Back at blogging.... First stop: Nanjing

Yep. As I predicted, internet issues prevented me from contributing to a blog. Apparently, in addition to blocking facebook, google has been intermittently blocked since May and the Chinese preferred search engine is Baidu. That doesn't work with blogger so, no blogging for us while we were there. Now, trip's done, jet lag almost subsided and before getting too busy around here, I'm taking time to update. 

First Stop: Nanjing (after flying into Shanghai)

Boaz met us at the airport in Shanghai; we took a bus to the train station, a 2hr train ride to Nanjing and two cabs (because of our luggage) to the Nanjing University. We arrived at our hotel on the university campus after a total of 30hrs travelling. 

Bo had been studying Chinese at Nanjing Normal University for the past year. 

We spent five days having Bo show us around his school: quite a beautiful setting, lots of trees, ponds, parks, outdoor basketball courts and old buildings. 

He took us all around his neighbourhood: very cute, good places to eat (Cheap Street) where we could get a really yummy meal for our whole family for less than $20. 

Because Bo had his regular eating places we met many people with whom he'd formed a friendship, Chinese and others. It appeared to us that he's quite fluent in Chinese, but how would we know if he wasn't? He certainly seemed to be able to make himself understood by the local people there. 

But... if you'd prefer western food, McDonald's even delivers. No thanks to that for me.