Muschamp Rd

Replica Treasure Fleet Ship Achievement Unlocked!

June 18th, 2014

I made it to “The Treasure Fleet Shipyard Park” but I wanted to see the real wooden replica Treasure Fleet ship they are building somewhere near Nanjing, but just like last time, I have no idea where and people I asked had no idea either. Even finding this park required help, a black taxi, my iPhone map, and a lot of walking on badly blistered feet.

I’ve been keen to see the Treasure Fleet ship since watching the documentary done by Gavin Menzies, I’ve read the books, I’ve probably even visited the website, but since I’ve now been to Nanjing twice, I devote most of the day to seeing what I could see commemorating Admiral Zheng He’s life.

I never saw Zheng He’s museum/tomb or that of his assistant. I never saw the stele which proves the dates of his voyages. I’ve definitely never been to some of the other locations he left stone stele commemorating his voyages, but considering my blisters’ blisters have blisters I did the best I could. I tried the intelligent auto and intelligent auto+ modes on my Panasonic gm1 as inside the replica treasure fleet ship are models but not so great lighting. I also took several pictures of the bronze statue they’ve erected of the man himself.

My email and iPhoto have continued to give me nothing but grief. I was aided in seeing this park and in returning safe by a couple random dudes. One got me into a black cab with him which took me most of the way there. I paid 50 RMB which might have been a slightly inflated ‘laowei’ price, but he paid 25 RMB to get where he wanted to go first, so that cabby did well. Again while standing at a bus stop a random Chinese guy chatted me up because of my Vancity t-shirt and Canadian flag. He was quite chatty, he is on exchange at Duke University and once had changed planes in Vancouver airport. We talked about the CFA® Program, the GMAT, MBA programs, and the difficulty in finding a good job. He got me part way back to my hotel and I managed the rest. I never got either of their names or even a cheesy photo, but I’ve helped my share of random people so it is good to see my karma has improved.

Replica treasure fleet ship in Shipyard Park in Nanjing

Model of largest treasure fleet ship

Statue of Admiral Zheng He erected in Nanjing

Update January 2019

This is actually a decent blog post and my second trip to Nanjing went much better than my first but still I never saw and did everything I wanted to do so hopefully I can visit Nanjing a third time. My number one priority at the moment is getting a new and much better job. I’ve spent the last four years teaching English in China. I was only supposed to be teaching temporarily. I was told I could get a much better job, especially after I passed the final CFA exam. If you have any questions about China or advice on finding a job, you should leave a comment below.

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