01_train_to.jpg >>> The train ride to Shanghai. Hard seats, which we shared with a couple of young student-aged girls. Everyone is a character in China. The two folks sitting across from Haw-Wen were a couple, college sweethearts escaping to Shanghai together for a break. The older woman next to Haw-Wen used to be in the military. Her demeanor carried certainty. The little girl who sat next to me was spoiled rotten, throwing the archetypical tantrum every few minutes, stomping her feet on the floor and whining in increasingly higher pitches, like a train taking off from hell. Her mother looked like a starved albino weasel, and her attempts to assuage her daughter were simply futile. The woman sitting across from me who I kept stealing glances at was married to a chef who now works in Shanghai. She takes care of their one-year old while he works, and they are able to meet perhaps only twice a year. "The conditions aren't ripe for us to live in Shanghai," she says distractedly.

02_zhongshan_hotel.jpg >>> Certainly, it wasn't worth RMB 220 a night, but it was a place, and it was raining outside, and the hostels we had checked out earlier were just shit. The location was okay. But I knew we could do better. At least we would get breakfast for free.

03_shining_restaurant.jpg >>> Nanjing is full of cute shops and restaurants, and we were tempted by each in turn. This one (土菜王) lured us with its bright, friendly lights and cozy white and wooden interior. We passed it the first day out, and promised to return.

04_steam.jpg >>> I like the colors here; it is as if a blacksmith's molten iron, steam rising from the angry creation. The lights were so intense that the raindrops vanished quickly from its glassy surface. My shoes were not the same. The cold and wetness seeped through and squishing noises commenced. As if my feet didn't already have enough wrinkles, among other problems.

large/05_xinjiang_dance.jpg >>> Good stuff, Uyghur food. Lamb skewers, "Big Dish 'o Chicken", greens and mushrooms, and heavy bread that just sucked up the juices you dipped it into, a tinge of sweetness. We really enjoyed the potatoes in the chicken dish, as well as the noodles you could dip into the sauce. We really enjoyed eating at all, hungry from wandering around in the unforgiving rain. I thought the little hats the servers wore were very cute, enhancing the femininity of their traditional outfits. The same two bouncy minority songs replayed themselves countless times, I imagined them jumping and cartwheeling to the happy horns. Of course the dance must be passed on.

06_hidden_turtle.jpg >>> We took an early morning bus to QiXia Temple (栖霞寺). Within the little pond at the entrance stirred a few well camouflaged turtles, hiding in the grasses. What luxurious lives they lead. No wonder they are a symbol of longevity.

07_waxing.jpg >>> After breaking the lines of the incense hawkers, we see the spirited entrance to the temple. Does the wax flow signify the passage of time, rolling down from the flame, hardening into precarious stalactites that eventually totter into the frothing soup below? The flame breathes life into the ready medium, which, ironically, seeks only the fastest path toward oblivion after being freed.

08_qixia_temple.jpg >>> I bet I'd be a pretty good boddhisatva.

large/09_relics.jpg >>> Taking photos at unexpected angles yields surprisingly powerful results. I really like this perspective.

10_buddhist_caves.jpg >>> Some little caves with timeless buddhas inside. Too bad cultural misfits came along during the cultural revolution and beheaded most of them. What do these motley images of Buddha mean to monks who now answer cell phones, slip around the monastery in new Adidas, and smoke? We ascended the tourist infested hills, enveloped in green.

11_critter.jpg >>> Haw-Wen spotted this guy ambling across the path. I could have squished it very easily without even noticing. Legs undulating and body static, it never slips. We debated whether it was actually poisonous, given its alarming coloring. And how that doesn't matter if you find yourself on the hoof of some larger land-roving beast. That reminds me of the arcade game where you used to destroy centipedes, spiders, falling larvae, and other nasty critters with your crummy pea shooter. Who thought up that game anyway? Must've been a programmer who had been attacked by one in his sleep.

12_nanjing_street.jpg >>> Just another tree-lined street back in Nanjing, bike and pedestrian friendly. The weather was marvelous. We explored deeper into the alleys we found looking for cheap hostels and good restaurants, snacking on bready foods.