Staring back on my time in China, the feeling that all was not as it first appears was a near-constant companion as I adapted to the inevitable cultural obstacles any foreigner feels leaving home.
回顾我在中国的时光，当我适应任何外国人离开家时不可避免的文化障碍时，一切都不像最初看起来那样，这种感觉几乎是恒久的伴侣。
Specifically, though, for me, that feeling will always be tied to place. Nanjing has more than its fair share of places that will live in my memory, perhaps tinged with a soft-edged nostalgia.
不过，具体来说，对我来说，这种感觉永远与地方联系在一起。 南京有很多地方会活在我的记忆中，也许带有柔和的怀旧。
First up is Zixia Lake on Purple Mountain.
首先是紫山的紫霞湖。
We’ve all surely completed the required trudge around Purple Mountain by now, whether it’s a wintry climb up to the summit and a resigned cable car back down, or a scorching summer wander through the parks, gardens and Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. But something a lot of people miss is a meander into the trees west of the mausoleum, and the gem that awaits.
到目前为止，我们肯定已经完成了围绕紫山所需的跋涉，无论是在冬天爬到山顶和乘坐缆车，还是在炎热的夏天漫步在公园、花园和中山陵墓。 但许多人错过的是漫步在陵墓以西的树木中，以及等待的宝石。
It is best, if possible, to enter Purple Mountain via one of the eastern back gates, as this is much closer to the Lake. A short 20 minute stroll uphill past some rather nice, if rustic, pavilions and villas will bring you to the edge of the lake. If its your first time, the Lake opens up in front of you like a storybook, and if you’re a return visitor, its pleasing to compare it with your last trip and see what’s changed.
如果可能的话，最好通过其中一个东后门进入紫山，因为那里离湖更近。 漫步20分钟，经过一些相当漂亮的、质朴的亭子和别墅，就会把你带到湖边。 如果这是你第一次来，湖就像一本故事书一样在你面前打开，如果你是回访的游客，把它和你上次的旅行进行比较，看看有什么变化是令人高兴的。
For best results, bring a picnic and come on a hot day. And be prepared to swim! While the waters may not look too clear, dozens of elderly locals swimming with flotation aids usually crafted from old cooking oil bottles can’t be wrong. Some of my best memories from Nanjing are swimming in this lake during the height of summer. The top of the water reaches the temperature of a warm bath, while if you dive beneath the surface it quickly gets deliciously chilly.
为了获得最佳效果，带上野餐，在炎热的日子来。 准备好游泳！ 虽然水可能看起来不太清澈，但数十名老年当地人用通常用旧食用油瓶制作的浮力辅助工具游泳是没有错的。 我在南京的一些最美好的回忆是在盛夏时在这个湖里游泳。 水的顶部达到温水浴的温度，而如果你潜入水面下，它很快就会变得美味地寒冷。
However, be warned that those flotation aids are a good idea; it is very easy to get cramp from those chilly waters below. It has not happened in a while, but there have been people who have drowned.
然而，请注意，这些浮力辅助工具是个好主意；下面那些寒冷的水域很容易抽筋。 已经有一段时间没有发生这种情况了，但有人淹死了。
If you really want to dive, join the kids and occasional showboating adult jumping from either the platform near the pavilion, or the wooden construction at the south-east end. Depending on whether someone has ripped the attached ropes down or not, the old, mysterious tower construction at the lake’s southwest can also be climbed and bombed from. Be careful, and be aware; you need to be already in the water!
如果你真的想潜水，请加入孩子们和偶尔的成人表演，从亭子附近的平台或东南端的木制建筑上跳跃。 根据是否有人撕掉了所附的绳子，湖西南的古老而神秘的塔建筑也可以爬上去和轰炸。 小心，注意；你需要已经在水里了！
Here at Zixia Lake, however, all is absolutely not as it seems. For the place is simply timeless.
然而，在紫霞湖这里，一切都完全不像看起来那样。 因为这个地方简直是永恒的。
There’s a feeling here that the relentless pace of modernisation and construction, replete with its social costs and the march towards conformity, has passed this spot by. It may be the aged locals who seem to swim whatever the weather, harking back to the hardy myth of the everyday worker getting on with life and its obstacles. It may be the pleasing absence of shops, services or staff around (don’t worry, there are toilets!) that lend the area a genuine feeling of individuality that too many modern attractions are missing. Or it may be the literal lack a building that seems younger than 50 years. But who knows – as with so many things in China, this could be not as it seems too.
這裡有一種感覺，即現代化和建設的無情步伐，其社會成本和走向順應的步伐，已經過去了這一點。 可能是那些年迈的当地人似乎无论天气如何都能游泳，回想起日常工人与生活及其障碍相上的艰难神话。 可能是周围没有商店、服务或工作人员（别担心，有厕所！） 这赋予了该地区一种真正的个性感，而太多现代景点都缺少了。 或者可能是字面意思上缺少一座似乎不到50年的建築。 但谁知道呢——就像中国的许多事情一样，这可能并不像看起来那样。
Onto my second spot; Fangshan, or Mount Fang.
进入我的第二个位置；方山，或方山。
While we have no shortage of “mountains” (usually hills) to explore on weekends in China, Fangshan is worth a visit for similar reasons to Zixia Lake; there just seems to be parts of it that are stuck in time. Even just beyond the entrance gate, the arches and monuments had a charming, but not over-the-top, feeling of decay that appealed to the urban explorer teenage boy still within me.
虽然我们在中国周末不乏“山”（通常是山丘）可以探索，但房山值得一游，原因与紫霞湖相似；只是有些地方似乎被时间卡住了。 即使在入口大门之外，拱门和纪念碑也有一种迷人的，但并不夸张的腐朽感，吸引了仍然在我体内的城市探险家十几岁的男孩。
Signs detail the site is an extinct volcano, while at the top of the mountain this geological connection continues. I’ll not spoil all the details; any parents with children who are budding geographers should not delay.
迹象表明，该遗址是一座死火山，而在山顶，这种地质联系仍在继续。 我不会破坏所有细节；任何有初出茅庐的地理学家的父母都不应该拖延。
Less flippantly, the area is a good hike. There are great views out over the south of Nanjing, and you may spot something in the distance for your next visit, like Niushoushan (up next). For me, the highlight, and how this place sticks out in my memory was the disconnect upon my felicitous stumbling across a tunnel right through the mountain, one end to the other. As I was climbing to the top, I took a few random turns, to see what I could see. I followed a narrow dirt track away from the main path, and came across a solid concrete hole into the hill, forbidding and dark.
轻率地说，这个地区是一个不错的徒步旅行地点。 南京南部有美景，下次访问时，你可能会在远处发现一些东西，比如牛首山（下一个）。 对我来说，亮点，以及这个地方在我的记忆中如何突出，是我偶然偶然穿过一条穿过山的隧道时的脱节，一端到另一端。 当我爬到山顶时，我随便转了几圈，看看我能看到什么。 我沿着一条狭窄的土路远离主路，遇到了一个坚硬的混凝土洞，进入山丘，禁黝而黑暗。
I love things like this. Things that should probably be closed off, protected, or at the very least signposted. Things that might have been closed off by the health and safety police in my native England. Blessedly, though, this incongruous, musty and slightly terrifying hole through the hill was wide open, and after a little hesitation, in I went.
我喜欢这样的东西。 可能应该封闭、保护或至少标牌的东西。 在我的祖国英国，健康和安全警察可能已经关闭的东西。 不过，幸运的是，穿过山丘的这个不协调、发臭和略显可怕的洞是敞开的，在稍稍犹豫后，我走了进去了。
I figured it may have been a bomb shelter, due to the military presence in the area (at the top of the mountain are some interesting shaped buildings with threatening fences blocking them off), and sure enough as I went through guided by my phone light there were, on either side, what felt like bunkers. It was dark, dingy and felt just a little dangerous. If you’re up for a weekend hike that offers something at least a little unusual, why not try and seek out this dark descent into the bowels of Fangshan Mountain.
我想这可能是一个防空洞，因为该地区有军事存在（在山顶上有一些形状有趣的建筑，有威胁性的栅栏挡住了它们），当然，当我在手机灯的引导下穿过时，两边都有感觉像掩体的东西。 天很黑，很昏暗，感覺有點危險。 如果你想在周末徒步旅行，至少有一些不尋常的事情，为什么不试着去方山深处寻找这个黑暗的下坡。
Finally then, Niushoushan.
最后，牛首山。
This may be the most conventional spot on my list; it is certainly the newest and most commercially developed. Yet even here, away from the grandeur and pomp of the Foding Pagoda and Great Usnisa Hall (well worth a visit!) there are hints and echoes of the past, of things being not quite what they seem on the surface.
这可能是我清单上最传统的地方；它肯定是最新和商业上最发达的地方。 然而，即使在这里，也远离福丁塔和大乌斯尼萨大厅的宏伟和浮夸（非常值得一游！） 过去有暗示和回声，事情并不像表面上看起来那么好。
If you can, stroll off piste. Like Robert Frost, take the road less travelled by, and you may stumble across some gold. At Niushoushan, I ended up climbing, climbing and climbing. I passed perhaps one other couple on my quest to get away from the crowds. I also passed parts of the park that seemed forgotten.
如果可以的话，在滑雪道上漫步。 像罗伯特·弗罗斯特一样，走一条人迹罕至的路，你可能会偶然发现一些黄金。 在牛首山，我最终爬了又爬又爬。 在寻求远离人群的过程中，我可能和另一对夫妇擦肩而过。 我还经过了公园里似乎被遗忘的部分。