from Xi'An to Nanjing
Yesterday was dedicated to visit the
Xi'an downtown and more specifically some super malls. Obviously huge and super-equipped, although prices are significantly higher than those found along the road. On the first shopping mall which we have entered in we found an unexpected surprise ... Sara, an Italian girl (here is not exactly easy to find an Italian) who studied Chinese in Venice and has now moved to China for 10 months to enhance the language. Now she works in a super five-stars hotel as guest house manager, and yesterday she was in the mall to advertise made in Italy food products. Specifically she was doing a demonstration of how to cook some dishes, and involved us as reliable testers for the taste of the first two dishes. The commitment of the Chinese cook payed enough, even though the result was not entirely Italian. His commitment was well appreciated by us and, given the hunger and little money, we celebrated and even partially filled the stomach.
Then the good old Charles led us to the station for the second odyssey by train (20 hour journey, total amount of 30 euros each person). Meanwhile, almost furtively, the good old Charles presented us his fee for an amount of no less than 87 euros for a mileage, as less objectionable, of 365 kms made in two days (a monstrous price that left us speechless). Even an overnight stop at the hotel didn't lead to an economic effort of this magnitude ... However, at least he was sympathetic, of course, but the premium he made us.. What the hell!
Once caught the train to
Nanjing, as usual we could find that in our berth there was even no place for backpacks. A good Chinese family preceded us and occupied the best spaces. As usual, however, these Chinese are really cute and have not hesitated to move their luggage to make room to ours.
Ended boarding operations, we discovered that the young Chinese, with whom we share the berth, spoke English. Maybe even too much, perhaps eager to improve his language skills. The night passed without major problems and, today, we are finally arrived at
Nanjing. Taken a taxi we literally slingsot us to the hotel, and now in a desperate attempt to survive even to this adventure, we are looking for someone able to speak although a basic English... we wish us good luck, we fear that we'll need a lot!
Nanjing
Despite the well-known language difficulties, we must thank our friend Lee (nickname: the jeans) that booked for us a beautiful hotel in
Nanjing. Extra luxury room to a modest price of 27 euros for three people. We faced a happy small town populated by young rampant guys all intent on shopping. Infact, the part of the city that we visited was fairly restricted, resembling a permanent festival: sweets, rides, fruit and fish markets, a pond with paddleboats and near everything else. We crossed it far and wide without depriving ourselves of the many local delicacies, with intriguing appearance and delicious taste. Our luck was to stay in an hotel placed only a step far from the pedestrian area, this enabled us to make an idea on city life as plausible as possible in just two days. After a day spent eating the more strange things, we heard the voice of our stomach shouting pity... So we decided to skip dinner... But, surprise of the surprises, the Big Man's hunger wasn't yet satisfacted, and a stop for him to the hot pot was obliged.
The evening ended soon, given our imminent departure for Shanghai.