CHINA 2010 MONDAY 27th SEPTEMBER
Again it was cloudy but the weather forecast has said we will have sunny periods this afternoon with a little rain around mid day so we will go to Mudu.
We caught the bus across the road from our hotel and outside the Maternity Hospital so there was an awful lot of heavy pregnant women walking around or waiting for the buses. Our 502 runs every 15 minutes and we had just missed one and the next was running late. When it did arrive it was full but we go on all the same. The fare was 4 yuan and we had to stand all the way. A young boy next to Keith kept being sick into a large plastic bag and when the opportunity arose we moved further down the bus. No-one was getting off but people were still getting on. Our driver made good time missing out some stops and overtaking the bus we had missed. Keith had the map in his hand and was watching the route so we would know when to get off. A young man next to him was also looking at the map and when we reached Mudu he told Keith we should get off at the next stop. Keith ignored his advice and we stayed on which was a good thing as we passed the area we wanted to visit and got off at the next stop by ‘Mudu Experimental Middle School’. We only had a short distance to walk back before we reached ‘Ancient Mudu’.
Again by a canal with lots of old buildings our adventure began by walking along a long corridor with a few tacky gift and toy stalls. Arriving at a stone bridge we crossed over the canal to discover more shops selling better quality goods, but it seemed most of the small shops were full of dresses of all descriptions for visitors to dress up in and have their photo taken by the canal or the weeping willows. We had our photos taken lots of times but only one young man asked and whilst we posed with him an excited young girl came running up and whilst leaping up and down also asked to have her photo taken with me. She was thrilled with the results which I didn’t get to see but could hear her telling everyone as we walked away.
There are several sites to visit along the canal and we chose to visit two. The first was ‘The Hongy in Mountain Villa’ a place once visited many times by an Emperor from the Qing Dynasty with lots of water, pavilions, and very few tourists - certainly not Europeans. The second site was ‘Yan’s Garden’ formerly a private garden belonging to Yan Jiagen of Taiwan. Again a large area filled with pathways, corridors, buildings and ponds. I really liked this place with its 4 season areas and maze of tunnels and paths some zigzagging across the water where large goldfish rushed to be fed when we peered over the side and lemon water lilies were in flower. Some of the trees were in bloom and lots of pomegranates on the trees. (In the Villa garden there was a notice on one large tree which we assumed said ‘Do not pick the fruit’ but we could be mistaken.)
By now it was lunchtime and we had reached a part of the canal with new walls and a bridge. Behind a bamboo screen was an entrance into an area with several buildings set around a wide open space. We assumed this was an eating area but it turned out to be the Zi Lan Xiao Zhu Hotel. We sat outside under the shade of an umbrella in case it rained as the sun had yet to appear and ordered beef and fish as the menu was all in Chinese and there were no pictures. There was no beef so we would have chicken. Keith had almost finished his beer by the time we were given this information so ordered another one. We had been given a complimentary dish of sunflower seeds which kept Keith happy until our chicken arrived. I was a little concerned as it looked quite red but on tasting it we decided it was more like cured ham but it looked like a chicken. Our fish finally arrived and was delicious so it made up for the long delay. We had seen the staff appear with plates of covered food, walk out of the complex, go over the bridge and disappear down the path on the other side. When we left we took this route and still have no idea where they went with the food as the only building was passed on our left was not an eating room.
As we crossed the bridge two young girls dressed in traditional ancient silk costumes were having their photo taken and one of them chased after us asking if they could have their photo taken. We had several me with each of them, me with both of them, Keith and I with both of them, Keith with each one of them, Keith with both of them. Not to mention all the other people getting their cameras out.
We hadn’t gone far along the path when I saw more old buildings on our right. As we ventured up a rough track several young locals followed us and we all found ourselves in a large complex of wooden buildings. It wasn’t real as we discovered most of the site’s outer walls were made of wood and were being painted to look like walls. Joiners were busy at work in some of the empty shells and by the end of the year we guess this will be eating places and more shops with another small lake and bridge in the centre. We could tell by the youngsters’ reactions they hadn’t been here before.
Back along the canal we watched a large group of tourists climb into several boats for a trip along the canal. We had thought about doing it but saw the short distance they travelled and decided not to bother. We had been so lucky this morning having the places more or less to ourselves as this afternoon we lost count of how many groups entered the area whilst we had our lunch and saw only one group leave.
Time to go back to Suzhou and this time we took a 38 where the fare was only 3 yuan as the air conditioning was an open window! This bus took a different route much more scenic that the 502 taking us by the hills where we could see a Pavilion half way up and a Pagoda at the top. We passed parks and on nearly every major street corner floral designs had been created ready for the 1st of October.It was only 4pm and having given up on purchasing a silk picture we set off to buy Keith a pair of shoes we saw yesterday. They only had the one pair and it wasn’t his size. I would have liked a belt to keep up my new trousers that fit perfectly two weeks ago but now keep falling down. Again I had no luck so once again we didn’t buy anything today.
We caught the bus across the road from our hotel and outside the Maternity Hospital so there was an awful lot of heavy pregnant women walking around or waiting for the buses. Our 502 runs every 15 minutes and we had just missed one and the next was running late. When it did arrive it was full but we go on all the same. The fare was 4 yuan and we had to stand all the way. A young boy next to Keith kept being sick into a large plastic bag and when the opportunity arose we moved further down the bus. No-one was getting off but people were still getting on. Our driver made good time missing out some stops and overtaking the bus we had missed. Keith had the map in his hand and was watching the route so we would know when to get off. A young man next to him was also looking at the map and when we reached Mudu he told Keith we should get off at the next stop. Keith ignored his advice and we stayed on which was a good thing as we passed the area we wanted to visit and got off at the next stop by ‘Mudu Experimental Middle School’. We only had a short distance to walk back before we reached ‘Ancient Mudu’.
Again by a canal with lots of old buildings our adventure began by walking along a long corridor with a few tacky gift and toy stalls. Arriving at a stone bridge we crossed over the canal to discover more shops selling better quality goods, but it seemed most of the small shops were full of dresses of all descriptions for visitors to dress up in and have their photo taken by the canal or the weeping willows. We had our photos taken lots of times but only one young man asked and whilst we posed with him an excited young girl came running up and whilst leaping up and down also asked to have her photo taken with me. She was thrilled with the results which I didn’t get to see but could hear her telling everyone as we walked away.
There are several sites to visit along the canal and we chose to visit two. The first was ‘The Hongy in Mountain Villa’ a place once visited many times by an Emperor from the Qing Dynasty with lots of water, pavilions, and very few tourists - certainly not Europeans. The second site was ‘Yan’s Garden’ formerly a private garden belonging to Yan Jiagen of Taiwan. Again a large area filled with pathways, corridors, buildings and ponds. I really liked this place with its 4 season areas and maze of tunnels and paths some zigzagging across the water where large goldfish rushed to be fed when we peered over the side and lemon water lilies were in flower. Some of the trees were in bloom and lots of pomegranates on the trees. (In the Villa garden there was a notice on one large tree which we assumed said ‘Do not pick the fruit’ but we could be mistaken.)
By now it was lunchtime and we had reached a part of the canal with new walls and a bridge. Behind a bamboo screen was an entrance into an area with several buildings set around a wide open space. We assumed this was an eating area but it turned out to be the Zi Lan Xiao Zhu Hotel. We sat outside under the shade of an umbrella in case it rained as the sun had yet to appear and ordered beef and fish as the menu was all in Chinese and there were no pictures. There was no beef so we would have chicken. Keith had almost finished his beer by the time we were given this information so ordered another one. We had been given a complimentary dish of sunflower seeds which kept Keith happy until our chicken arrived. I was a little concerned as it looked quite red but on tasting it we decided it was more like cured ham but it looked like a chicken. Our fish finally arrived and was delicious so it made up for the long delay. We had seen the staff appear with plates of covered food, walk out of the complex, go over the bridge and disappear down the path on the other side. When we left we took this route and still have no idea where they went with the food as the only building was passed on our left was not an eating room.
As we crossed the bridge two young girls dressed in traditional ancient silk costumes were having their photo taken and one of them chased after us asking if they could have their photo taken. We had several me with each of them, me with both of them, Keith and I with both of them, Keith with each one of them, Keith with both of them. Not to mention all the other people getting their cameras out.
We hadn’t gone far along the path when I saw more old buildings on our right. As we ventured up a rough track several young locals followed us and we all found ourselves in a large complex of wooden buildings. It wasn’t real as we discovered most of the site’s outer walls were made of wood and were being painted to look like walls. Joiners were busy at work in some of the empty shells and by the end of the year we guess this will be eating places and more shops with another small lake and bridge in the centre. We could tell by the youngsters’ reactions they hadn’t been here before.
Back along the canal we watched a large group of tourists climb into several boats for a trip along the canal. We had thought about doing it but saw the short distance they travelled and decided not to bother. We had been so lucky this morning having the places more or less to ourselves as this afternoon we lost count of how many groups entered the area whilst we had our lunch and saw only one group leave.
Time to go back to Suzhou and this time we took a 38 where the fare was only 3 yuan as the air conditioning was an open window! This bus took a different route much more scenic that the 502 taking us by the hills where we could see a Pavilion half way up and a Pagoda at the top. We passed parks and on nearly every major street corner floral designs had been created ready for the 1st of October.It was only 4pm and having given up on purchasing a silk picture we set off to buy Keith a pair of shoes we saw yesterday. They only had the one pair and it wasn’t his size. I would have liked a belt to keep up my new trousers that fit perfectly two weeks ago but now keep falling down. Again I had no luck so once again we didn’t buy anything today.
posted by Pam at
13:34
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