Huai’an in our very own Jiangsu has as its biggest claim to fame that it was the home of Zhou Enlai, China’s first and longest-serving Premier. Rightfully revered to this day, history buffs will therein revel in a grand memorial to the great man.
This Trip, however, had another purpose altogether; to seek out the home of stray cats.
Hence, the commandment came down to take to the waters of Lake Jin in southern Huai’an out of the White Horse Lake Ecology Tourism Area, just 2 hours drive from Nanjing Railway Station. For Lake Jin is home to Cat Island, and today the dwelling for scores of stray cats, lovingly cared for and given a chance at a real life.
Our party felt a little Columbus like as the Island neared. For this was indeed a new world, one entirely inhabited by felines. Upon approach, and with our vessel’s motion creating a gentle breeze which took the edge off the first heat of summer, the curious sight of a giant, green cat presented itself.
And as it would transpire, the edifice is home to some questionable odour and the Island’s gift shop. Pick up a cat-themed trinket for anywhere between ¥42 and ¥2,280 (the cheaper ones are less kitsch).
As to the beasts themselves, these are cats that have never had it so good. An entire 22,000-square-metre island to themselves, accompanied by endless pampering from the numerous staff on hand with little to do on this, a Tuesday morning, other than attend to the whims of national media.
Cats are of course, lucky; a concept which The Nanjinger can corroborate. Coming across a field of clover, it took all of 3 seconds for this correspondent to find a four-leaf variety (his first ever, a million miles from Ireland). And the staff of Cat Island another 3 seconds to point out that five-leaf clovers are also to be chanced upon. For the superstitious, it alone is enough reason to visit.
Fortune would next have us back on the water. An hour east, in the Lake Jin Water Forest Scenic Area to be exact, being punted around, after a ride on a genuine, narrow-gauge train, save for the faux smoke and it being electric.
Among its many other attractions, the Kingdom of Treetop with therein a 250-metre long glass walkway. While some fearful of heights elected to remain Earthbound, the rest of our party ascended by lift the equivalent of eight storeys to have some still grasping the handrails just in case their transparent floor was to give way. Plenty of trees at least to break their fall.
By way of celebration for the achievement, however, is the means of return to Earth; a slide, though thankfully one not glass bottomed.
And for those happy to linger longer (a whole day could be spent in this beguilingly large Scenic Area), accommodation. Review site Dianping may not rate it so highly (if one puts stock in such things), but bring a stack of food and drink, and there’s no reason why the oxygen bar that Narada Aquatic Forest Hot Spring Resort Hotel represents could not be all the tonic needed. Mosquito protection essential.
With our feet back on the ground and mindful of the vertigo sufferers who might prefer an hour in the other direction, we made our final stop Jiangba Town on the eastern shores of Hongze Lake.
Falling under the jurisdiction of both Huai’an and Suqian, Hongze Lake is two things; massive and magnificent. As the second-largest lake in Jiangsu and, by some counts, the fifth largest in all of China, Hongze Lake also forms an integral part of the Grand Canal.
But before we found such splendour, we first wandered the streets of Jiangba. While here and there is admittedly a construction site with an eye on catering to visitors which are already hoards during holiday periods, if there was one overriding impression as takeaway, it was that China is beginning to kick its 20 year-long habit of ripping up the old to replace with the new.
In Jiangba, the old is being celebrated, for real, not just tarted up with gimmicky vintage. For while sitting with a cup of tea in a local dwelling spruced, not renovated, a surprise VIP visit from Premier Zhou himself walking in the door falls entirely within the realm of possibility.
