Day 7
Place: On a high-speed train between Hangzhou and Suzhou.
We woke up relatively early - for once, I had to be artificially woken up (by Eugene) because the sun did not permeate through the curtains of our almost-underground room.
As you might have guessed, there really isn't much to talk about as yet, because this day hasn't matured much as yet. But hey, 'there's never nothing going on'.
The taxi ride to the Hangzhou Central Rail Station was uneventful - but we are in a city where an uneventful taxi ride is the exception, not the rule. The driver barely sounded his horn throughout the journey. Surprisingly, or perhaps because he was the first gracious taxi driver we had encountered, the traffic didn't seem too bad. Anyway, about 15 min and 11RMB later we were at the crowded Hangzhou Railway station. The station was crowded with all sorts of people, from tourists on backpacking trips waiting for higher-end trains (like the one I'm on now) to farmers going home on the lower-end (and much cheaper) trains.
As always, a train ride is a very effective way to get a summary of the countryside. So far we have passed by many farms, as well as interestingly designed houses that were apparently built by the farmers themselves.
Few highlights that we will be passing by: firstly, a nuclear reactor sometime soon, and secondly a first glimpse of Shanghai. I'll try to take the relevant pictures when I get the opportunity. We'll see.
*
Time: 5.10pm
Place: Eugene's apartment, Suzhou
As it turned out, I didn't get to see the nuclear reactor or any glimpse of Shanghai. So we shall just be patient, till day 10, I think, in order to see more of Shanghai.
Anyway, back to the story.
The original reason we had decided to visit China was that Eugene had invited us to go visit when he first left for his overseas internship.. His justification was that flying to Suzhou, or rather, Shanghai, was cheap, and accommodation will be settled for us since he has a place to stay. Where we are right now, in fact. The whole extension of the trip to include Beijing was because I felt that a trip to China would be incomplete without a visit to the Great Wall.
Most Singaporeans know Suzhou - it is probably the most Singaporean place in all China. Reason being this is the site of the great Suzhou debacle, where Singapore invested heavily in developing Suzhou but ultimately that turned out to be a gross miscalculation. Singaporean ownership in Suzhou is now a majestic one percent.
Immediately after exiting the train station we were mobbed by a whole bunch of tour operators etc that were keen on getting their relevant commissions. It was almost like lunch yesterday, like hungry birds snatching for a worm.
We were forewarned by Eugene about these people, so we just ignored them and walked on. I was quite annoyed at the people, much like I had been at the street vendors of souvenirs in Paris a whole year ago. But Wee Long pointed out that at least they're working for a salary and in some way at least, are contributing to the economy, unlike beggars, for instance. Or people on the dole, even, in fact.
We finally got to the front of the taxi queue and were shortly at Singa Plaza, where Eugene stays. The Singaporean influence here is remarkable. Even the block where Eugene is staying at resembles a HDB block, void deck and all.
I will give a quick summary tomorrow, but I think we won't be venturing too far tonight.
*
Time: 12.30am
Place: On the couch in Eugene's apartment.
As I had initially suspected, there's nothing much to report on the rest of today.
We didn't leave Singa Plaza for the rest of the day. We went to the restaurant, opened by a Singaporean, just about 50m from the apartment to have dinner. Food was decent, not the best, but not that costly anyway. Most importantly it was near home.
After coming back home we just stoned for quite some time and did some online shopping for stuff that you can only get in China (electrical stuff) and then we watched a movie. But Eugene needed to sleep early because he has to go to work tomorrow.
So it's still dependent on whether Wee Long recovers, whether we actually go out to see anything. Honestly speaking, I don't mind a chillax day. So we'll see. But we must die die go see the lake and sunset tomorrow.
Pardon the Singlish.
Yawn.. Goodnight!
Day 8
Time: 12.20am
Place: The couch in the apartment in Suzhou, again.
You might think that, since this account is being written so late in the night, today was a very long day. Wrong. Far from it.
So let me continue this account from where I left off, sorta.
As it turned out, Wee Long didn't recover fully from his sickness. So today turned out to be a very slack day.
We left the apartment at about 12.30pm and returned by 3pm. That's how relaxing our day was in the afternoon.
We just went to Au Chan, the shopping centre near Eugene's house because that was the nearest place outside Plaza Singa that we could get food and look for daily necessities. We probably wouldn't be doing justice to our trip if we didn't leave Singa Plaza the whole time we were in Suzhou. Besides, Wee Long was feeling slightly better and we needed to get out a bit.
Au Chan was about 15min walk from the apartment, a 15min walk through an industrial estate in China. By the time we reached, we were already hungry, mainly because we hadn't had our breakfast either. However, since Wee Long had just recovered from sickness, we were limited to what we could eat.
Strangely I had a craving for KFC, which obviously I had to suppress. As it turned out, the suppression was very temporary as we went to KFC for dinner in the end. Ah, at least craving was satisfied. But, back to lunch. We ended up choosing to go to UFF, or Uncle Fast Food, which sounds strangely Singaporean, but I don't think it is. The food there, however, was amazingly cheap - hawker centre prices (about S$3.50) for a set meal that was oddly classy. It's amazing. The whole of China seems to be covered by Student Prices.
Anyway, we soon discovered that Au Chan was the name of the 'supermarket' within the shopping centre, and not the shopping centre itself. I'm not sure about the name of the shopping centre, and I don't think it's that important anyway.
Au Chan itself is not just a supermarket. It's one of those Giant Supermarkets that sells everything, from clothes to foodstuff to TV sets. Like Carrefour.
It's like shopping heaven then already, but it's nothing compared to the shopping heaven later. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Again.
The prices were good - Wee Long wanted to buy a couple of bags. I'm saving my shopping for Shanghai. Mainly because I have almost run out of cash on hand. Smartass that is me took only S$350 for a 13 day trip to China. My credit card will save me soon, I hope.
Ultimately, however, we didn't buy anything. We needed Eugene's 'okay' in order to proceed, so we decided we'll come back later with him.
On our second trip to Au Chan (with Eugene, this time), we didn't walk - we just cabbed. It being a short distance, the cabbie actually charged us the minimum fare of 10RMB even before we reached the destination.
Oh and today I realised that the cabbies are called Shi Fu in this country. Something like how we call them 'Uncle' in Singapore.
Anyway, as you might already know, we had dinner at KFC.
And it was a good thing that we didn't buy the bag without Eugene. Because he recommended a different store, in the same building, which offered better deals. So, this time, I was truly in shopping heaven. Not just me. Wee Long bought a backpacker's bag for quite cheap (I can't remember exactly how much, though); while I bought two tubes of Yonex Aerosensa 5 shuttlecocks for S$19 each.
Time: 12.20am
Place: The couch in the apartment in Suzhou, again.
You might think that, since this account is being written so late in the night, today was a very long day. Wrong. Far from it.
So let me continue this account from where I left off, sorta.
As it turned out, Wee Long didn't recover fully from his sickness. So today turned out to be a very slack day.
We left the apartment at about 12.30pm and returned by 3pm. That's how relaxing our day was in the afternoon.
We just went to Au Chan, the shopping centre near Eugene's house because that was the nearest place outside Plaza Singa that we could get food and look for daily necessities. We probably wouldn't be doing justice to our trip if we didn't leave Singa Plaza the whole time we were in Suzhou. Besides, Wee Long was feeling slightly better and we needed to get out a bit.
Au Chan was about 15min walk from the apartment, a 15min walk through an industrial estate in China. By the time we reached, we were already hungry, mainly because we hadn't had our breakfast either. However, since Wee Long had just recovered from sickness, we were limited to what we could eat.
Strangely I had a craving for KFC, which obviously I had to suppress. As it turned out, the suppression was very temporary as we went to KFC for dinner in the end. Ah, at least craving was satisfied. But, back to lunch. We ended up choosing to go to UFF, or Uncle Fast Food, which sounds strangely Singaporean, but I don't think it is. The food there, however, was amazingly cheap - hawker centre prices (about S$3.50) for a set meal that was oddly classy. It's amazing. The whole of China seems to be covered by Student Prices.
Anyway, we soon discovered that Au Chan was the name of the 'supermarket' within the shopping centre, and not the shopping centre itself. I'm not sure about the name of the shopping centre, and I don't think it's that important anyway.
Au Chan itself is not just a supermarket. It's one of those Giant Supermarkets that sells everything, from clothes to foodstuff to TV sets. Like Carrefour.
It's like shopping heaven then already, but it's nothing compared to the shopping heaven later. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Again.
The prices were good - Wee Long wanted to buy a couple of bags. I'm saving my shopping for Shanghai. Mainly because I have almost run out of cash on hand. Smartass that is me took only S$350 for a 13 day trip to China. My credit card will save me soon, I hope.
Ultimately, however, we didn't buy anything. We needed Eugene's 'okay' in order to proceed, so we decided we'll come back later with him.
*
On our second trip to Au Chan (with Eugene, this time), we didn't walk - we just cabbed. It being a short distance, the cabbie actually charged us the minimum fare of 10RMB even before we reached the destination.
Oh and today I realised that the cabbies are called Shi Fu in this country. Something like how we call them 'Uncle' in Singapore.
Anyway, as you might already know, we had dinner at KFC.
And it was a good thing that we didn't buy the bag without Eugene. Because he recommended a different store, in the same building, which offered better deals. So, this time, I was truly in shopping heaven. Not just me. Wee Long bought a backpacker's bag for quite cheap (I can't remember exactly how much, though); while I bought two tubes of Yonex Aerosensa 5 shuttlecocks for S$19 each.
I also looked for some running attire for cold climates so that I would not be creating excuses not to run while in Iowa, but the store had run out of stock for that particular item. But I was, and still am, very happy with my two tubes of shuttlecocks.
It also means that I am now really low on cash and probably would have to withdraw money if the credit card is not widely accepted in Shanghai. But I think it should be quite widely accepted there, because apparently Shanghai is one of the most modern cities and most western cities in all China.
I really desperately need to buy a pair of jeans. My current one had a large gaping hole where a hole should not be. So much so that I look like I'm wearing clothes designed for toddlers in China. By the way, for those of you who don't know, don't worry, I just found out yesterday. The toddlers wear trousers which have a large gaping hole over their buttocks. The reason being, given that these toddlers don't wear diapers, it allows them to do their business anywhere without soiling themselves. Now, according to Eugene, this means that they end up shitting anywhere on the pavement that they please, without their parents cleaning up. I'm not sure how much of that to believe because personally that sounds quite barbaric. I could just hope that they (the parents) do clean up after their kids so that other people wouldn't have to look out for shit when they walk. Just like how Singaporeans should clean up after their dogs shit in public places.
Anyway, after dinner, we took a cab to the lake in Suzhou. As to why every city seems to have a lake, I don't know. But Suzhou has a lake too, just like Hangzhou. And Suzhou's lake is damn beautiful too, albeit in a different way. A different type of beauty. Suzhou's lake is surrounded by very beautifully lit up buildings, making it resemble the beautiful Singapore skyline of old. You know, the one that is only visible from the Marina Bay Sands, the very building that blocked the view for the rest of us... Anyway, I'm tired of Singapore bashing. It doesn't get you anywhere. Back to Suzhou.
The only problem with using a phone camera (or any normal digital camera, for that matter) is that it cannot to justice to the night time scenery of a city lit up. And hence, I don't think you'll be able to appreciate the beauty from the photos. So you'll just have to take my word for it, or go see for yourself.
I'm not saying the Hangzhou lake pales in comparison though; that lake has mountains behind, and you can't beat mountains behind. Of course even the most majestic mountains-behind scene will not be visible in the mist that we had when we were at Hangzhou. So I can't say much about Hangzhou's West Lake.
I bring up the comparison because I think there are many things about the two lakes that mirror each other - somebody copied somebody. What do you expect, it's China. But again, I can't comment too much on the comparisons because I didn't see the Hangzhou lake that well.
Tomorrow will probably be a long day. Turns out that the original plan to visit Nanjing has to be delayed by a day because we didn't manage to book train tickets on time. So we'll book them tomorrow, early in the morning, before we start on sightseeing proper of Suzhou city. Till then, then.
Geez, that was almost 2 hrs of typing. With a lot of breaks in between, of course.
It also means that I am now really low on cash and probably would have to withdraw money if the credit card is not widely accepted in Shanghai. But I think it should be quite widely accepted there, because apparently Shanghai is one of the most modern cities and most western cities in all China.
I really desperately need to buy a pair of jeans. My current one had a large gaping hole where a hole should not be. So much so that I look like I'm wearing clothes designed for toddlers in China. By the way, for those of you who don't know, don't worry, I just found out yesterday. The toddlers wear trousers which have a large gaping hole over their buttocks. The reason being, given that these toddlers don't wear diapers, it allows them to do their business anywhere without soiling themselves. Now, according to Eugene, this means that they end up shitting anywhere on the pavement that they please, without their parents cleaning up. I'm not sure how much of that to believe because personally that sounds quite barbaric. I could just hope that they (the parents) do clean up after their kids so that other people wouldn't have to look out for shit when they walk. Just like how Singaporeans should clean up after their dogs shit in public places.
Anyway, after dinner, we took a cab to the lake in Suzhou. As to why every city seems to have a lake, I don't know. But Suzhou has a lake too, just like Hangzhou. And Suzhou's lake is damn beautiful too, albeit in a different way. A different type of beauty. Suzhou's lake is surrounded by very beautifully lit up buildings, making it resemble the beautiful Singapore skyline of old. You know, the one that is only visible from the Marina Bay Sands, the very building that blocked the view for the rest of us... Anyway, I'm tired of Singapore bashing. It doesn't get you anywhere. Back to Suzhou.
The only problem with using a phone camera (or any normal digital camera, for that matter) is that it cannot to justice to the night time scenery of a city lit up. And hence, I don't think you'll be able to appreciate the beauty from the photos. So you'll just have to take my word for it, or go see for yourself.
I'm not saying the Hangzhou lake pales in comparison though; that lake has mountains behind, and you can't beat mountains behind. Of course even the most majestic mountains-behind scene will not be visible in the mist that we had when we were at Hangzhou. So I can't say much about Hangzhou's West Lake.
I bring up the comparison because I think there are many things about the two lakes that mirror each other - somebody copied somebody. What do you expect, it's China. But again, I can't comment too much on the comparisons because I didn't see the Hangzhou lake that well.
*
Tomorrow will probably be a long day. Turns out that the original plan to visit Nanjing has to be delayed by a day because we didn't manage to book train tickets on time. So we'll book them tomorrow, early in the morning, before we start on sightseeing proper of Suzhou city. Till then, then.
Geez, that was almost 2 hrs of typing. With a lot of breaks in between, of course.
Day 9
Time: 12.30am
Place: Same place as before.
A very late entry today, I know. Which is quite worrying since we really need to wake up early tomorrow morning for our day trip to Nanjing. Hence in the interest of saving time I shall not say much about tomorrow.
We started off the day by preparing for tomorrow - by buying the relevant train tickets remaining. That is, the trains to and from Nanjing tomorrow, as well as the train tickets to Shanghai.
The place where we went to buy tickets was relatively near to our apartment, but the route there was quite complicated. However, we were armed with a decent map and (to be honest) very good directions from Eugene. After that issue was cleared, we could start our proper sightseeing of Suzhou.
As you might know, if you have been following this story, we only have one day to see Suzhou. So that left us with a tight schedule today.
Two events happened that further constricted this schedule. First, our other room mate, Wei Song, forgot to bring his key card for the apartment. That meant that we had to bring it, which also meant that we couldn't come home too late, or he'd be stuck outside the apartment. Secondly, we woke up quite late - probably due to the fact that we slept quite late yesterday.
We only left at about 11am in the end.
Our first stop was Tiger Hill or Huchiu. I'm actually more familiar with the term I gave to it, just like I gave the name to Tram Road in Beijing (actually I also call that road Beijing's Las Ramblas, which is a street in Barcelona which resembles Tram Road). I named tiger hill 'the leaning tower of Suzhou'.
Place: Same place as before.
A very late entry today, I know. Which is quite worrying since we really need to wake up early tomorrow morning for our day trip to Nanjing. Hence in the interest of saving time I shall not say much about tomorrow.
We started off the day by preparing for tomorrow - by buying the relevant train tickets remaining. That is, the trains to and from Nanjing tomorrow, as well as the train tickets to Shanghai.
The place where we went to buy tickets was relatively near to our apartment, but the route there was quite complicated. However, we were armed with a decent map and (to be honest) very good directions from Eugene. After that issue was cleared, we could start our proper sightseeing of Suzhou.
As you might know, if you have been following this story, we only have one day to see Suzhou. So that left us with a tight schedule today.
Two events happened that further constricted this schedule. First, our other room mate, Wei Song, forgot to bring his key card for the apartment. That meant that we had to bring it, which also meant that we couldn't come home too late, or he'd be stuck outside the apartment. Secondly, we woke up quite late - probably due to the fact that we slept quite late yesterday.
We only left at about 11am in the end.
Our first stop was Tiger Hill or Huchiu. I'm actually more familiar with the term I gave to it, just like I gave the name to Tram Road in Beijing (actually I also call that road Beijing's Las Ramblas, which is a street in Barcelona which resembles Tram Road). I named tiger hill 'the leaning tower of Suzhou'.
Tiger Hill is characterized by a pagoda tower on its peak. However, this pagoda tower leans slightly to one side. According to Eugene, the reason for this was that the Japanese, during the occupation, try to dig up grave of an Emperor to get the treasures buried with him. However, halfway through this excavation, the tower started to lean to one side, making excavation unsafe.
So it's not that the Chinese tried to copy the Pisa concept and put it in Suzhou. Though it's probably something that you wouldn't put past them.
You could extend that argument to the whole of Suzhou, to be honest. Suzhou is known as the Venice of the East (just as Stockholm is known as the Venice of the North). And, having had the opportunity to visit all three above mentioned cities, I can tell you that Suzhou does a better job imitating Venice.
But ultimately you must admit that the resemblance is interesting at least.
Anyway, the Tiger Hill attraction was supposedly the must-see attraction of Suzhou, and it also probably is the most costly of the attractions. But, since we had already paid the relatively expensive cab fare to Tiger Hill, we decided to suck it in and pay the additional 60RMB to continue our visit to the hill. That also meant that we made it a point to see everything at the site.
We ate at a half decent place which had half decent food for quite decent price.
Another thing - Chinese names for places of interest, when translated to English, sound really strange. But I'm sure they sound quite normal in Mandarin.
Walking to the museum and the garden, from the main shopping district, I navigate using the map and the sun to point us in the right direction. I realize that it's quite useful to come in spring, like we have, because navigation is slightly easier - i.e. the sun is in the east in the morning and in the west in the afternoon. And hence, walking in the general direction that we want to head in, we would eventually be able to find our way.
Wee Long however doesn't share my enthusiasm to use this technique of navigation. He resorts to asking directions from people - a very different technique of navigation which I'm not comfortable with. Anyway, he's much more comfortable after asking for directions and its a relief that he's not looking so visibly uneasy and stressed now that he knows for a fact that he's on the right path.
Sometimes I think we have a very different mentality on traveling. He is very destination-oriented while I'm much more journey-oriented. So when we got home much later I planned out our Nanjing Day Trip, detailed to the letter. But I still think he's quite tense about it.
Anyway, we eventually reach the Museum and the Garden, and, again, there are tickets. So we decide to just take photos outside. Besides we didn't really have much time since we had to make sure we get home before either Eugene or Wei Song or they'll be stuck outside the apartment.
Never mind.
*
After our Eugene and Wei Song reached home, we went out again. I mean Eugene, Wee Long and myself. First, we walked down to the lake. It was my insistence on seeing sunset. But we miss it again, mainly because of clouds in the sky. But I think that the sunset here would not be that beautiful. Nothing compared to Hangzhou. So I shall not pursue sunset anymore. Maybe sunrise. Okay, who am I kidding. Like I will ever wake up that early.
So we miss sunset, but we walk over to the harmony monument, which has our Minister Mentor Emeritus's name on it. Again, a little testimony to the Singaporean interests in Suzhou.
So we went down to a part of Suzhou that had been preserved, I think. It did look like a page out of ancient China, plus a few motorized scooters and bicycles scooting and cycling by.
If the area around Tiger Hill resembled Venice, this place really looked it. Here, motorized sampans were ferrying people along the canal ways, for probably a fraction of the price of the famous WaterBus or gondolas of Venice.
Eugene was looking to buy a painting from this area, but after finally finding the shop that he was looking for, he couldn't find a nice enough painting to buy for his dad.
After having dinner near that area, we head back to the apartment.
Tomorrow, the guy whose bed Wee Long is occupying now is returning from his trip, so Wee Long probably would have to sleep on the couch too. So tonight is actually the last time this couch is all mine.
After having dinner near that area, we head back to the apartment.
Tomorrow, the guy whose bed Wee Long is occupying now is returning from his trip, so Wee Long probably would have to sleep on the couch too. So tonight is actually the last time this couch is all mine.
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