So Friday we went to Xuanwu lake. Joan has GPS on her phone and as it happens that has been the cause of many a quarrel during the past few days. She can’t read a map and I don’t know how to work her phone.
Anyway, she looked up the Metro as to where we had to go and we bought our tickets but she told me we had to go to Nanjing station. That didn’t ring any bells and I was certain the station Joanna took us to was a small one. Once we got to what used to be Nanjing’s main station I knew for sure it wasn’t where we wanted to be and when we asked a policeman and he told us to take a bus so many stops, I knew we were in trouble. We never took a bus the last time.
We found the lake, the north gate. We wanted the south gate and it’s a big lake. Where everything happens is of course the south gate and is also where the big walled entrance is. I have no idea how my legs held up (admittedly I stopped and sat down frequently) but eventually we made it. Because it was cold it wasn’t as vibrant as in summer, although there was some sort of a running race taking place on the pathways. During one of my rests, whilst we sat on a bench a jogger passed by with music playing in his lugholes and with perfect timing, when his arse was level with me, he let out an earsplitting fart. Charming.
After killing my legs we took the subway I remembered from my previous visit, having opted to eat at Seleccion Espanol for something different. Again the GPS caused a rift because I walked one way, Joan assumed I knew where I was headed (I didn’t) and we ended up having to retrace our steps.
We did however find the restaurant, small as it is. Upstairs was fully booked by a large party so we were relegated to the downstairs bar area which is cosy enough and to start with we were the only ones down there. Joan tasted her first ever sangria and I took advantage of the BOGOF on the house red - we were also given a complimentary shot at the death. foodwise we plumped for the Iberian platter of cured hams and sausages, a little salad and olives plus limitless melba toasts and dried Spanish cheese. When the platter came out I worried it wouldn’t be enough because it didn’t look much but it was surprisingly filling and very, very nice. One of the owners (a young Spanish girl whose boyfriend does the cooking out back) did most of our serving but her employee, a young Zambian woman, poured a more generous glass of red for me for my free one! An enjoyable evening and we even managed to take a bus from there to Confucius temple, which was where I wanted to show Joan all the boats lit up. Sadly the vibrant outdoor market I remembered was virtually non-existent but it was well worth a look.
Yesterday I let Joan choose the attraction to visit. She opted for Yu Hua Tai gardens. We stopped for a breakfast of baozi dumplings and then I needed a cashpoint. Then insanity gripped me. We could have taken a bus to our destination but I said I would have a go at walking. The buses are 2y regardless of the number of stops and it certainly seems as if the underground is 2y for at least six stations so quite why I took leave of my senses is beyond me.
With aching legs and soles that felt like rare rump steaks, we finally got to within striking distance of where we wanted to be. Then the GPS did its worst and we walked for ages parallel to the road we wanted and there was a railway track in between. To walk, we had to go back again and then climb huge stairs to cross the tracks. I was all in. I wished I had taken a bus because in desperation I hailed a taxi.
No way could I walk around those gardens by then, so on spying some electric buses I got Joan to ask how much for a tour. Twenty yuan each but we had to wait for more people to fill the bus. Joan went off exploring while I waited, ready to send a text once more customers arrived. In the cold they never materialised and you may have guessed, I ended up paying 150y for the bus to ourselves. Joan was quite happy to spend an hour and a half traipsing around while I waited but I would have seen nothing and anyway there was nowhere to sit. It wasn’t worth the money but at least we can say we saw the gardens.
Then it was bus time. Do or die to get some cheddar at WalMart. I ended up buying some biscuits, two tins of peas and a jar of pickled gherkins. Cheese? No better than RT Mart here - all they had was emmental! We were later told we could have bought any cheese we wanted near the Olympic centre but of course we never knew that.
Then it was time for dinner and after all that walking I was famished. I had harboured thoughts of returning to Jimmy’s for our last night but changed my mind. Instead we went to Finnegan’s Wake, the nationality of which is glaringly obvious. I wanted a Guinness. In fact I had three to Joan’s two cocktails. She had fish and chips, I had an all day breakfast and couldn’t believe how much I managed to put down.
When we returned to the hotel the first taxi refused to take us and the second took us to the wrong end of the street (which is one way), meaning I had to walk yet again only this time carrying a carrier bag of shopping. I was not happy. Matters became worse when I wandered off to see if I could buy some jing jo and Joan went the other way to do likewise but without telling me. I failed to find any and when I got back to the hotel she was nowhere to be seen. Assuming she was annoyed with me I thought perhaps she would be waiting by the lift but she wasn’t. Ok, maybe she had asked for another key from reception and was waiting in the room. No. as I got into the room I had a text but before I could answer it she rang. Where was I? In the room. That made her a little irate and then she sent me a text to say she couldn’t use the lift without a key. I responded by telling her to get reception to send her up, which she did.
Not the best of endings to a rather busy day and a hitherto extremely pleasant evening in the bar!
And so we bade farewell to a hotel which would be well advised to employ someone to oversee housekeeping who actually knows what should be done. We trundled with our cases for Joan to have baozi again (she likes the soup inside them and they aren’t bad - cheap too) then I had a hot dog sausage roll and coffee in the bakery. And then it was a parting of the ways as she took a train one way and I took one the other. She arrived home minutes ago.
I thought I might nap for an hour on the train (first class seats recline) but Anna plagued me with messages. She thought she had let a cat escape (Zorro was on top of the wardrobe) and half the electrics had blown. All I needed. Everything I suggested failed so it had to wait until I got home, whereupon the problem became apparent. Mum’s pups have been living downstairs and I think they dragged my extension out from shelter so it got rained on, filled with water and blew the breaker.
All is normal now except I can’t access the internet through my wifi and I am damned if I know why not. I am currently connected via Andrei and Juliette’s. And of course in the morning I am going to Wuhu with Anna and Alice. No way will I be leaving the hotel tomorrow but if my legs recover sufficiently I may join them sightseeing the day after.
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