This month, I've been quite lazy due to my knee not feeling its best and the inconvenient location where I live. To reach the southern part of the city, I need to take two light rail trains, which takes at least 1.5 hours. I reside in Gaochun, situated south of the airport, so I take the local rail to the airport and then switch to the airport train to finally arrive at the southern end of the city. My tourist card only allows me to visit destinations in the northern part of the city, and I lack the motivation to visit more than one place each weekend. Without further delay, here are the photos I took during my December weekends. Tang Shan is known for the discovery of the famous Nanjing Man. Since my move here in March, I have been on the lookout for the authentic fossils of Nanjing Man (and Woman) on display. I finally found them at a museum built in 2014 on the mountainside where they were discovered. Here are some children playing around large silver human skulls. This is how Nanjing Woman might have looked... TADAAAAA... and finally, the skulls of Nanjing Man (and Woman)! I also visited another tourist site in the area for free—a pavilion featuring an interesting rotating lamp in the center. I'm not sure what this pavilion signifies, but it was intriguing to see. On December 7, 2024, I went to see some Buddha caves. There's a story that Buddha visited this place and realized the people weren't ready for his teachings, so he hopped onto a single reed of bamboo and was transported to Luoyang in Henan, where the renowned Longman grottoes were established instead. There were some grottoes here, but they were clearly constructed in modern times, along with a cave filled with colorful lights where one could sit inside a light tunnel and ponder existence, I suppose. On December 1, 2024, I visited on a Monday, so the museum was closed; however, it didn't matter because there was a variety of military equipment outside to look at, making me reflect on how many lives they took. Fantastic. Prior to that, I tried to visit a temple, but it was closed. Afterward, I waited for the bus, but the driver refused to let me on. Some Chinese individuals inquired about the issue, and when I explained the situation, they flagged down a police officer who helped me get to the subway. That was kind of nice, but it felt like a waste of time. Another day, I managed to visit four sites off my list by exploring some heritage buildings in downtown Nanjing. One of the buildings even displayed the small shoes worn by prostitutes who had bound feet and were unable to walk normally. Unbelievable.
I was initially planning to stay in Nanjing and gain some weight, but I figured I should take advantage of my five days off. Since no one would help me transport my belongings to my new school until after the holiday, I decided to book a train to Chongqing. Then, in a stroke of brilliance, I thought I should probably arrange my return train to Nanjing. The management wants to send my things on February 5, but can you believe every train is fully booked for that day? So, I ended up booking a train for February 7, arriving in Nanjing on February 8. If they have an issue with it, they can just deal with it, I suppose. This meant I had to hurry and pack everything since I had no idea what the cleaning crew would do on February 5. I informed my boss that the bags were packed in my room, except for some laundry I did on the day I left (another mistake). I still haven't heard back from her about that.
I recently had the amazing chance to visit the Great Mosque in Xi'an, China. It was genuinely an unforgettable cultural experience. Situated in the vibrant Muslim Quarter of Xi'an's downtown area, this mosque is among the oldest and largest in the country.
I recently had the amazing chance to visit the Great Mosque in Xi'an, China. It was genuinely an unforgettable cultural experience. Situated in the vibrant Muslim Quarter of Xi'an's downtown area, this mosque is among the oldest and largest in the country.
I was very let down by my location once more this semester. It took me 2.5 hours to reach the train station on the teacher bus and then 3 hours to return from the train station on the light rail. Not to mention the 1 km walk back to my apartment from the train station. It's just as bad as it was last semester, if not worse, because there are no longer any trees or stray cats. It's simply a vast dusty campus on flat ground, with a lot of wind and currently, the sun is quite uncomfortably hot.
I'm still trying out my knee, so I visited Zhou "garden" (which isn't really a garden) and Wenfeng pagoda. It was impressive but tough for me to climb.
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A highly soggy mountain and an extremely busy panda sanctuary.
This month, I've been extremely lazy due to my knee not feeling completely right and the inconvenient location I reside in. Traveling to the south end of the city requires me to take two light rail trains, which takes at least 1.5 hours. I live in Gaochun, south of the airport, so I first take the local rail to the airport, then switch to the airport train to finally reach the south end of the city. My tourist card now only has destinations on the north end of the city left, and I lack the motivation to visit more than one each weekend. Without further delay, here are the photos I took during the weekends in December.