Suzhou has been said to be heaven on earth.  I must say after this past weekend I believe that to be true.  This weekend I went with Ben as my guide to this amazing city.  Ben came and met me at my dorm housing on Saturday about noon.  He was not permited to enter because he was not a 'big boss' as everyone here at the mill says or a guest. We finally were able to get on the bus but it took a lot of work. I really do not agree with this system here with the guards and patrols at our dorm site.  Everything and everyone are separated and sorted.  You don't so much have a name but a number if you are one of the locals.  One of my co-workers earlier today described this place as a prison.  - some of the nicest people we have met that speak the best English are not permited to enter where we live...kind of a bummer but oh well :-/  Tab decribed our situation here as like a US mill with the engineers and the union - except here there is the 'big bosses' and the works but they don't really have rights. There is also this mountain where we live at, takes about 15 minutes to walk to the other side and you can climb it.  When we have asked some of the locals if they climb it for fun they all have so no it was not appropriate for them.  The President of the company climbs it every morning.  That is one of the biggest things I don't like...granted, I think I might start climbing the mountain for exercise.  It might be the Presidents mountain but I'm bigger than him...

Sorry about that tangent but it is something that has been bothering me for a while.  Suzhou was about a 2 hour bus ride and when we arrived Ben and I caught a taxi to our hotel. It was all the way across the city in a little place called Home Inn or 'hui ja' like 'Go Home'.  It was a small, yet nice place, about a 3 star hotel maybe and very cheap - 200 yuan total or about $15.  The first room they took us to had no window and was covered by a giant TV screen facing the outdoors.  It was about the size of big screen at a college or professional football game.  They made some calls when we decided we did not like this room and transfered us across the street to the same hotel but a room with a window. 

We then went out to see the first of 3 parks for the weekend.  It was called the "Humble Administrators Garden".  In China, a park is not what we think of it as in the United States.  Parks are more or less giant gardens with old attractions like old buildings and artifacts.  This was a very beautiful and eloquent park.  It was amazing.  It was not my favorite of the weekend but still fantastic!  When you arrived it appeared as if the whole place was floating on the water or in air.  The engineering structures that held up the buildings were surrounded by plants.  It was such a relaxing atmosphere.   There were giant lilly pads with large white budding waterflowers.  There were many large goldfish (so large I do not believe you can call them goldfish).  I honestly believe I saw one that weighed about 7 lbs.  There were also many levels to this park you could climb around.  Every angle you looked at the park from was a different view of the city or natural surroundings.  It was so exciting and a great start to my visit to Suzhou.

That night, after we left the park Ben and I went back to the Home Inn and rested for about a half an hour before we went out on the town.  For dinner we partook of many Suzhou snacks which consisted of cold pork bacon, cold duck with a sweet sauce, a small fried bird with feathers, feet, and the head still attached (yes Alden, feathers).  There were also these sweet egg rolls and a glass of local beer. 

We then went out and walked around the city a bit.  Downtown reminded me of a small Las Vegas.  The streets were lit up with bright lights, signs and billboards, and chanting people.  Cars were not permitted on this street save this little tolly car which kept playing Jingle Bells so it was a pedestrian friendly spot.  We took in some of the culture and then we decided to get a foot massage as I had never had one before (Brenda, they are really good here!).

I must say though, I did not know what I was getting myself into.  For 70 yuan or roughly $10, I got a pedicure and my toenails trimmed, and of course a foot massage.  The started it with a foot soak which was very difficult and the cute girls kept laughing at me because my feet were bigger than their buckets.  They didn't really know what to do.  They then started and it was very relaxing.  Later on, the massage girls left and someone brought us watermelon and tea. Ben told me that apparently we were getting a fully body massage as well and this was the interim snack.  The girls came back in and I was a bit shocked I must say.   I have determined that my massuse must have liked me because she got a bit handsy.  My butt got about the same attention that my back did.  I believe if it was a guy giving me that massage instead of a cute girl I might would have flipped out but it felt really good!  I would do it again in a heartbeat!

After it was all over with, we put our shoes back on and walked back to the hotel.  I asked Ben where I could get a massage close by...he told me Dagang.  I got excited!!!

When we got up the next morning, we went to a park called Tiger hill.  This was by far my favorite.  While it was not as beautiful as the other to parks we went to, it was all natural instead of man made.  It was nothing but God's beauty!  It lies to the west of the ancient city of Suzhou and has a histroy over over 2500 years.   It's beauty matches and surpases that of many other famous mountains and rivers. There were many attractions there but the one that sticks out the most was the great, archaic Yunyan Temple Pagoda known as the Leaning Tower of Suzhou.  It has a history of over 1000 years serving as a symbol of Suzhou.  We then saw a small pond with ducks in it called yuen-yung.  I think it roughly translates and male-female.  Ben explained that these colorfully patterned ducks were always found in pairs.  It is said that love is what keeps them alive.  If their mate dies, they will also soon die according to the legend.  After looking at the ducks and then walking around for a while, Ben informed me that we were in the middle of a tea garden.  We decided to take tea here since it was pushing close to the afternoon.  The little tea hut was a small and ornate building decorated with old chinese relics it seemed.  As we drank the tea, Ben informed me that this tea was the rarest from the garden right outside and can only be gathered 20 days of the year.  It was not bags of tea like we are used to in America, but rather green tea leaves with a strong and refreshing flavor.  We refilled our glasses several times while we relaxed, talking about history, culture, and just getting to know each other better.  The tea most assurdly got better everytime we refilled our glass.  Ben said the first filling gets the chemicales out of the leaves and the second is the most relaxing and tastes the best. After this, we decided we had seen about all there was to see there but I really would like to go back again.  It was just so beautiful. 

That afternoon we spent a while looking for a KFC or McDonalds.  We soon found one after riding around a crowed public bus for about 20 minutes.  I have never really cared for McDonalds burgers much but I must say I welcomed the Big Mac!  It was so nice and it was real beef and cheese which is so uncommon here.  It is just not something it seems the chinese eat.  It is a very vegetable heavy diet.  After lunch we decided to go to a small temple close by.  It was very interesting and as we went in Ben explained to me that there was a "big god" here, his wife, and many lesser gods that reported to the big boss.  Ben explained that people would pray to the seperate gods for luck, politics, peace, wealth, and a various assortment of other things.  As we went to the very back of the temple, there appeared to be a ceremony going on.  There were monks singing and playing instruments and people praying and watching just as we were.  Very quickly Ben told me that we needed to leave so I did, followed him out and I asked him why.  He told me that I caused a bit of a stir and everyone was looking at me because I was bigger than the statues of the gods they had there.  I believe he was joking but the ceremony litterally did kind of stop and everyone looked right at me...

We decided instead of the other temple we were going to vist maybe another garden would be good.  We ended up at the Lingering Garden which is considered my many to be one of the four most famous gardens in China.  It was constructed during the 11th year of the reign of Wanli under the Ming Dynasty (1593 AD).  While it is very small, the Lingering Garden is so stunning for its artistic way of dealing with the spaces between various architecural forms and garden courts which appear to give the garden a feeling of  depth.  It has many limestone rock that you can climb on or sit and rest on the edge of the small hill next to bamboo forest.  Ben told me that this was were the King would come to relax.  When the King came to one of his many gardens, he would be the only person there to enjoy the beauty.  It seems to me he was missing out though because it is so much more enjoyable with a friend like Ben!

After we left we decided to try and find me some traditional Chinese clothes made of the silk that is famous from Suzhou.  We tried many of the street shops and local vendors.  None of them had anything that would fit me so one of the owners of the shop who had not had much business that day decided he would take up taxi driving.  He took us first to the New Silk Road and Handicraft Co which is a Silk Factory and Museaum.  They gave us a brief tour and showed us where they made silk, how it was woven, where it came from, etc.  It was really neat.  We then went to the store they had there.  Nothing really fit so we went on to the next place which was the Silk Research Institue.  I did not think they would have anything to fit me here either as when I walked in it appeared that it was nothing but labs with people intently looking at long strands of silk fibers.  We went upstairs though to where there was a large store.  As we looked around to see nothing in my size, a large chinese man - close to my size walked out and smiled at me.  He told us he could custom make me a traditional silk shirt for 700 yuan or $100.  I quickly said tai gui le meaing too expensive and just kept looking around like I wasn't that interested.  While we looked his price went down to about 650.  When we said no again, They asked what our maximum price was. My answer was 350-400 or about $50.  They said it is too expensive and could not do it.  The shirts on the shelf were marked at 500 so that was I knew too low because it was more of a fancy department store as opposed to a street market.  However, as I was walking away and heading out the door they came and chased me down to say he would make one for 400.  He took my measurements and my address and I should be getting my shirt in the mail within the next 2 weeks or so!  I believe they are always trying to squeeze every penny out of the foreigners.  The Chinese think in general, we are very rich.  In comparison to how many of the locals live, we are - but I have been here long enough that I know when I am being ripped off.  Tabatha and I have gotten very good at bargaining!

After all of this, Ben and I got on the bus and headed home! It was a great trip and I am so glad I got to know Ben better!  Once again...American's have much to learn from Chinese hospitality.

As always,
Richard
Posted by rwpridge ( Jun 16 2008, 06:06:22 AM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [3]