Nanjing: Day 1

After waking up at around 6ish, we took the bullet train to Nanjing and arrived around 11ish. We stayed at this three star hotel (normally reserved for people in the military only), which we booked via our travel agency. The rooms there are HUGE (think 1.5x of function room in Next Dining) After grabbing breakfast at this restaurant nearby (which also had ridiculously large portions)...we purchased 3 dishes, a soup, noodles, and asian bread?-man tou- but barely finished any of it.

Next, my dad and I headed to the Presidential Palace in Nanjing. The Presidential Palace is famous for being an important capital in the Qing and Ming dynasties, as well as the former Headquarters of the Chinese Nationalist Government (namely for Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT- woot), before it fell in the Chinese Civil War to Mao Zedong. (http://www.nanjing.gov.cn/pub/english/life/leisure/spots/200705/t20070525_213704.htm if you're interested in more ^^)

The layout of the Palace is quite geometric, as there is one central lane that stretches from one end to the other (you can even see from one side to the other!) In addition, there are multiple wings that house numerous buildings used by the former government officials that occuppied it. It was really interesting seeing the historical context in which the palace was used as well as observe the preserved artifacts/ museums on the complex. There were entire buildings dedicated to the life of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, as well as the preserved offices of Chiang Kai-shek and his cabinet.

The grounds of the Presidential Palace are extremely beautiful, as there are mountains and lakes (key to fengshui!). For example, there are numerous gardens, pavilions, pagodas, and even fountains. Some cool parts I noticed were a horse stable, an air raid shelter (a war was going on!), and life-size sculptures.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel, ate at the same restaurant, and headed to bed early as we would be waking up early for our tour the next day.

Note: Still trying to upload pictures...