Zhonghuamen (or the "I better Blog before Lars takes the laptop to school again" :)

Zhonghuamen is the section of the ancient Nanjing city wall that is kept in repair (meaning they can charge crazy prices to allow you in and on.)  

"Zhonghua Men is the most famous and most fortified gate of the wall.  It was constructed with 1000kg vertically sliding doors and contained 27 vaults that could hold thousands of soldiers.  The idea was that if an enemy entered, the doors could be slammed shut. The enemy, trapped inside, would then be ambushed by soldiers inside.  Enemy armies avoided this super-fortified gate in favour of attacking Nanjing via weaker points along the wall."

I know it doesn't look like much on the outside.

Going inside

First thing we see, a shooting range! Bow and Arrow Style:)

Spring Fun Fact: Spring used to have her very own compound bow and would shoot with her Dad all the time:)

So we had a little competition...

Spring won:P 

Entrance to the Bonsai Paradise:) from our last "blog"

Chinese written on the bricks under our feet?

Top of Bonsai Paradise

Lars almost broke his back trying to lift this "canon ball" Tough Stuff:)

Lars and Drew taking a romantic stroll on the wall...

Uh oh, they caught me spying on them:)

It was so funny! This girl comes up to the wall, looks over the wall and then starts jumping up and down screaming something...Yeah, I don't know either...

Howdy Pardners! They were pretty sweet hats though.

Wish I had my bike:(

Climbing back down the wall

The Guards were kind of creepy.

Way to put them on cement bricks to make them look taller than they are:)

"Nanjing City Wall, constructed during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties between 1365 and 1386, originally stretched over 30km which made it the longest city wall in the world.  Now, with about two thirds of the wall still intact it still remains the longest city wall in China.  It reaches all the way from the North end of Xuanwu Lake to the south-west corner of Purple Mountain.  It snakes along the edge of Qinhuai River and heads back north all the way up to Yuejiang Tower (阅江楼)."

 I like to think that this is just a hint of what the Great Wall of China will be like when we visit Beijing:) Exciting!

Spring

Bonsai!!!

This is how Lars got his Bonsai fascination:

My favorite!!!

Many of these Bonsai Trees are more than 50 years old!

Spring

Fitches!

    After a recent trip to the Zhonghuamen (a later blog post, I hope), I decided I would like to get into Bonsai.  So, I bought a plant.  A really cool one.

It is a 榆树 or Chinese Elm.

I got it from a cool store across the street that specializes in hydroponics.  The coolest part is that you can have fish swimming around in the water!

I have one orange fish and one yellow fish.  I'm waiting to see if they live for a week or two before I give them names (there has been some bad luck with pets around here lately).  For now, I refer to them as my fitches.

All in all, I'm more than satified with my new friends.  They bring some life and cheer to my room!

Lars

Jay Chou!!!

So, my friend Drew and I decided to go to the Jay Chou concert.  Hey, you only live one, right?  We both heartily enjoy Jay's music and were very excited to go.

The subway was packed!  My hand was like that because it was pinned to my chest.  Look how excited Drew is!

We bought some pimp lightsabers because it was the cool thing to do.

Once they knew we spoke Chinese, we made new friends very quickly.

Normal light

Lightsaber light!

From there out it got pretty crazy, all sorts of fireworks, dancing, fancy get-ups and what-not.  It was a lot to take in.  Here are some pics to help you get a feel.

Cool piano (blurry shot)

Singing one of my favorites, "龙卷风"

Keytarist in the guitar vs. hip-hop battle

Weird Dreadlock brothers (There were lots of guest singers, presumably to give Jay time to change).

Overall, we had a ton of fun.  Sure, the sound quality was pretty poor and Jay looked a bit chubby and drugged up, but it was all about the experience.  Honestly, where else would I see this?

Lars