Nanjing: 2012 Final Post of China

Finally, that moment has arrived: we are finally to our last post about China!  I pinky promise that I won't mention doing a post about China again. 

We can't talk about being in Nanjing without mentioning Jason's school experience   This was the main reason why we were in Nanjing, because he was at Nanjing University taking Law School courses.  He had an amazing time there with his classes and his classmates from Whittier Law School.  They basically became family after a while and we all did everything together.

A picture of us eating at a favorite restaurant.  

Jason in his class at Nanjing University during a break.   

Here are some views of Nanjing from the Intercontinental Hotel.  It was a really nice hotel close to ours that had a lovely restaurant. 

A view of Nanjing at night.  

Jason eating at the Intercontinental. 

Both of us overlooking the city. 

Here is a view of the Intercontinental from the street.  It was such a beautiful clear day that you can actually see the reflections of the clouds on the building.  Nanjing was hard to get used to seeing the sky so dark and overcast most of the time, because it is known for having poor air circulation.  There was finely a nice day in Nanjing and it was wonderful to have this day. 
 

Our hotel during the summer school program.  The Jingli Hotel. 

This is a picture of the Intercontinental on the left and our hotel that we stayed at on the right. 

This is a picture of how the sidewalks look everywhere in China.  They make these lined walkways so that those that are blind can follow them around town.  I thought that was rather clever of them to do that! 

Here is the base of one of the pillars in downtown Nanjing. 

We had the opportunity to visit the Nanjing Memorial Museum.  This was incredibly hard to visit, not because it was a long ways away, but because it was so realistic.  It was done so well that you were crying and sober by the end.  The nice thing was that it starts out very dark, going over the horrific details of WWII, but as you progressed throughout the museum it became lighter and brighter with hope and encouragement.

 

This is the number count of how many people were killed in Nanjing when it was invaded by the Japanese. 

The craziest thing was how the museum was built.  Apparently they built this museum around a grave site so the outcome of the attacks were so visible that it was terrifying.  Here is a look down into the grave pit. 

The is what the museum looks like on the outside with the cross. 

This was crazy, because these are rows and rows of books containing the names of the people that were attacked during WWII. 

We loved this because it was a huge electronic billboard that had an error popup on the screen. 

Hagen-Dazs was a super fancy restaurant in China with bizarre flavors and eccentric presentations.  

Welcome to the bus system in Nanjing.  Good luck! 

Huh?

Just got my nails done in town. 

One of the sections of Nanjing that we loved was called Fuzimao.  It had this temple dedicated to Confucius.  It was such a different place from the rest of Nanjing because of the canals of water there.  We took a boat ride there that takes you through different historical parts of China with music and dancing areas. 

Here is the Wishing Tree in Fuzimao.  You write your wish on the red ribbon, which is attached to a metal coin, and then you throw it up in the tree and hope it sticks. 

This is what the canals look like at night. 

Our boat ride.

Confucius says, "Don't eat the rocks."

We had some... interesting treats and food out in China.  Thank goodness there was a small snack shop by the hotel that kept us full of recognizable treats. 

We did find good ol' Walmart out in Nanjing.  But if we thought that it would resemble anything of the Walmart's back in the US, we were WRONG!  Just take a look at these pictures and see for yourself. 

Fresh seafood.  Yes, those are turtles on the right. 

Chicken just sitting out in the middle of the aisle. 

Frozen fish. 

Candy.. NOT!  It's actually pickled duck.  

Not sure...

Still not sure...

We had such a wonderful time out in Nanjing and China.  We are so grateful for the opportunities that Jason is having in Law School to meet some amazing people and do some incredible things.  This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, because we know that when we go back to China it will never be the same as this time.  It was such a blast and we want to thank everyone that was on the trip that made it that much better!   

Here is a picture of the Whittier Law School group that traveled out to China.  What a good looking group!