capital. (Nan = South Bei = North incase ur scratching your head) Well, I have covered a lot of ground across China from Qingdao on the Eastern Coast to Xian in the West and now back to Nanjing. I haven’t stayed more than a few days in any one place and I’m getting a little tired. I’m looking for a nice comfortable place to kick back and rest a bit and stop this hectic schedule of visiting sights and moving on. Let me tell you, Nanjing is not the place for it. First, there is not that much to see there. I did go to the noteworthy Nanjing Massacre Memorial and saw some of the most atrocious photos I’ve ever seen. Here I took a picture of a 3 foot tall skeleton burried in a mass grave. 
The caption showed a knife wound in the rib cage. In 1937, the Japanese over ran Nanjing and during their occupation they brutally raped, pilliaged and murdered 300,000 of it’s civilians in the most deplorable ways. Some of those responsible were later brought to justice, but most of the perpetrators could not be accounted for nor could the damage be undone. It was strange when I arrived. The ticket lady asked me what country I was from in Mandarin and when I answered, “maygworen” she said it was free. I don’t know if it was my smile or if she was just checking to make sure I wasn’t Japanese. After seeing this memorial, I can understand why much of the older Chinese generation including my father hate the Japanese so much. This is a place that should not be missed if you go to Nanjing because you really have to see these kinds of things to understand how inhumane people can be to each other when you villify the enemy and “just follow orders”, but you really need to be prepared to see some disturbing things. Japanese soldiers were told that raping and torturing the civilians of Nanjing was proper and expected military protocol. You may insert some cliche here about remembering the past lest we repeat it. On a lighter note, A funny thing happened to me on my way to the Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum. I was wandering around town eating like I normally do and ran into my first gastrointestinal reflex. I wasn’t sure the severity of the situation until after I had boarded the 30 minute bus ride to Zijin Shan where the mausoleum is. As soon as I got off the bus I was in search of a decent toilet to do my business. If you’ve ever been in China, you know that this is no easy task. None was to be found in the immediate vicinity. So I decided to gamble and pay my 40Y to get past the gates into the mausoleum and hope for the best. 
Let me tell you, this is the longest 360 meter staircase I’ve ever climbed! Fortunately, my reward was found at the top of the stairs as I was RELIEVED to find a clean toilet. Disasster narrowly averted by the thinest of margins.
Tags: Travel
Kane
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