Asia's best kept secret…

After a week in Nanjing,  I reflect on my short time here.

I have enjoyed the “newness” and “bigness” of Nanjing. Of course, China itself is massive, compared with Taiwan; there is so much more space. I love the lights – everywhere! Buildings are outlined in lights and every night is a clever light show on the jumbotron on the building across from my room at the Jinling. (If you visit Nanjing, stay here!)

Not everything is new here. One can still see the remains of the city wall, built hundreds of years ago to protect Jinling’s citizens from invasion. Two of my homebuilding buddies took me, one night, to the Buddhist Temple, Fuzi Miao (foo-dza-me-ow) for dinner (I tried stinky tofu and lived to tell about it) and some shopping. I got a wonderful  ink painting of a dragon; my hosts bargained the dealer down to 8USD! We walked along the river, and, oddly, ran into co-workers from Taipei!

Dragon Lights

The metro system in any new city can be a bit daunting but whoever planned Nanjing’s system took into account that foreigners would be using it.  I was able to figure out (on my own!) which line and stop to take to get to the Brocade museum. It was amazing to see gorgeous fabric panels being created the old fashioned way: by hand on giant (what else?) looms.

Brocade weaver at work

One interesting thing (among many) that I saw in the metro: the government metro employees salute the train as it arrives and leaves. The walls are covered in amazing art. And of course, the system runs like a well-oiled machine.

3D underground art

I am ready to head back to Taiwan but I have a feeling that I’ll be back in Nanjing soon…