Trip to Suzhou

 Tom had January 3rd off so we decided to spend the whole weekend in another city.  We procured tickets on the high speed train.  On the fastest, toll route it would take 1 hour and 11 minutes by car to arrive in Suzhou from our city.  But on the high speed train, it is 31 minutes, with 1 stop.  It cost $8 per person in first class.  

We got a Marriott hotel and watched some videos of the top things to do in Suzhou.  Our plans were bigger than our time, not only is there much to do there, but traffic is 2 times worse than Changzhou and finding places to eat ate up much of our time too. But we crammed quite a bit in the two days.  We had church then took it easy on Sunday--online church has its advantages and ate our meals at the hotel's free offerings + snack we had purchased.  The girls also had their temple recommend interviews while we were taking a leisure-get-out-of-the-hotel walk.  That is one for the record books!

Here is what we did.  

Walking tours--these were mostly unintentional-- mapping in China is difficult so we had to wander a lot to find places to eat.  I loved this part of the trip; I find the walking tours fascinating.  Here are a few pictures from those tours:

Look carefully at this picture.  There is a man with a garbage can at the top of the stairs.  He's wearing red so you can easily spot him.  Look at the 3 flights of stairs that he had to get his garbage can down and back up again.  You can see the bottom set through the crack in the gate. I have sometimes disliked getting my garbage cans down my hill in American Fork.  I will try to remember this man when I feel unthankful for the hill and ice...

There was so much construction in Suzhou.  This was one site.

The next 4 photos show someone's shop/front room with their rocker, laundry and outdoor seating. This is so typical. 

Another very typical living situation for many Chinese.

More construction.  While there is a Sawzall there in front, the men were raking rocks with makeshift rakes to clear it out.

We also visited the Humble Administrator's garden.  We were there in the off season, I can't imagine how it would look in the spring or with the colorful leaves in the fall.  Nor could I imagine the crowds in the on season.  So many people!!  But it was beautiful with many features.  One area of the gardens had probably a hundred different bonsai trees.  You can rent traditional clothing outside of the gardens and hire a photographer to take your picture in one of the many picturesque scenes there.  That part was just as endearing as the ancient architecture and garden design.

From the gardens we rode a rickshaw to Pingjiang Road.  That was fun!  In addition to the weight of the cart, we added more than 400lbs to this gentleman's load.  He peddled us 2 km for only ¥20.   How does this man eat, I wonder?  Pennies!  It was definitely comical to weave through traffic and see the look on people's faces to see 4 foreigners piled in!  The video shows a bit of a traffic squeeze.

Pingjiang Road dates back to the Song dynasty (960-1279).  The road runs along a canal that is also ancient.  We took a boat ride on the canal--Suzhou is the Venus of the East so much of the travel used to be by boat.  Some of the homes along the waterway are in original condition and are illegal to renovate them.  Some of them do not have running water or electricity.  Hard to imagine.  

We also visited Tiger hill.  This is a leaning-Tower-of-Pisa-type of pagoda and leans a fraction of a centimeter more every year.  It is said to be a burial place for the King of Wu Helu.  Also on the grounds are several storied artifacts:  Thousand people rock, a sword stone, some wells, a lucky rock, a bamboo forest to name a few.  This site is so important to the people that every student in Suzhou has to visit it and learn the history.  (With a population of 10.2 million people, that is a lot of school children to shepherd through a single attraction.) It is fascinating to me, given that most of the stories we were told about the site were superstitious, yet it is the most important historical site children are required to know about.  One superstition they have is that if you have a picture taken of you with the pagoda in the background you will have bad luck.  Since I know that such things are dependent upon the laws of God and not luck, when no one was looking (so I wouldn't offend), I took our picture with the pagoda.  

One of the statues at the entrance of the property to scare off ghosts.

You are only allowed to touch this rock 3 times each year.  More than that will bring you bad luck.  But exactly 3 will bring good luck. Our tour guide thought we were lucky to be there so early in the year so that by touching it we would have a whole year full of good luck.

Sword pond.  Ancient writings on the stone, but I can't remember the story now.

Bamboo forest.

From this angle you can see the lean, we were told.

We went to the biggest mall in Suzhou.  We wanted some Zakuzakus.  They are a Japanese cream puff with a much less sweetened filling and a crunchy outer edge that is so good.  I think BYU stadium should replace Cougar Tails with Zakuzakus. I never touch Cougar Tails, but I would eat a Zakuzaku every BYU game if they made that switch!

Also memorable on the trip were all of the taxis we took.  We're not sure what it was, but every single one of them was a jerky driver--meaning swerving, hard braking, quick acceleration, on the gas, off the gas, on the gas off the gas etc.  That is not the case in Changzhou.  We have never felt jerked around in taxis.  (And as many times as Wang Jian gets in a traffic squeeze, he is a smooth, smooth driver. We came home with even greater appreciation for him.)  One other memorable thing...one of our taxi drivers was a young fellow, maybe 24ish and he was wearing pajamas.  Not just any pajamas, but a onesie character pajama.  Classic I tell you!  To add to that memory, Tom always chats with the taxi drivers and this guy told Tom he talked too much.  Always an interesting experience or two here.....  

I'll end with a traffic video.  I always miss the good stuff.  This is only a small flavor of some of the more exciting things we see.  Enjoy.