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Friday, 24th September 1999 (Harvest Moon
Day)
Nanjing - Beijing: 610 miles
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The alarm went off at 7:15 as our bags were due
out at 8:00. Breakfast (on the 24th floor) for
me comprised waffles and syrup - I had been resisting
all holiday but today I succumbed to the temptation.
We gathered in the lobby to see the famous clock.
Apparently, it plays every even hour, but Kuoni
had arranged for a special performance. It was,
in fact, all a bit disappointing.
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We were on the
coach by ten past nine, and off to see the Sun Yat
Sen mausoleum. The founder of the Chinese Republic,
he is revered by both mainland Chinese and Taiwanese.
It was surprisingly interesting and moving. There
was a party of Taiwanese visitors (a surprise in
itself in Communist China) in white clothes, barking
orders and marching up to the stairs to the statue
of the dead hero, to pay their respects. Cindy was
very dismissive. Ros' ability to find a shopping
opportunity even managed to reveal itself here,
and she found a stall where she bought a gyroscope
which lights up. |
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Back to the coach,
where we asked Cindy about the Falung Gong. She
said she had never heard of them... |
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Our next stop
was the fresh water pearl farm. We
watched a man disemboweling a mollusc
to reveal - yes, pearls, one of them
purple (apparently very rare). The
oyster got its revenge, however, because
the man cut his hand on the sharp
shell edge. |
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Next was lunch, which
was a little early, but apparently there
were a number of other groups due in the
restaurant later, and Cindy wanted us to
have the best seats. The food, too, was
excellent. There was, of course, a shop
there, and I bought a fan for Mum. The bamboo
shaft was carved with 1,000 characters meaning
"longevity" by a charming 82 year
old man, and the painting of cherry blossom
was done by his granddaughter. It was beautiful,
but quite expensive at Y340. I asked Cindy
if I could haggle. She asked the old man.
He agreed to Y300, and I handed over the
cash. The granddaughter returned and promptly
remonstrated with her grandfather for allowing
the price to fall. Ooops! |
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There was a shop inside
(no!) and Ros bought a rope of pearls (no!).
I think Adrian was in despair. Cindy said
she used the face cream made there from
the pearls. All the women rushed to the
counter: most bulk bought. I could think
of no better advertisement - she does not
look her age and had very smooth skin. |
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Back to the coach
and on to the Nanjing Yangtse bridge.
It was absolutely massive, with four
car lanes and two rail lines under. |
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We got a lift
up to the top, which gave us great
views especially of the sculptures
of the soldier, worker, intellectual
and bourgeoisie (the latter was very
surprising!). We went to see the model
of the bridge and Cindy gave us the
vital statistics. There was a shop,
but not even Ros bought anything,
much to Adrian's relief. |
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The next venue
was the Museum of History. It was old and scruffy,
badly lit and dusty. Nevertheless, it had a fantastic
collection of ceramics, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
As we left, we saw a lady using a PC with a western
style keyboard to create Chinese characters. She
invited Ros to have a go. |
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Back to the coach
and to the new airport via the new
and unused motorway. Bruce was delighted
to fly on a new airline, China Eastern
Airlines, and I was happy it was an
Airbus (A320, Bruce says), to Beijing.
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We landed at
7:15 and were met by Francis, who
escorted us to the Grand View Garden
Hotel. |
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We decided to
have a light meal of prawn and scallop
salad and hamburger in the Western
style restaurant in the hotel, where
we were pleased to be joined by Dorothy
and Michael. We had a very nice time
chatting, before going to our room
at 10:30 to see if our luggage had
arrived. It had. Should we unpack
or go to bed? Zzzzzzz... |
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