Just arrived in Nanjing after a long journey, it has been fun. It is currently around 33 degrees and it feels like a sauna when you are away from the AC. I'm actually quite enjoying it, it's like getting a sauna without going a very hot room with an endless supply of cold drinks and food at my disposal.
I'm afraid I am being affected by the great firewall of china atm. Facebook is cut off for some reason, The economist and wsj are really slow, but at least I can access some of them. And no, I don't know how to proxy, it was one of those things that I knew I should learn to do but didn't get around to it. . . my laziness is coming back to bite me. Oh well, I didn't agree with the rumour fuelled Tibet separatist stuff they blocked on last week's edition anyway, a whole lot of hot air.
Anyway, Shanghai was absolutely gorgeous today, blues skies, clean fresh air, brillant sunshine....almost the same as Auckland on a bad day. Our journey was very pleasant, got picked up at the airport and was driven to Nanjing （南京） by a friend of dad's. The driving takes a little getting used to. The lines that specify the lanes are actually only approximate guidelines, as with the red lights, depending on your attitude to driving. So asian drivers(the real ones) aren't actually bad, it's just normal to sway in and out of your lane, over take by driving between two cars in the lanes (0n the line) and to cut people off when changing lanes.
Everything seems so different to a year and a half ago when I was last back. It's way hotter for one, and I suppose I now view things in a different light. There is a lot more further development, the busy road outside my grandparents' house is now blocked off for redevelopment, and all the side streets have turned into free carparks basically. There are definately more cars on the road, so frustrating, it took us more than an hour just to get out of Shanghai.
The food here is so good. We went to Changzhou (常州) on the way to 南京 yesterday, and they bought some of their famous dishes. I don't know, we were tired and hungry and that was our first meal there, but even the cucumbers (凉拌黄瓜） tasted amazing.
The old clothing factory that used to be opposite our house is now a after-school tuition class sponsored by 南京师范大学（Um....Nanjing Normal University?）How is that for an example of the transition of the Chinese economy from one of small scale manufacture into a knowledge economy? Actually, its probably just a reflection of high real estate prices. . . Believe what you will.
Ah, fb is back...
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