Fri 27th April
The weather was hazy on our arrival and a warm 23°c. Our journey was full of a consistantly built up landscape, city after city, every inch of land was cultivated in some way. Dusty and hazy, we rolled in on the fast train which took 5 and a half hours and then a hop on the metro. It was around 4:30pm. We asked a traffic officer for directions to Laomendong International Hostel. A 500m walk. "Welcome to China" he smiled. Cool! It was a dusty walk  along a main road and - dusty duvets and washing hanging on lines outside on the pavement. Already it felt like such a different city to Shanghai. It's a smaller city too, the population in Nanjing is around 8.4 million (London is 8.7 million), Shanghai is over 24 million (some reports say 35 million)! Laomendong is situated in the middle of Mendong - a chinese tourist resort - like a butlins I suppose? All neat and new looking and right beside the Ming city wall, where there was a stage infront of the wall, for shows, we assumed.
Checked in, the staff were very kind - one girl topped up our water bottle for us. They had a pet dog and cat out the back too. Into our 6 bed dorm, with its own toilet, sink and shower. One other bed was occupied. Big lockers too - very handy. Off out for our customary exploration and we found a shop for cheap bread and water, a grocery - got some fruit, bought ourselves one of those stuffed meat breads (much better than the Shanghai one - not burnt) found a good cofffee shop "W" (Mrs. Wong's - it had better wifi, i.e not under as much strain as our hostels). We siezed on the wifi and made a skype call home from outside. We were proving to be the curious incident of the afternoon as everyone who walked passed stopped to stare/smile/nod/ take photos on their phones... te he hee. Smiles, nods and "hi's" were returned.
Nearby was Wal mart for everthing else. We picked up some breakfast things etc. It was around this stage I could feel the effects of drinking water from the tap - a quick dash back to the hostel was required. Not a severe episode though, thankfully.
Later we met our dorm mate Ambarié a French student, studying in Beijing.
Earlier we had spotted a New Zealand burger bar and headed there for dinner.
Just as we were tucking into bed, Callum and Josh arrive late, both from London. Callum was living Beijing teaching englinsh. Josh was visiting. We swapped beds with Callum as he had injured foot/hip and needed a lower bunk.

Sat 28th April
Woke up to clear skies 25-27°c and humid weather. Well I didn't really 'wake up' as I didn't sleep at all (see earlier blogs!) Not just the snoring but the bed was mighty uncomfortable. I think the lack of sleep started to take a toll on my immune system as I had a sore throat. After breakfast and a little investigation of the bed we found my matress had a large dip in it! So Frank and I swapped. What a darling.
Despite feeling utterly utterly shattered, we resolved to make the most of our time here and visited Dr. Yat Sun Sen mausoleum. Off of the metro, waiting for the bus, we both suffered from the dust and dander given off by the road and a particular type of tree (afraid I dont know the name), even the locals were coughing and sneezing too. Allergy tablet taken we chose to walk up the hill on the boardwalk rather than get the bus. It was a lovely walk and as luck would have it, due to it being labour day, we got in for free.
During the walk there were plenty of Chinese peolpe trying to take sneaky photos, particularlly of Frank. This reached fever pitch when we two walked passed 500 school children on a day trip. Phones out, cries of "Hello!", lots of giggles and racing to catch up with us. We climbed the enormous amount of steps to the top and were rewarded with a spectacular view. The school kids made it up there too. Cue more "hellos", photos and selfies with kids. All had big big smiles on their faces. We also bumped into Ambarié, so we all had a rock star moment. Eager to let the teachers get on and for us to see the tomb we padded away. Only for 10 minutes later others wanting photos - this time though it was adults: asking very politely, smiling, shaking hands and pointing at their phones. Quite a cool funny sweet time. Very cool.
Dinner at the Hostel, chicken curry for Frank and black pepper beef for me. Both really nice.  After, we check train tickets online for our departure in a few days only to find there were no trains for tuesday - labour day!!! Everyone would be leaving to go home. A new plan would have to be arranged.
For the evenings entertainment we walked down snack street. Pan Boss chicken drum sticks were sooo good. Crunchy, seasoned skin and juciy chicken. Yum yum. Also during our travels through Nanjing so far, a new thing to consider...Hot? Just hang your belly out. Simply roll up your t-shirt expose your belly and let it cool. And your certainly don't have to be a bronze adonis for this look, as many locals have proved!

Sun 29th April
A good nights sleep was had and appricieated. It was another humid day, a little hazy and sticky at 26°c. Train tickets were our priority today, we got to the station - Callum helpfully typed up our request in Chinese the night before - purchased the last 2 tickets leaving Wednedsday 2nd of May, arriving late in the night. It was here a little fiasco was had with our bank cards. They wouldn't accept (foreign) credit cards. Big cities do, 'smaller' cities don't, so cash only, same story at the hostel, which meant our cash supply was low. While withdrawing more cash Frank's card was declined. A furrowing of brows and scratching of heads was had. We went to the next ATM. I drew cash, with success. Ah-ha some of the number pads were upside down. So if you put your pin in automatically you'll put in an upside down number. Oops.
Before we left the hostel we asked if it was possible to extended our stay by 1 day - no problems. Then we emailed Wheat Hostel in Qingdao to let them know we would be arriving a day late and at 11:30pm. No problems. Phew.
Throughout the day we spy more people taking photos of us - or rather the many things around us as thats what they tried to make it look like.
Off then to the sobering Nanjing Massacre Memorial, during the second biggest chinese holiday after their New Year. It was rammed full, and due to the warm, sticky conditions we could only managed the garden, which made for a poignant sit down and rest.
Dinner at the hostel two chicken currys this time. Then the evenings activity was a walk along the Ming city wall during the falling dusk. It's a very wide wall and feels like you have it to yourself. A great advantage was seeing the city lights come on and the odd bat flying overhead. Lower down, in the living quarters it was very cool inside the very deep walls.
In addition Frank accidentally called nan and grandad from his pocket!
Ambarie had checked out when we got back. Whilst chatting in the dorm Chen-chen arrived. She is a Chinese girl, studying german eccomonics and was finishing her thesis in Nanjing. A very clever and interesting individual, only staying the one night.