Travel Notes | Nanjing·A city that cannot be forgotten

Travel notes

Impression of the ancient capital

The mountains surround my homeland,

The tide hits the empty city and returns lonely.

The old moon east of the Huai River,

I came over the female wall late at night.

In fact, I went to Nanjing once with my mother when I was in the first or second grade. But maybe because I was young or it was a long time ago, most of my memories of this ancient capital have been blurred or even not remembered at all. I only remember the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. The stone statue of Mr. Sun and the Yuhua Stone that I held in my hands with joy at that time.

Later, when I asked my mother, I learned that I had actually been to many scenic spots, such as the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, but there was no trace of these in my mind. I decided to take this new journey because, firstly, I felt that my childhood experience was not that profound. As an adult, I would have different moods and perceptions when seeing the same scene. Secondly, when I wanted to see him this time, A friend who hadn't seen each other for two years fulfilled their dream of traveling together. To be honest, due to various reasons, this trip seemed a bit short, taking almost two days in total.

This note has been delayed for several days. Sometimes I am really a lazy person. I have many things I want to do, but I am often held back by myself. Of course, the feelings mentioned here are purely personal feelings, and cannot be regarded as a travel guide in the actual sense, just some trivial records.

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Eat + see the world + sleep

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We took the high-speed train on the afternoon of January 10th. When we arrived in this city, it was already dusk, the lights were all bright, and the raindrops were pattering down, adding a little mist. Although there are many subway lines in Nanjing, they are actually very clear and you rarely get confused. As soon as I got out of the subway, I saw an old woman shouting. On the ground were two pots of strawberries. I guess she wanted to wait until she returned home with a full load.

We found a hotel on Hanzhong Road. It was already six or seven o'clock when we arrived. We were so hungry that we had to go out to find food. There is a "Soybean Fairy" nearby. This is a place we found on Xiaohongshu that has good reviews and can be called an Internet celebrity food store (in fact, many of the snacks we checked in were obtained after reading many guides online. After all, the travel schedule is limited, so we are not exempt from this haha).

that taste

The two of us each ordered a bowl of taro ball and bean curd, a basket of steamed dumplings and a basket of black truffle soup dumplings. First of all, what I want to say is that the ingredients in this store are really good. A bowl of warm tofu pudding can soothe your restless stomach and make you feel extra happy on a rainy night. I only knew that black truffle is an expensive and rare ingredient. I have never seen it with my own eyes and I don’t know its taste. This time I tried it new and found it surprisingly delicious. The skin made of truffle is so soft that it can be easily used with chopsticks. It breaks easily with a light touch, revealing the juicy and tender meat inside. (The only two soup dumplings left in this photo are because I suddenly remembered to take photos and record them at the end of the meal)

That night, we happened to catch up with a fan meeting held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports. It was already late when we got there, so we sat in a relatively remote back row. This is my first time to attend such a large-scale meeting. Although I am not a well-known celebrity, it is quite spectacular for a person like me who has never seen the world. In fact, in my opinion, the format of the meet-and-greet is no different from a graduation ceremony. It is just some singing and dancing, mini-games and chat sessions. However, it was an unexpected surprise to receive exquisite souvenirs on the way back.

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Eat, eat, eat + attractions

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The next day’s itinerary can be summed up in one word: eat. We woke up late and went directly to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall after having brunch at the hotel. To be honest, after being there, I still couldn't bring back my childhood memories, not even a little bit. However, when I saw the wall of names arranged one after another, I was still shocked. When there was a pitch-black screen and countless names of heroes coming at you in a high-tech way, I stood there for a long time, feeling a heavy emotion coming over me, as if I was being sucked into a whirlpool. We also saw the soil where the martyrs were buried, stained with blood, and scenes of real stories told in videos. The previously awkward words in history books finally turned into clear scenes.

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Duck blood vermicelli soup

Then we followed the previously formulated strategy, from the snacks in Xinjiekou to the Pioneer Bookstore in Laomendong to the Confucius Temple and the Qinhuai River at night. To be honest, we looked for a lot of specialty "duck" restaurants, but due to limited time and limited stomach capacity, we only checked in at Duck Debao and ordered a bowl of the signature duck blood vermicelli soup. Since we are not interested in offal, although Tried hard, but still can't taste it. But the soup is very fresh, and you can see that many locals also like to eat it.

Taiyaki

Originally we aimed to find Yiji Pidu Noodles, but after trying three times without success, we accidentally discovered this pastry shop. When I was watching Running Man before, they showed a desire for the delicious taste of Taiyaki, which made me curious about what kind of snack it was and I was yearning for it. It was a rainy and cold day, and we were lucky enough to witness the entire process of making Taiyaki. In the picture on the right, after placing the ingredients symmetrically on the two iron plates, they are quickly closed together, which requires fast, accurate and skilled skills. While eating the hot taiyaki, I forgot about my exposed cold hands.

After filling our bellies, we set off to Pioneer Bookstore. Before entering the bookstore, we unfortunately stumbled upon a snack street. In fact, I don’t know if it should be called a snack street, but there are only four or five snacks. We bought a portion of pork ribs, which I can only say was crispy, tender, and very delicious. Pioneer Bookstore is not particularly different from some bookstores I have been to before, except that it also sells various perfumes. It was not the perfumes that stopped me. Although I also think some of the smells are very natural and refreshing, the most important thing is that each scent is very natural and refreshing. The poems corresponding to this perfume are very beautiful to read.

Hey shake pig's trotters

When we arrived at the bank of the Qinhuai River, it was already six o'clock in the evening. The two people who had fallen asleep in the car looked at the city in a daze, and everything seemed dense against the backdrop of the rain. When I found the planned pig's trotters shop, I actually didn't dare to eat pig's trotters before. I always found them very greasy. This time I made a bold attempt and found that it was pretty good, not greasy, but rather chewy, as if it opened a door to the world of eating.

Chicken crow soup dumplings

After admiring the boats coming and going on the Qinhuai River for a while and the wonderful night view, we set out on the road of no return in search of food. Soup dumplings seem to be one of the specialties of snacks here. There are many brands, and we looked for an old shop with a lot of people. The decoration of this store tends to be antique. We tried the moxa leaf chicken soup. The soup was rich and thick, and it was really delicious to the naked eye.

Master Zuo’s Plum Blossom Cake

It's a bit regretful that when we visited the plum blossom cake shop, maybe because it was too popular or it was late, there was only one flavor of bean paste left. The bean paste is not that sweet, which is just right for my friend's taste, which is a blessing. The plum blossom cake is particularly soft and glutinous, and with the bean paste filling, the two children eating it look like the happiest. It's just that both of us were burned in the mouth by the red bean paste and it hurt for a while.

Nanjing food stalls

Finally, we plan to visit the famous Nanjing food stalls. But it's a pity that we never thought that this was comparable to Haidilao or Ge Laoguan. There were more than a hundred people queuing in front of us, and everyone lined up outside the door. We could only take a photo to commemorate it and then left reluctantly, but we were not willing to do so. I went to another Nanjing food stall in Xinjiekou, which is located in a more remote square. I didn't expect that there weren't many people in that square, which doesn't change the fact that the food stall is very popular. What's more, this store has stopped queuing, which means we won't be able to wait in line anymore. With an astonished attitude, the two little ones returned to the hotel silently. Nothing is worse than a bed.