China again: Nanjing, Timezone: UTC + 8

And again, no chance to update my blog while I was in Nanjing, China. This city is not as big and not as modern as the well known metropoles of China, but it is nice to see some history and traditional places. Even if they are re-built like the Konfuzius temple on the photos, as it was completely destroyed before.
Nanjing has a dark history of destruction, not only by Japanese, but also by British and American bombing. About 400000 Chinese people dwere killed in the Nanjing massacre.
I was surprised to meet extremely friendly and helpful people - who were even lining up in front of the subway ticket machine! No elbowing in this city, I was even offered a seat on the train. Looking on my map, a girl stopped and asked if she could help me, as she spoke English, which not many people in Nanjing do.
A highlight for me - 20 different sorts of Tofu in the supermarket, and great tasty dragon fruit! But horror just a few meters away - I felt very sorry for the poor frogs and cute turtles sitting in tanks and waiting to become dinner :( one turtle nearly climbed on my arm, I so wish I could have taken all of them and set them free somewhere.
Another speciality in Nanjing is "soup of duck intestines". The smell made me hold my breath and run for fresh air several times. Duck liver, bowels, kidney, stomach and a lot of msg really create a smell that I cannot cope with...
While it was end of the world weather in Germany, we enjoyed some bright sunny days in Nanjing, but it was not far from freezing temperatures and I was superhappy that we had just got our Adidas team clothes for winter in Herzogenaurach. It was quite chilly when I collected some of the famous agates "Rain flower stones" at Yu Hua Tai, the rain flower terrace.
It was great to discover new places, a new culture and meet new people. Just foodwise it was quite difficult for a vegetarian, even the noodles tasted as if they were cooked in animal fat. When I go to Australia in January, I hope I can assist Molly Moyes again, her Chinese cooking is legendary (as are the numbers of people she feeds - family, friends and visiting foreign pilots ). And I definitely need to learn more about Chinese cooking to find some edible vegetarian dishes next time I get there.