East is Relative

Relaxing in Nanjing

It has been a relatively uneventful time in Nanjing. We arrived at the airport and took a bus to a stop where the woman said we would be able to see our hotel. Unfortunately, this was not true – we ended up wandering around Nanjing for 2 hours with our bags trying to find the hotel. We found it eventually, after a lot of help from a lot of people. Ultimately, we were going in the right direction and to the right place, but if we’d known how far we would have had to walk, we would have called a cab instead of taking the bus. It was really aggravating and we hadn’t really slept in about 24 hours (at least, I hadn’t!). When we checked into the Holiday Inn (which is, in fact, the nicest hotel I’ve ever been in), we slept for most of the morning and afternoon, and then got dinner at the hotel and walked around the attached mall. I finally found myself a pair of jeans that fit (thanks, H&M!) and my mom bought them for me, since the jeans I’ve been wearing are huge on me and I’ve lost a bunch of weight here.

Today, we stayed in the hotel most of the day, did some more shopping in the mall, and walked around for a bit, but it was pretty evident that most places were closing for Chinese New Year (it’s New Year’s Eve, here in China). At about 5pm, the fireworks and firecrackers started going off, and went non-stop all over the city from every single apartment building and large area until 9pm. It’s been pretty crazy. We ordered room service and watched the show, and it’s expected to get crazier at midnight. Tomorrow, we start to really explore Nanjing, but I do think we needed a little bit of a breather after our terrible flight and the craziness of the last week. It’s been relaxing, which is alright when you’re on vacation.

I’ll post more as we make our way around Nanjing. I’ve updated the photos to include my pictures, and I’ll add some that my mom and brother have taken as well, soon.