Playing hookey and the Yangtze river

I have been feeling pretty exhausted, and after feeling like my throat was starting to swell last night I decided to take a day off and sleep in. It was delicious, and though I'm sad to have missed a precious day of clinic in China, feel a lot better about going the rest of the week. So, about 1pm, after a leisurely morning I decided to do something with myself. After hunting down both an English and Chinese map of Nanjing, I made my way via bus numbers 18 and 117 to the Yangtze river bridge park. Despite being incredibly windy and humid at the same time, it was a lovely day, and the river was peaceful and settling for my spirit, despite the thousands of cars, mopeds, bikes, trains and people crossing it. I would say it's something akin to the Brooklyn bridge in size, but perhaps more important. Apparently, due to the width of the Yangtze as well as the turbulence of the water and the enormous amount of silt the river carries, the bridge was declared unbuildable by many engineers at the time. But build it they did, and now the bridge connects Shanghai to Beijing, as well as the two sides of Nanjing. It really was pretty awe inspiring. There were beautiful parks surrounding it, where families and groups of older men gathered to spend some time, play cards and music and hang out with their cute and funny looking chinese dogs. While getting there was an indirect bus route adventure, my transit skills came out in full force and I made it there and back with no problem. I think I felt better about the trip because I was alone, and didn't have to take other people's tired feet or anxiety about the bus into account. I figured, if I got lost, I got lost, and I know how to tell a cab driver to take me back to the hotel. I went through some new parts of town that I'm excited to explore, and found a new temple and garden that I plan to visit after I get back from Yellow Mountain next tuesday or wednesday. After getting home, I used my rice cooker to cook rice for the first time, and had a small dinner that made my belly feel good instead of slightly bloated and ill. yay! Tomorrow it's back to clinic in the a.m. and a lecture in the afternoon, and some shopping in the evening for acupuncture related things as well as some fun stuff at the fuzimiao market by the Confucious temple.

Well, once again my photo uploader isn't working for this blog, so make sure to check out the flickr page (link to the right) for photos. I've organized everything into sets under a collection, so it's a little easier to navigate.

Oh! Ok, here are the two pictures I managed to upload for you, I think the one on the left might be my favorite of today.