Goodbye Nanjing

So pretty much nothing about our time in Nanjing went according to plan. But all's well that ends well, and we Bowens are nothing if not flexible.

So stop number one was Zhongshan Ling, the mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (remember, the George Washington of China? I told you about him here). This was our favorite Flagship field trip, and we knew that Spencer's family would love it too.

Disappointment. Turns out the major stairs and actual mausoleum are closed on Mondays. Boo.

So we turned back around and instead headed to Fuzimiao, the Confucius temple and shopping area. As per usual, we spent a lot of money and enjoyed looking for the perfect souvenirs.

Fun dumplings

The temple

The sales lady pointed to Krystal, then looked at me
and said "Hen hao!" as she waved her hands in front
of her-making a woman's curves. She thought Krystal
was beautiful and had an amazing body. She was right.
But it sure made me laugh.

Hand carved chops (stamps). In China you stamp your
signature instead of hand-signing.

After another session of shop-til-you-drop, we rounded up our new purchases and then headed home. But first we made a quick stop at another one of our favorite restaurants for a late lunch (note for future self: Taiwan Style Rice right next to campus) and picked up sandwiches for dinner at another favorite, Skyways (note for future self: AMAZING chicken salad sandwiches).

Sweet and sour and kung-pao chicken fried rice. So yummy!

We finished packing up, took all the luggage downstairs, and that was it. We were officially moved out. And I was sad. Our apartment was little. It was foreign. It had very few things in it. But it was home. And oh, how much we loved our home.

Spencer and I hung back to say goodbye and to remember how happy we were there. A few tears may have been shed. But we had to leave, and my heart broke a little as we closed the door for the last time.

Our friends from the branch were nice enough to let us borrow their driver to get to the train station so we all piled in for the short drive. We bought our tickets, took one last look at the Nanjing skyline (and maybe shed another tear or two), and we were off to Shanghai.

Goodbye Nanjing

Stingy with the cheez-its