I had been over the the island the previous month and was keen to go back on my bike.
In the true tradition of Enid Blyton, 4 of us plus a small pands bear (in place of Timmy the dog), went on an adventure. Mark, Mark and Leigh had cycled from the other end of the city and were very late by the time they arrived at the ferry. Never mind – it was a nice day and I waited under a tree for them. The ferry over to Grape Island was quick and cheap (10p).
We landed on the island in the Yangtse and cycled along the near bank looking back towards Nanjing city. We cycled right along the edge of the island, to our left the banks of the Yangtse and to our right lots of small old houses. Some had courtyard with birds hanging in cages and beautiful tulips in pots and flowering trees. It was a magnificent sight. We cycled on and down lanes until we found what I had discovered on my previous trip – the mannequin pond. Can you believe – a pond full of mannequins! This was a real mystery for the Famous Five. We looked for clues but found none – spoke to some locals but could not make ourselves understood. It was a strange sight indeed.
We then made our way inland to the centre of the island and had rather a long lay down in a small roadside bar. The whole island seemed quiet and you could barely hear any motors. After a few cold beers we had a few more and then an ice-cream and we set off back to the ferry. We had spent about 3 hours on the island and had become quite fond of it.
How strange it was then that 5 weeks later Mark and I spotted from the Nanjing side of the river that all the riverside houses seemed to have been knocked down. I insisted that we go across on the ferry to have a look. And what we found there was just rubble where houses used to be. All the photos here are from our first visit when we were marvelling at the charm of the place and how nice it would be to live over there in the peace and quiet.
Now they have knocked them all down and have relocated the people into highrise blocks and are redeveloping the area. It’s all very very sad. Nothing of any charm seems to remain. Out with the old, in with the new – a constant tearing down and building up again.
….or and although there were still mannequins in the pond, many of them had left too – only a handful of stalwarts remained.