Published by Swiss James on 08 Oct 2007 at 12:08 pm
Back from my holidays in Suzhou
The old city of Suzhou is hemmed into a rectangular shape by a broad canal and within this boundary are a network of smaller canals (Marco Polo called it the “Venice of the East”) basically it’s not a good place to try and land a hot air balloon made out of suede.
Maybe if I’d read up a little on the history of the place, I could tell you why some random town 70 miles outside of Shanghai has so many waterways, or perhaps give a few interesting nuggets from the history of the city- Emma gave me a copy of the relevant pages from the Lonely Planet which probably would have helped, but I accidentally used them to make a papier mache model of Tim Robbins.
To get there we took the train from Shanghai station, 22RMB gets you tickets in the best class on the fastest, most air-conditioned, least-stoppingest train in the land, or you can take the bus for 30RMB which takes 3 times as long (or it does if you hit the same roadworks as we did coming back) and doesn’t include attendants trying to sell you commemorative coins and dried ducks tongues.
The hotel we stayed at offered to loan us bikes for 100RMB per day, but since I only paid 150RMB for my bike in Shanghai (and that included two bells and a double helping of locks), it felt like a bit of a rip-off. Instead, we walked around the corner and found a place willing to rent us the crappest bikes in Jiangsu province for three days at a total cost of 100RMB. Short of replacing the saddle with a rusty metal pineapple, I’m not sure how my bike could have been less comfortable, so although we did spend one day riding around, up to a place called Tiger Hill (the tigers were out), I couldn’t face it the following two days and we left them parked up outside a hairdressers.
I took this somewhere near the main pedestrian street, which is pretty much exactly like Nanjing Lu in Shanghai, except sales staff stand outside the doors and clap their hands to try and get you to go inside their shop, and you’re not offered sexual services / fake handbags every 5 metres.
We took a little buggy up and down that street, and it played an electronic version of “Jingle Bells” which I thought was a nice touch for September.
This photo was taken from inside a Pagoda we climbed- a reccommended activity for any agraphobic midgets who enjoy banging their head against wooden beams.
And this one is at Tiger Hill.
Honestly, I just had a great, great time doing whatever I pleased. If I wanted to spend an hour or so reading a book in one of the famous formal gardens, then that’s what I did. If I wanted to nap by the hotel pool and read the paper, then that’s what I did. If I wanted to dive bomb into the water, knocking a three year old child over who then had to be given the kiss-of-life whilst I sipped my Mojito and laughed, then that’s what I did.
I actually came into work today feeling genuinely relaxed and refreshed. So, hurray for Suzhou.
Mojitos in Suzhou? Next you’ll be telling me they sell Viz at the newspaper kiosk!
Glad you had a good time sharing bog rolls with your better half - as you said it’s not where you are it’s who you’re with.
That Pagoda climb looks almost as much fun as my Venetian costumed bachelor party bar crawl although probably it was a bit cheaper. You might not be good with colours, but you’re certainly good with money!
Oh great picture of you by the way, looks like you’re about to take off - I guess that’s the poor man’s private jet!
I’m trying to figure out that first picture, were you fired out of a cannon at a very strong sheet of glass?
got a similar picture of the bird: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dingadingdang/185568246/in/set-72157594190106659/
That photo tells me you have a strange, blurring of the arms and legs condition. I’d go get that seen to.
I bloody love that first photo!
That first photo looks like it should be on the cover of an adventure holiday brochure.
those are some crazy chicken legs… possibly even paler than my own
One of the train stations in Russia (Mariinsk, I think?) played the tune of “O Christmas Tree” before every announcement, and over the course of the hour or two I was there I heard it about every 4 minutes . . . . I started feeling very Christmasy (for September).