winter sun

These last waning days in Nanjing have been quite nice, mild winter days with clear skies and sun and that certain air in the afternoon that leaves you happy and content. Maybe it's the excitement of leaving and starting a new chapter that has roused my memory of all the good and interesting experiences I have had here, and allowed the duller moments to recede into the back. In the end Nanjing is not the greatest city, but it's not entirely bad except for the food. Nanjing is the kind of place someone would tell you "is a nice place to raise a family," and you would instantly think, that place must be pretty boring. One thing Nanjing has is history, and a long string of it to boot. Furthermore, for a city, people are much friendlier in Nanjing compared with Beijing and Shanghai. So many cities in China are more and more resembling each other as they develop and share each other's flavors. Nanjing will most probably turn progressively more modern and dull. Beijing is already doing the same. Shanghai just sucks all around.
I want to come back to China again in a few years simply to travel. I would really only want to go to the cities to visit friends, otherwise I am more interested in going to more rural areas in the west and southwest. My cousin Renzhi mentioned that he and his girlfriend may get married in a few years. It would be fun to return to Hunan for that, spend more time in the 故乡, see Leiyang and Hunan's holy mountain, and then skip around a few other places. For now, these are just idle thoughts that keep me entertained. The reality of starting a career will give fewer opportunities to return, so I will make a list of the places I want to go most, and think practically of how I can plan a trip sometime in the future.
China is a wonderful place to explore, though not always the greatest place to live. With a daily pollution index in the hundreds in these major cities, I am excited for the relatively fresh air that America, the northwest in particular, has to offer. Beats inhaling two packs of cigarettes each day.