Dispatch: Nanjing

There are three thing that one must do when visiting Nanjing: eat the salty duck; visit the mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat Sen; and spend tourist dollars. No, wait a minute, the third is actually visiting the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, which was the first major modern technological accomplishment completed without assistance from the outside world. It is four ugly miles long and approximately 300-trains and 60,000 cars cross it daily. When it was completed in 1968, Chairman Mao decreed that tolls would never be collected for crossing the bridge out of respect for the local population upon whose backs it was constructed. Too bad the Chairman doesn’t sit on the Golden Gate Bridge Board.

With a population of more than 5,000,000 Nanjing, a sprawling metropolis along the lower Yangtze River is built around an ancient, partially intact wall. For the first time on our trip we found ourselves in a traffic jam which gave our driver Mr. Zhang ample opportunity to demonstrate his total lack of driving skill. He splits lanes, drives downgrades in neutral, presumably to save gas, and challenges little old lady pedestrians and 18-wheel trucks alike. I’m not sure Kelby is too happy about sitting in the front seat of our 15-passenger Ford van, but at this point he would be hard pressed to find anyone willing to trade with him.

Fortunately we packed well because by the time we arrived at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen mausoleum it was pouring rain. We donned our raingear and chased the girls, who looked like twin Sponge Bob Square Pants in their yellow ponchos, up the 392 stairs required to pay our respects to the father of Chinese freedom.  The combination of heat, humidity and exertion turned the ponchos into plastic saunas and by the time that we returned to the base of the mausoleum I was as wet and sticky as…oh, never mind. 

At the hotel Violet, Kelby and I went to the lobby bar for a drink as a preliminary basketball game between China and Angola was getting under way. We each ordered off of the bar menu. With much prompting and assistance from Kelby and half of the hotel staff he got his glass of ‘imported’ red wine about 20-minutes later. At the beginning of the second half my martini arrived and half way through the 3^rd quarter Violet was served a warm but passable bloody Mary. Finally, we toasted China’s impressive victory and went to bed.

Shortly before heading to Shanghai we visited the government controlled jade store where we were given lessons in grading jade and buying jade. The group passed both tests with flying colors. We thanked our excellent local guide Fred, had lunch and headed to Shanghai, a four and a half hour white knuckle journey along a pristine highway, ever closer to our Olympic adventure. Oh, and the salty duck is as well named as it is overrated.