After a busy week of Chinese class, internships and gloomy weather, the sun was finally out in Nanjing today. Some of us took the opportunity to go on a bike ride around the city to explore a couple of historical sites. Ever since arriving in Nanjing, I couldn't help but notice how popular bicycles are as a means of transportation for local people. I think this could be partly due to the expenses related to car ownership, and also just because riding a bike may be more convenient and easier to manage in this busy, crowded city. The streets here are packed not only with cars and bicycles, but many people also choose to drive e-bikes (electronic bicycles) or regular motorized scooters. With this in mind, I was both excited and nervous to finally try it out today and get the full Nanjing experience.
The route Dong Laoshi planned out for us was about 10 miles long and would take us through the city, all the way to the Purple Mountain, to the Nanjing City Wall and finally back home. She gave us full disclosure before we began, and warned us about all the potential hazards – hilly roads, tiny bike lanes, moving traffic and tons of pedestrians! Nevertheless, once we all got settled down on our bikes, the trip turned out to be pretty successful. At The Purple Mountain, famous for Dr. Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum (the founding father of the Republic of China), we road around the scenic hilly roads, and made a quick stop at a hostel for an ice cream break. In the Nanjing heat, ice cream has become everybody's favorite snack, and it's always fun trying out some of the interesting flavors that are unique to China. Today we enjoyed scoops of taro ice cream. Taro is a root vegetable native to Southeast Asia and is very popular in Chinese food and desserts. McDonald's even makes a Taro pie similar to the Apple pie that they have in the U.S.
On the way back to our hotel at Nanjing University, we made another stop at the city wall. We climbed up the rocky, uneven steps and walked along it for a few minutes to take in the view. Standing on top of this ancient structure (built in the Ming Dynasty, around 600 years ago), it seemed like all we could see of Nanjing was its many skyscrapers and construction. This coexistence of history and modern development that we've been seeing throughout our trip never seizes to amaze me, particularly in Nanjing. The city is being prepared for the Asian Games and the Youth Olympics in the next couple of years, and so it still has some room to grow as far as development is concerned. Yet, there are ancient structures scattered throughout the city, preserving some aspects of traditional Chinese architecture – many of these have also been refurbished and are being reused.
After another 20 minutes of biking we made it back to hotel safe and sound. We ended the day with our 4th group discussion meeting. We discussed some of the challenges that we have been dealing with at our internship sites, and tried to pinpoint some of the challenges of working in a different cultural environment. We also discussed our thoughts on the Nanjing Massacre Museum and our Q&A with Hu Jie. We all had an extremely busy week and so it was nice to take the time to reflect on everything as a group. Tomorrow we begin our final week of Chinese class and our last week in Nanjing.
- Sania M.
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