Nanjing

Announcements: Leaving for Shanghai early tomorrow

Hey everyone we arrived in Nanjing early this morning. The overnight train was really quite an experience. We met an older Chinese couple that taught Tai Chi and Kung Fu. They were incredibly friendly. We also met an older Chinese man that offered us some of his home made dumplings. They were very tasty. The overnight train was pretty crowded and there wasn't a lot of places to sit. Each room had six bunks and every car had about 10 bunks. We ordered our tickets late so we had to sleep on the top bunks. It was very funny climbing our ladders to the top bunk and having hardly any leg room. Carl is about 6' '2 and his feet over extended the bed. He and I were in the same room and laughed for a good 10 minutes while trying to get comfortable in bed. The bunks were not very comfortable and I didn't get much quality sleep. There was a young kid that was crying throughout the night and I kept waking up to move around.
After we arrived in Nanjing we made our way to Nanjing University. Nanjing Univeristy is one of the top three schools in China, and I was surprised to hear that our professor is an alumni. Very impressive. Nanjing is a lot cleaner than Beijing. But apparently we weren't in a richer part of Beijing so my impression is a bit skewed. However, Nanjing reminds me of Seoul but I haven't been to Korea in four years. Today we went to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's mausoleum. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen is considered the founder of the Republic of China. The mausoleum is built on a huge hill and it over looks the city of Nanjing and the surrounding area. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's coffin lays in the back of mausoleum and is beautifully carved out of marble.
When we were done visiting Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's mausoleum we took a taxi to the Nanjing Massacre Museum. First off I'd like to challenge anyone to drive around the streets of major Chinese cities. The best way to describe them is the worst/best drivers. They all drive like maniacs and don't follow many of the traffic signs, but they're all really good at it. I haven't seen an accident yet and I 'm extremely surprised. Anyways, the Nanjing Massacre Museum was very eerie. I learned that the Japanese military killed over 300,000 men, women, and children. Many of these ways were extremely inhumane. I still don't understand why the Japanese went through Asian raping and pillaging as they went. The museum had many statues of people suffering with quotes said by those who survived. While inside the museum they had preserved some of the skeletons of those that were dug up in mass grave sights. It was a little sickening seeing bullet holes and nails still left in the remains of the Chinese people. Despite these harsh crimes against humanity the Nanjing Massacre Museum kept repeating the message that we must learn from our past to create a peaceful future.
Once we were done with the museum we grabbed some dinner and some of the guys bought a few shirts. We are all tired from lack of sleep so I'm heading to bed soon.
Tomorrow we leaving for Shanghai and we get to visit the World Expo. I can't wait!
Bye for now