Part 2 of the pics taken in nanjing!~~~~~

Statues along the sacred way!!!!! behind or in front Mingxiaoling Mausoleum i forgot but anyway, it was a magnificent 3 metre statue that was like a guard along the scared way :> TEE HEE XD

Anchor @ Zheng He Memorial Park the tour guide said that this was the actual anchor of Zheng He's treasure ship, the one that was the biggest. :> It was very big, bigger than any normal anchor ~~~~~ :)

CHANGJIANG BRIDGE !!!!!!! Part of it actually, i was unable to take the whole thing was on the bus. :]

Pillar in FUZI Temple!!! Adorned with things painted gold and dragon things.

Turtle in front of memorial tablet of one of the tourist attractions :> ( sorry i could not remember >.<)

In front of Tao Xing Zhi's tomb!!! ~~~~~~~~~~ ( Actually, when you walk inside all you will see is
actually a hemisphere with bushes on it and his tomb is under it) :D

Pretty Flowers we saw in the school !!!! ~~~~~~  It was everywhere :> ~~~

 Pillar on the way down from MingXiaoLing Mausoleum ( actually, i cannot remember where ><)
The designs were exquisite !!!!! XD

 Ming xiao ling Mausoleum !!!!!! The actual one but actually this is built in 2001 not long, long ago, it was actually just a wish on paper of the emperor but who knows? It came true !!!! ~~~~~~ :P

Remaining Ming wall !!!!!! :> Taken from the top of the Ming Xiao Ling Mausoleum !!! ^W^

                    
                   Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum !!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~ there are many steps to climb before reaching the top. It may seem a lot to climb but actually it only takes you awhile before you reach.

                               The room Sun Yat Sen used to use to welcome his guests from overseas
in the presidential palace. XD We could not believe this was from that that time, it looked so modernised.             

                Cute trams that took us to the Sun yat Sen Mausoleum or else we would
                have to walk a long way then climb ^v^.                              

                                     From the top of the Mausoleum ovo :> ~~~~~~~~~~ 

                                    Dragon, On the ceiling of Fuzi Temple! Made of gold and weighs
                                     10~20kg :D!

                                       Replica of zheng he's Treasure ship :3 ! It was really big !!!

                                                 Replica of treasure ship ( side view) :P

                                        Lotus pond opposite Xing Zhi School ~~~~~ We fished for
                                      Lobsters here ! :D                     
 

        
                                                    Going on a shopping trip !!!! :P

                                     Close up view of a pod of vegetable oil seeds we harvested! :>

                                       The memorial tablet in frony of the stairs @ Sun Yat
                                       Sen Mausoleum.

                                  Sweeping the grass and clearing up after harvesting the seeds ! :D

Look at the tea!!! ~~~~ XD doesn't it look nice? It smells wonderful and it is handpicked by the workers there on the farm.

This is what we did during the first day. Lobster fishing ^^ every one in this picture is trying very hard to fish! The lobsters look quite small :>

more! XD

Hi again everyone!!! here is another post about nanjing sorry if its boring as the blog is still undergoing construction and we need to add a lot of stuff so more will be coming ur way !!! ^^ well, here it is:

Day 5 @ Nanjing :D

Today was like any other day  :< However, it was fun. We went to zheng he memorial park, where there was a replica of one of the ships in zheng he’s fleet. It was a few times smaller than the treasure ship itself. We were amazed when we heard that imagining that what was before us was the actual ship. Sadly, we could not get in to the ship to explore as the exhibits are in the process of setting up. Hence, we continued walking through the park. We saw many exhibits including the anchor of the ship and the steering of the ships at different voyages. We could not learn a lot from this as the park had not many things to show but we were very fascinated by the moats that were used to build and repair ships  as they were so technologically advanced, being able to drain the water while it was being repaired. After a somewhat horrible lunch, we proceeded to the outside of the temple where the relic of the monk named Tang xuan zang was. We were shocked to hear that not only was he not a mythical character like sun wu kong in china’s famous story,  journey to the west but a real person that traveled to  the west by foot.  :P soon after, we went to the nine-storey pagoda. It was taller than any pagoda I have ever seen and was said to be made for the emperor as the higher the pagoda, the higher the status. We were allowed to go up if we want. I, too also wanted to go up but could not as I myself was afraid of height but I was dragged by my friend to go up and accompany her. I kept holding on to the pillar as I climbed but when I reached the top, I was stopped in my tracks upon seeing the breathtaking scenery from the top of the pagoda. Unfortunately, it was time to go down the pagoda. Finally! It was nighttime already!! ~~~ Everyone was very happy as we were putting fire crackers (like those you see during Chinese new year) ^^. We use joss sticks to light up the firecracker one by one. At first, everyone was trying to pass the joss sticks to some one else to start the ball rolling. Nevertheless, everyone started to be more daring and lighted more at once it was so funny to see everyone’s funny expressions it certainly cheered up everyone after the water pipe broke and had to be fixed before we could do anything. One of the teachers were cheeky and stated light up the hole chian of firecracks with some loose one at the sides. There came a large explosion and the firecracker bulb hit many of us, most of us were jumping around when the hot thing hit us. It was really hilarious . XD haha ~~~

najing stuffy part 3 !!!! XD

Day 4 @ Nanjing ^^

Immediately after breakfast, we went to sun yat sen mausoleum, which was at the foot of Purple Mountain (zijin shan). We sat on little trams, which ferry us to the sun yat sen mausoleum, and many of us were having a great time feeling the cold wind blowing in our faces. When we reached, we felt that the architecture of the building was certainly unique and impressive. From the base of the mausoleum, we were horrified by the number of steps the staircase had and there were no platforms between the next flights of stairs. After which, we started climbing the stairs but as we continued climbing, we felt that the climbing was not that hard after all. We found out that there were platforms between every few flights of stairs. On a few of the by the time we reached the top we were shocked to see that the stairs have disappeared leaving only the platforms but the tour guide told us it was build to be in this way. Soon after, the tour of Sun Yat Sen mausoleum ended and it was time to go to Ming tomb. Upon reaching, we saw how big the tomb was. We went up the slope and saw a view of the whole place but unfortunately, the tour guide said that this was not the real size of the place and the place was certainly much bigger than this just that it has been burned down in the fire and was rebuilt in a smaller version. We then proceeded to the ming xiao ling mausoleum. When we reached, we saw how tall the building was and how vibrant the colours of the building were. When we entered, we found that the whole place was furnished in the way of the ancient Chinese. It had many stories and we had to climb many staircases before we reached. When we reached the rooftop, we were admiring the view of overseeing the Changjiang River and bridge. There were many fascinating exhibits there. From this mausoleum, we learn about Zhu Yuan Zhang and his descendants. There were also interesting facts about Zheng He . Personally I was fascinated by the dragon made of gold stuck on the ceiling of the Ming Xiao ling the dragon was beautifully crafted and matches with the colour in the background. IT was finally nighttime and we flew ---------- KONG MING DENG!!!!! :> ~~~ Everyone was so happy to see so many of our kong ming dengs fly away with our heartfelt wishes. :D We used markers to write on the kong ming deng and laughed at our horrible handwriting. The fire almost hit some of us but luckily nothing big happened. After this, fireworks were released!!!!! `~~~~~ While everyone was enjoying the spectacular scene in front of them all of us felt things dropping on us that felt hot and finally realized that it was ash. So, even though it was a spectacular scene, it got our heads dirty… :P

Day 6 @ Nanjing :3

In the morning, soon after breakfast, we entered the presidential palace. There were many parts some of them were European styled while some of them are Chinese styled. We were fascinated with the architecture of the buildings there. There was even a boat on water that was a house. The presidential palace was very big and it certainly displayed a lot of information about sun yat sen, the revolutionaries and the Qing. We learned many things from the huge place and ‘ohhhh’, ‘ahhh’ with the amazing things we saw. After lunch, we went to Nanjing massacre museum, where we saw the number of people that died in the Nanjing massacre and the Japanese’s cruelty. There were many survivors from the Nanjing massacre but most of them have lived till recent years and died of old age. The survivors told of what happened back then and it was really sad to hear how the Chinese were treated in the rape of Nanjing. We even saw the bones that were excavated from the ground under this museum during its construction and were placed as an exhibition to show the visitors what happened. The cruelty of killing a three year old was unbelievable. After we saw all this we felt sorry and sad for the people who have died in this massacre. Soon after, we went to the Jiangnan examination hall, which was in Fuzi temple. We went to the Fuzi temple first and there was a tour guide bringing us around. When he said that girls cross by their right foot through the threshold, many people who have crossed the door quickly crossed back in and re-did it as it was believed that the people who cross this would be smart or something. Some that crossed wrongly were joked and laughingly called stupid    Due to a fire in the past, only a few of the rooms are left. We saw how crammed the rooms were and felt sorry for the scholars in the past which had to stay in these rooms for nine days before the exams ended. We, while standing in front of the rooms could put ourselves in their shoe and felt how horrible it was. Personally, I feel it was really disgusting to do so many things in a little room like that for example eat, sleep, getting rid of waste. Many people must have gone crazy or cried staying in there for nine days without coming out. There was a long pole on the floor with gold dragon embellishments on it and it was said to be crossed by people of all kind as it is believed that luck fortune and good health would come your way after crossing it. After the whole tour we went to the night market for our shopping trip! ~ <3

Last Day @ Nanjing J

On our last day in Nanjing we went to visit the remaining parts of the Wall of Nanjing. Despite its age, the wall was still very sturdy. The guide told us about the city of Nanjing back when the wall was still in perfect condition, from this I learnt how the Wall can be considered an important part of Nanjing’s history and help shape Nanjing into what it is today.

Day 1 @ Nanjing  :S

After a horrible plane ride, we got on the bus and went past the Changjiang Bridge. It was a very impressive bridge. It was very long and I could imagine how hard the people’s life would be if this bridge had not been built. Many used this bridge to connect to other countries and places as the Changjiang River separated Nanjing with other countries. After lunch, we went to the lotus farm opposite the Xing Zhi School and went fishing for lobsters.It was a fun and refreshing experience to fish for lobsters, and everyone enjoyed it. The lobsters were fished by tying a piece of meat to the end of a bamboo pole. Many thought that the lobsters would like the flesh better than the fats and hence tore off the fats from the meat. Later, we found out that the lobsters were actually attracted by the fats and we were laughing at this new discovery. The people who tore off the fats were shocked and were silently regretting what they did as they could not catch many lobsters. Some even gave hilarious expressions. We were sad that many of the lobsters had to be trown back as they were too small but they were delicious!!~ ^^

Day 2 @ Nanjing :P

We spent the morning in Xing Zhi school sitting in with the     students, it was an interesting and eye-opening experience to see how lessons are conducted in school. From this I learnt the difference between Singapore and Chinese students. In the afternoon we went to the Tao Xing Zhi museum and visited the site where he was buried, we learnt about how he was a catalyst of change in China’s education system. He was a man who treated even young children with respect and values their opinions, from this I can tell he was a good man and really wanted to help improve the lives of young children through their education. After that we visited a tea plantation where we help pick tea leaves for CIP. Our pickings were not great but from this we learnt that farming was not very easy work and requires skill, knowledge and experience in order for a good harvest, we learnt to value the food we have as in requires great effort to get it.

Day 3 @ Nanjing :>

 It was yet another day to sit-in during the classes in Xing Zhi School. It was a practice to run around the running track twice every morning. Many of us dreaded to do this as it was cold in the morning and yet we have to run with the cold wind slapping our faces and freezing them. However, even though it was cold but there were still many who enjoyed it and commented that it was fun. It was interesting to see how the students are able to match each other’s pace and run as a group with no one overtaking another person. We were not used to seeing this, as back in our own school, we also loved overtaking one another, competing to see who was better. The classes were conducted the same way our classes were conducted just that it was in Chinese. Some of the things were hard to understand as we only understood them in Chinese but not English. Almost all our classmates had question marks popping out of their heads. However, in the end it was okay.

Afterwards, we went to a farmer’s house for lunch. It was a refreshing experience to eat in a farm rather than in a restaurant or fast food outlet. Before we entered, the lady of the house was already at the door waiting to welcome us. We felt heartwarming to see the many dishes on the table as the farmers gave us so much food to eat when their harvest is little and they cooked lesser than this for themselves to eat. That means they would also have only a little of their harvest to sell and make money. There were also many dogs and chickens and cats that were really really noisy. >< Soon after, we went to pick vegetable oil seeds where the boys use a sickle to cut it and the girls take from them. At the final part of this activity when we were admiring the great job we had done on clearing the field, we were shocked to hear that we were to step on what we have just harvested. Nevertheless, everyone started stepping on it and some even went to jump on it happily everyone was having fun at this stage until we were told that we have to clear up the mess we made ------ the pods which the seeds came from. While we put the grasses back on to the land, some were having fun throwing the smashed at one another. Wheeeee! :D

Hi !~~~~ we just came back from nanjing and it was fun! ^^ we did many things there that we never do before. It sure was tiring running around in china, going to so many tourisr attractions. XD