China IV: from Beijing to Shanghai and more

Monday, March 23, 09 Yesterday we arrrived in Shanghai and drove immediately to Suzhou, about a 30-minute drive. Lots of new buildings, construction, etc. in what used to be all farmland district.

Went to Tiger Hill, very lovely large pagoda with history.

Quoting from Lonely Planet's China: "The Hill itself is artificial and is the final resting place of He Lu, founding father of Suzhou. He Lu died in the 6th century BC and myths have coalesced around him--he is said to have been buried with a collection of 3000 swords and to be guarded by a white tiger."

The Cloud Pagoda, built in the 10th century, stands atop Tiger Hill. It is an octagonal, 7-story pagoda, which began tilting over 400 years ago, and currently is about 7 feet displaced from perpendicular at its highest point.

The park grounds are large and very beautiful with extensive gardens and some of the many canals that thread throughout Suzhou, which is known as "the Venice of the East".

The largest Canal in China, the Grand Canal, lies just outside Suzchou, and is linked to the city's canals. The Grand Canal, begun in 486 BC, originally was meant to link the Yangzi and Yellow Rivers and the (then) southern and northern capital cities. It remains the world's largest man-made waterway, although the altered course of the Yellow River has reduced the Grand Canal's use for major transport. Its 1,112 miles do, however, link Beijing with the south all the way to Shaghai and Hangzhou.

The photo of the Cloud Pagoda above doesn't show it well, but there are over 300 steps leading to the base, for which Rainbow set off with some of the group. Several of us opted not to climb them, and Carol, Mike and I and Harry, a co-traveler from Bus 2, decided to take the horse and carriage ride that goes halfway around the park and back. We saw some lovely scenery along the way.

Took a horse and carriage ride with Carole and Mike rather than climb 330-plus steps! Blisters hurt like hell!

When we finished the carriage ride, Carol, who loves horses, had to have her picture taken with the horse. Some Chinese tourists had already boarded the carriage for the next ride. The horse remained calm while Carol was standing there, but as soon as she walked away, he began to buck and prance around, I'm sure giving the passengers a fright. I'm also sure the carriage driver, who took a while to get his horse back under control, was not happy with the "foreign devil" who spooked his horse!

I included the pictures below for several reasons. I like the red lanterns that lined the walkway, and also I have no idea where we were going when I took this picture--or the one below it. Possibly on the way to lunch???? The trouble with a trip like this is you go so many places so quickly and some resemble each other. You take a lot of pictures, thinking, "I'll remember this when I get home"--and you don't! I've got several more pictures like these, very nice, but no clue as to the subject matter! Next time I'm going to keep a picture notebook as well as a journal

The picture below is definitely a Suzhou canal. Many families live and work on the canals. Tourist boats ply the larger canals, and we were headed for one later in the day.

After Tiger Hill we went to a marketplace--crowded, noisy, colorful, disturbing.

We took a walk through a local marketplace, essentially a long street lined on both sides with vendors selling everything from clothes, fruits and vegetables, prepared foods, and foods "fresh on the hoof", so to speak. One of those was these eels below.

I took a couple of other pictures in the market but they were very blurry because I kept getting jostled. It was crowded and I didn't want to lose sight of the SB3 sign! Some of the sights in the market were disturbing to many of us. Live caged animals for sale is one thing. Geese flopping about on the pavement because their feet are wired together is something else. I had to keep reminding myself that I was the foreigner here and their ways are not our ways.

Here we are ready to board the boat for the canal ride. You can tell it's become dark, and you can also tell poor Rainbow is just about beat! Rainbow called this canal "The Baby Canal" to distinguish it from the Grand Canal.

It was pretty dark for a picture but you can tell how beautiful the canal is.

Then to dinner at a very nice restaurant and back to the hotel exhausted. Only here 1 night, so very little unpacking. Breakfast at 7 and on the bus at 8:15 headed today to Silk Factory and Hangzhou.

I'm going to stop again here, since it's taking about 3 hours per post. Will continue tomorrow.