Few Hours in Fuzimiao, Nanjing China

Per info from other colleagues who have been in Nanjing for training also, the training venue is about 1 hour ride by bus from the hotel we lived in. That means we don’t have time to explore the city and we do not know yet if there will be a day tour allocated for us before heading back home.

Might as well make use of our free hours and see the Confucius Temple at Fuzimiao, with Sir Nards as our guide, because it was his second time in Nanjing. Our plan was to take the subway from Xinmifanmalu to Sanshanjie station, then by foot going to the temple.

Following the downloaded map, we took another walk of the day to the nearby Nanjing Metro Subway Station the Xinmofanmalu, which was about 20 to 30 minute medium to fast paces from the hotel.

  

Luckily, the ticket counter at the subway station has an English translation. A little click here and there viola, we already have our tickets in the form of plastic coins.  

The printed English translations within the Metro subway made it a tourist friendly transport option.

 

Blue Monday

We disembarked at Shanshanjie station and took a few more minutes by foot until we finally saw a Paifang, a Chinese Archway that signifies the entrance to Fuzimiao, (I hope that’s what it says in the markings).

Not just one but few more Paifangs later..

Roaming and walking around, sometimes was left behind by the group, I spotted the Confucius Temple. I thought the group will enter the temple, but because they were not really that interested + there is an entrance fee, I settled by just taking photos of the entrance.

In front of the Confucius Temple, is the Qin Huai River, at 110 kilometers in length branch of the great Yangtze River and is the largest river in Nanjing.

 


Monday Mellow Yellows

Later, I entered some of the stalls that fancied me and tried to find some souvenir items sold in the market. With some advises from my colleagues and by experience, I learned “How to Buy Souvenir Items in China”. Enter the magical world of haggling when buying in a market place in China, these are; 

 1. Always make sure that you are really decided to buy the item before bargaining, the vendors might get mad if you took his time negotiating and realized you are not the interested with the item.

2. Start your lowest bargain price half or more than half of the displayed price. 

3. Then start increasing by 5 to 10 increments.

4. If the seller will not let you go and still offering his price, he will eventually settle in between or much give in to your own price. 

Also remember, do your haggling in a stall visible in public, never go with someone offering items, then bringing you in much secluded place where their stocks are located. This is for your own safety. After all, you are in a foreign land.

 

One of the items in “My Things to Buy In China” is an accessory, particularly a bangle bracelet made of jade. But after seeing these in the market, it made me think twice because there are also a lot of fake ones around, just like in Divisoria or Quaipo.

 

At the end of our tour in Fuzimiao, I end up with only 7 pieces of porcelain “Shaolin” figurine sold at 10CNY.

Ruby Tuesday Too

Still, our few hours in Fuzimiao, Nanjing, is one memorable experience. Seeing the place glowing at night is just amazing.