2015 China

29 March, Suzhou to Nanjing
Nanjing Time International Youth Hostel 220CNY

Suzhou’s silk museum is closed for renovations – such a disappointment. So we boarded an earlier fast train than planned, which brought us to Nanjing (formerly Nanking) at speeds of up to 265kph. We lunched on delicious steamed buns enclosing meatballs and broth then checked into yet another attractive youth hostel then taxied to the Zhonghua Gate. Comprising four rows of gates which could house a garrison of 3,000 soldiers, this was the most impregnable of the original 13 gates piercing Nanjing’s city wall. Many of China’s city walls were destroyed in the 20th century, but much of Nanjing’s wall, at 35km in length the longest city wall in China, remains. The wall “was designed by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang ... after he founded the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and established Nanjing as the capital ... It took 21 years to complete, and used 200,000 laborers to move 7 million cubic metres of earth ... its design and construction was unique and changed the old ways of equilibrium and symmetry ... The construction concentrated on military defence ... with the river as its natural city moat ... Today the 600-year-old city wall of Nanjing still stands ... The walls were packed layer by layer with broken bricks, gravel and yellow earth. All the brickwork joints were poured with mixed lime, water in which glutinous rice had been cooked, and tung oil because the coagulated mixture was very strong” (Wikipedia).

We decide on what to eat by pointing. Pointing either to a picture in the omnipresent picture menus on paper or wall, or at something that looks good on a neighbouring table of diners. Dinner comprised prawns (much like their photograph) and a meat dish with what we thought was okra but which turned out to be green chillies. Almost two-thirds of the dish was green chillies. Unexpected, tasty, and very, very HOT.