Let me set the scene…
让我来设置场景……
I’m sitting outside Nanjing Railway Station on a slightly chilly November morning sipping on my Americano; too hot and bitter but I need it at this time of morning; and munching down my morning “baozi”. I’m gazing over Xuanwu Lake and further afield towards the cityscape and Zifeng Tower. Some of the city lights are blinking off as daylight slowly drags itself out of bed.
在一个略带寒冷的11月的早晨，我坐在南京火车站外，喝着美式酒；太热了，太苦了，但我早上这个时候需要它；咀嚼着我早上的“包子”。 我正凝视着玄武湖，更远的是城市景观和紫峰塔。 随着日光慢慢从床上爬起来，一些城市灯光闪烁着熄灭。
But this romanticised view of the city is abruptly broken as I realise I’m going to my miss my train if I don’t get a move on. Not a great start to the day, as I rush across to go through the security area and on to getting my ticket checked, where a station employee fumbles around with my passport and I silently beg him not to bend it too much like that as he attempts to scan it.
但这种浪漫的城市景观突然被打破了，因为我意识到如果我不继续前进，我会错过我的火车。 这不是一天的好开始，我冲过去穿过安检区，开始检查我的票，在那里，一个车站员工摸索着我的护照，我默默地求他不要像那样弯曲，因为他试图扫描它。
Very soon after, I’m sat comfortably in my allocated seat as the train departs. Across the Yangtze River Bridge we go, heading in a northerly direction, and then eastwards towards Nantong.
不久之后，当火车起飞时，我舒适地坐在分配的座位上。 我们穿过长江大桥，向北走，然后向东走向南通。
I didn’t plan on going back so soon, if at all if I’m being brutally honest, but duty calls and the chance to see and celebrate with a friend and past students of mine proved a good-enough excuse to return to the eastern Jiangsu city.
老实说，我不打算这么快就回去，但值班电话和与朋友以及我过去的学生一起见面和庆祝的机会被证明是回到江苏东部城市的充分借口。
My eyes drifted from my book, a collection of poetry by Ted Hughes, from its pages to the flat, irrigated plains that seemed far removed from the imaginative, symbolic and natural themes of the poems laid out in front of me in my hands. I thought to myself that I needed another coffee to perk me up as we made our way past Yangzhou (decent food, decent lake, decent spa baths) and on towards Taizhou (note to self; might visit one day) as the carriage around me slowly emptied of other passengers. The landscape stayed flat and characterless as we pulled up at Nantong West Station, my final stop for the time being.
我的目光从我的书上飘落，这是泰德·休斯的诗集，从书页飘到平坦的、灌溉的平原上，似乎与我手中的诗歌的富有想象力、象征性和自然的主题相去甚远。 我心想，当我们经过扬州（不错的食物、不错的湖泊、不错的水疗浴池），前往台州（自我注意；有一天可能会访问）时，我需要再喝杯咖啡来让我振作起来，因为我周围的马车慢慢清空了其他乘客。 当我们停在南通西站时，风景仍然平淡无奇，这是我目前的最后一站。
Let me add a little context here. I lived, taught and adopted a cat in my 2-year tenure in Nantong. Regarded by some as China’s first “modern” city, I had longed for Chengdu and my previous lifestyle whilst there, and wished away my days when the decision to move to Nanjing was finalised. Numerous friends, colleagues and students had come and gone in more recent months, but I nevertheless planned to make a day of it, wandering around my old Nantong haunts while I waited for the early evening celebrations to begin.
让我在这里添加一点上下文。 在南通的2年任期内，我生活、教和收养了一隻貓。 被一些人视为中国第一个“现代”城市，我渴望成都和我以前在那里的生活方式，并希望搬到南京的决定最终确定时的日子过去。 最近几个月来，许多朋友、同事和学生来来去去，但我还是计划度过一天，在我以前的南通出没的地方徘徊，同时等待傍晚庆祝活动的开始。
The Didi dropped me off downtown as I realised, Toto, I was not in Kansas anymore. Coffee number two accompanied me as I made my way to the nearby Rive Hao (濠河). Imagine an ancient wall, think Xi’an or our more familiar Nanjing, and the river acts as the same,surrounding the old city centre like a square.
迪迪把我送到市中心，我意识到，托托，我不再在堪萨斯州了。 当我去附近的濠河时，第二杯咖啡伴随着我。 想象一下一堵古老的城墙，想想西安或我们更熟悉的南京，河流也一样，像一个广场一样环绕着老城区中心。
To kill time, I planned to walk the entire thing; the whole 15 kilometres of it (my watch step counter had a field day that day).
为了打消磨时间，我计划走整个路；走整整15公里（我的手表计步器那天有一个野外日）。
Very “Jiangnan” (江南) in style, character and atmosphere, despite being north of the Yangtze; museums galore, temples and a bell tower cradle the river. I avoided the lot, sticking to the wooden walkways that accompanied the river.
尽管位于长江以北，但在风格、性格和氛围上都非常“江南”；博物馆、寺庙和钟楼在河上摇摇摇大。 我避开了地段，坚持沿河的木制人行道。
My destination after walking the circumference of the squared river, a few toilet stops and quick pitstop along the way for a beef kebab, was slap bang in the middle of downtown Nantong and a stone’s throw away from the busy shopping street, although fractionally busy compared to Xinjiekou, where were Nantong’s alleys.
走完方河的周长后，我的目的地是南通市中心，离繁忙的购物街只有一箭之遥，尽管与南通的小巷相比，新街比较繁忙。
These are not your typical inner-city alleys full of life. Most of the long-abandoned buildings here are adorned with the character, “拆”; to be demolished. Aside from these, a historical meeting house here and a “red” tourist sight there, tiny Daoist and Buddhist temples dot these alleys that are almost soulless, eerie in their emptiness.
这些不是典型的充满生意的内城小巷。 这里大部分废弃已久的建筑都装饰着“拆”字；将被拆除。 除了这些，这里有一个历史悠久的会所和那里有一个“红色”的旅游景点，小道教和佛教寺庙点在这些小巷里，这些小巷几乎没有灵魂，空虚令人毛骨悚然。
Although the occasional e-bike rattles past, it’s the unnerving gazes of the homeless alley cats peering down at me from the roofs of the futureless houses as I meander my way through these mazelike alleys that keep me company. Part of me almost expects to turn a corner and see lavishly dressed couples having their wedding photos done, or even the Taobao models dressed to the nines, in these ancient looking ambient alleys, but I soon realise where I am. This isn’t Nanjing’s Yihe Lu area.
虽然偶尔的电动自行车会摇摇晃晃地过去，但当我蜿蜒穿过这些陪伴我的迷宫般的小巷时，无家可归的小巷猫从无未来的房子的屋顶上偷看我，令人不安的目光。 我的一部分几乎期待着转过一个角落，在这些看起来很古老的环境小巷里，看到穿着奢华的情侣拍婚纱照，甚至淘宝模特打扮得漂漂亮亮的，但我很快就意识到我在哪里。 這不是南京的宜河路地区。
Coffee number three warms my hands up as I ponder a potential final look over the panoramic River Hao and contemplate the 2 years spent here. I think of friends and times gone by. To quote Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. I long to return to the hustle and bustle of Nanjing. I also realise that I’m a very different person to the one who lived here before; I’ve moved on and I’ve got the cat souvenir to prove it.
三号咖啡温暖了我的手，我思考着可能的最后一眼看到全景的郝河，并思考在这里度过的2年。 我想到了朋友和过去的时光。 引用狄更斯的话，“那是最好的时代，也是最糟糕的时代”。 我渴望回到繁華的南京。 我也意識到，我和以前住在这里的人完全不同；我已经继续前进了，我有猫的纪念品来证明这一点。
Much like the start of my day, I remember that I’m almost running late and have places to go, and people to meet. Sightseeing or “sight-remembering” done and dusted, with no time left to head south of the city and take in Wolf Mountain or Bingjiang Park. I quickly remind myself to book my train ticket back to Nanjing, back to home, and I force a smile on my face as I prepare to have my first real human contact of the day; intimidating and territorial alley cats don’t count.
就像我一天的开始一样，我记得我快迟到了，还有地方要去，还有人要见。 观光或“观光回忆”完成并掸去灰尘，没有时间前往城市南部，游览狼山或冰江公园。 我迅速提醒自己预订回南京、回家的火车票，当我准备进行今天第一次真正的人类接触时，我强迫自己脸上露出笑容；恐吓和领地的小巷猫不算在内。
The third coffee of the day (the last one I promise myself) gives me a much-needed buzz as I wait for another Didi to cart me off to where people are waiting for me in a Korean BBQ restaurant.
当天的第三杯咖啡（我向自己保证的最后一杯）给了我一个急需的嗡嗡声，因为我在等待另一个迪迪把我送到人们在韩国烧烤餐厅等我的地方。