nanjing's ming tombs

Hello from Nanjing, China. The little lady and I are here for the next few days to (hopefully) find a place to live. The house search doesn't start until Tuesday, so we've had a bit of time to kill. It's been rainy/snowy, which doesn't making for great touring, but we decided to brave the elements this morning for a bit of sightseeing. Today's choice was Ming Xiao Ling, which is the tomb of the Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming Dynasty. The weather kept crowds to a minimum, which was nice.

The tomb palace:


Becca at the top of the palace:


The palace ceiling:






I always love seeing different writing systems and styles. The Ming tombs were great for this.











Becca in a pagoda at the top of Plum Mountain, a small hill in the area:


Stone Elephant Path. Yeah, those are horses, so we were confused as well.






I figured that getting back to our hotel might be an issue, but fortunately we didn't have to wait at the entrance to the tombs more than a minute or two before we were approached by an unlicensed taxi driver asking us if we wanted a ride. Unlicensed is something to be avoided in most countries, but I had done this before in Nanjing and wasn't worried. He asked a high price and refused to haggle (unlicensed = no meter), so we ended up paying 50% more than we had on the way out, but that's OK--it was still only a couple extra bucks. I'd rather spend that than wait outside in the cold. And regardless, taxis in Nanjing are still cheaper than pretty much every other Chinese city I've visited.

It was cool to go back to Ming Xiao Ling. I visited 12 years ago when I was a student, but had a crappy camera and had to follow my teacher and classmates around, so today's leisurely pace was much better. In any case, Ming Xiao Ling is well worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood.