The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum (The Rape of Nanjing)
- Riley Smith
- Sep 25, 2019
- 4 min read
I apologize for the delay. There have been wi-fi as well as physical/mental health issues but we will get caught back to real time as soon as possible. Also, due to the crazy amount of photos, they will again be crazy poor quality.
I woke up groggy and unprepared for my big trip (I had purchased and pre-downloaded Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and stayed up late playing it the night before. It was around 8:15, but rather than hopping out of my bed I fell in and out of sleep for the next 45 minutes.
In my sleepy haze, I saw a text from Salma that said "Look forward to our playing together next time." I responded "Me too! I'm about to head up now, I'm starting with the Nanjing Massacre Memorial." It wasn't until I fully woke up at 9 that I realized this first text was from Anne. "Playing together" should have tipped me off.
On my way to the train station, I stopped back at the McDonald's for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich. The pigs served me again. As I started to eat on the train, a security guard yelled at me. So I didn't get to eat my sandwich until 40 minutes later, while waiting for my first train transfer. The bacon egg and cheese had all cooled down considerably by this point, and were pretty disgusting.
I don't know if I have mentioned Chinese B.O. yet, but it is definitely a thing. I think I mentioned it, but god do you notice it on the subways. And I've been the stinky guy before, many times. When I'm complaining about it, you know its a serious issue. I don't care if deodorant is bad for you, people need to wear it.
By the time I was getting to my second transfer, I had to pee pretty badly. (This blog should be called Riley Pees and Poos in China). I searched for a bathroom at the terminal, but none was to be seen. I still had two more transfers left.
For the next part of the train ride, I had two possible routes. I could stay on the 1 to the 2 and then double back, or I could take the 1 to the 8 to the 2. I was just thinking about how the 1 was underground when all of a sudden, it came above ground and I could get a nice view of the city from train. I then, stupidly, transferred to the 10, which was underground. Whenever the train would go underground, I would pull out my book to read (A Liar's Autobiography, Volume 6 by Graham Chapman) and the train would suddenly come back outside. I would put my book away, only to descend underground yet again.
After 2 hours and 15 minutes, I finally got off at my station. There was no bathroom during the other transfers either, so at this point I was really jonesing for a piss. But I was finally here, at the Nanjing Memorial, supposedly one of the saddest museums in the world. They would definitely have somewhere I could alleviate myself here.
The statue above had a poem that I am paraphrasing because I don't remember it word for word but was something along the lines of:
The Husband who died in the fields
The Child who was buried alive
The wife who was raped 100 times
Oh the Heavens
Yeah, dark shit, I was almost crying and I haven't even gone it yet. I also didn't get to go in at all. Apparently the Nanjing Massacre Museum is closed on Mondays. I messaged Salma asking for a recommendation but she recommended something that was part of tomorrow itinerary. So I said "thanks and see you at 5." She said "I get out of class at 6" so I said "that's what I meant 6" and she said "okay" but we all know that wasn't what I had meant, I thought she got out at 5.
I still had to urinate pretty badily and began to desperately run around looking for a bathroom. Across the street from Nanjing Massacre Museum was another museum. I had no idea what it was, but museums usually have nice bathrooms (solid tip for anyone traveling), so I ran inside.
Never have I gone through a museum so quickly. It seemed like a really solid museum, but I was booking it looking for the bathroom. There were lots of ancient looms and weaving machines, gorgeous dresses made of silk, elaborate silk screens. It seemed like it was a cloth or weaving museum. Really cool Chinese dresses. I don't really know, I was literally speed walking and thinking "Oh that looks nice, that looks nice." I made it all the way to the gift shop without finding a single bathroom. Pulling out my phone with my translator app, I type where is the toilet and show it to the women sitting behind the gift shop desk. She points outside to a row of porta-potties, which smelled really terrible.
I got back on the subway and started heading towards a zoo because the name zoo was in the title of the station and that's a thing you can do during the day. But as I was heading over, I found another landmark that I had read a bit about and decided to check out. So I get off a stop early, and head towards the Xuanwu Gate, behind which is Xuanwu Lake. My first real stop on my first real solo trip outside of Gaochun.
Sorry to break the fourth wall again, (in a blog, is it the third wall?), but over the course of my trip to Nanjing, I get sick. I don't want to give away too many spoilers, I'm fine, but I need to take care of myself so I am going to go to bed early tonight. I don't have a ton to do tomorrow though, so I plan on focusing on this. Again, I apologize for the delays and we should get this blog fully back and running in no time. I appreciate your patience.
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