Tuesday, August 23

Back and forth to Nanjing


Had to go to Nanjing for a quick 1 day visit. It's really easy to get to Nanjing from Shanghai even though it is around 400km. Only takes 1,5 hours with the bullet train that goes 300km/h. Since the last months accident on the Shanghai - Beijing bullet train route they have taken down the speed. These trains top speed is actually 450km/h but at the moment only drive 300. People in China are still pretty pisst of at the accident. The Government told press that it was not allowed to make news about it too often and then they dug down one of the train becuase "it had secret technology" It's unclear how many people died but reports said that 44 were dead in a accident where around 200 people sit in each wagon and 3 train wagons fell down from a 30 meter high bridge and when the trains collided it was running around 250km/h. The train was also reported to have been full of travelers. A lot of unclear things about the whole things and now you can't see anything about it in the news here. The ticket price for bullet trains went down by 5% after the accident...
Now when you buy train tickets in China remember to bring your passport or a passport copy! Otherwise they will not sell the ticket, this is just to stop the black market ticket sales. Before a lot of people went to buy lots of tickets just before some national holiday and everything was sold out except from the black market where you had to pay double...If there is a way to make money in China, people will do it. Resourceful!
They got IFC malls all over China, these places only have luxury goods but usually also a Starbucks where to have your morning coffee :)
When I was leaving Nanjing I came to the station a little too early. There is a lake next to the station but when your in China it's packed with people everywhere. And in second grade cities they stare at me like I was a ghost.

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