So I spent most of Saturday afternoon biking around an island on the Yangze River called Jiangxin Zhou 江心洲， it literally means the island in the heart of the river. Going to Jiangxin Zhou is a great way to separate oneself from the noise and commotion of Nanjing City. The first time I visited was about 5 weeks ago, some classmates and I visited a local art student friend of ours. She told us she moved to the island to set herself in a very calm atmosphere so she could complete her art works in peace.
I was surprised to find exactly how big the Jiangxin Zhou is. It took me about 1 1/2 hours to bike around the entire island, I did top a few times to take photos and patch flat tires. For the most part it was uninterrupted biking, something that is very uncommon in this hectic concrete jungle called Nanjing.
The island its self is very beautiful. All the streets are lined with trees and the scenery is made up of colorful farmlands and fishing boats on the coast. In the center of the island are the small city centers. Below are all the wonderful pictures and a great map.
I think in the back of my head the main reason for taking this small biking adventure was just to make a map of it :) Black dotted line was the route I rode, red number correspond to the photo!
 |
| 1. On the bridge heading to Jiangxin Zhou 江心洲。 |
 |
| 2. Trees line all the streets. |
 |
| 3. Small crops dot the landscape. |
 |
| 4. Over looking a small orchard. In the back round is a reminder how close to the City these islanders are. |
 |
| 5. Heading south along the western coast. |
 |
| 6. An abandoned tree-fort looking house. |
 |
| 7. |
 |
| 8. The main dock on the western coast of the island. |
 |
| 9. I'm not sure what the are harvesting in this aquatic farm, but those are all Sprite bottles floating in the water. |
 |
| 10. Shipyard, or a ship graveyard. These two behemoths were being taken apart. |
 |
| 11. Over looking more crops. |
 |
| 12. A lovely little beach on the south end of the island. |
 |
| 13. A temple on the southern tip of the island |
 |
| 14. The Southern tip of Jiangxin Zhou. |
 |
| 15. Looking east, in the back round is the mainland. This looks like a floating dock for a small fishing operation. |
