Hangzhou 杭州: Another weekend escapade

Hey!
So, finally, what you’ve all been waiting for…another travel post!

Last week some random French guy decided he wanted to go to Hangzhou for the weekend, seven people in ear shot casually shrugged and voiced their agreement. Thus, setting the laid back tone of this particular escapade.

I knew nothing about the city, only that it was located in another province (gasp!) 浙江, zhejiang, by ‘G’ (speedy) train it took about an hour and a half. Oh just a fun fact, you can tell the speed of the train by the letter in front of the train number, see this site for more info. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/types.htm [Travel China Guide, 2013]

We stayed in Wushanyi, a YHA Hostel, highly recommended hostel chain in all parts of China for the most communal/back-packing/inexpensive/clean/trustworthy accommodation http://www.yhachina.com/index.php?hostID=2 [YHA China, 2013]

The hostel was located in the middle of an awesome district with wide streets, vintage style buildings, vibey cafes, interesting knick-knacks and street food. After one particular night of drinking we decided we needed food, so we weaved our way to a stall selling joy-on-a-stick. The centipedes looked appetising, the dried snake a tasty morsel and the seahorse most intriguing. After a discussion with the stall owner we settled on large, shiny black scorpions and a tarantula. The people stood and watched in horror and curiosity as we cackled over our purchases. After the obligatory selfies with my scorpion, I then looked at it to see which part I would eat first…the wicked curved tail? The little spindly legs? How about the head? I finally settled on the claw, fighting back my gag reflex and trying to not make eye contact with it, I crunched off a claw and chewed heartily. Hm…not bad. The shell got caught in my teeth but other than that…fine. I quickly polished it off with a victorious grin. Next, the tarantula. It was…as big as my palm. Breathing deeply, I grabbed a leg and snapped it off. My hand had a wild spasm at the revolting furry feeling of it and I dropped it. I almost left it at that, but then I realised that eating a tarantula is kinda a cool story. Almost eating one, not so much. Trying again, I took another leg and threw it in my mouth. Chew, chew, chew, swallow. Breathe. Such a cliche, but it tasted like…chicken. Burnt, furry, chicken. The abdomen was quite meaty and tasty, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat the head/body/pincers/eyes thing. Too creepy. I used to be quite afraid of spiders, but I hope that I can live by my friend, Nanna’s, philosophy and will think to myself everytime I see a spider “I nommed on your cousin, I ate his little legs one-by-one and they were tasty… watch out, I’m top of the food chain.”

Yeah, spiders beware.

Joy on a stick. All sorts of street food goodies. (Photo: Emccall, 11/13)

Hangzhou is a really nice place, we went to a tea village 龙井茶园 longjing chayuan and admired the view of the plantations whilst avoiding the hawkers. At the heart of the city is the UNESCO World Heritage site, West lake 西湖 xihu. If we had more time there, we would have hired bicycles and cycled around the lake to see all the gardens and temples etc. We also went up a mountain area to 灵隐寺 lingyinsi, a Buddhist monastery, there are other temples around on the mountain but this is the one to see. There’s an area called 飞来峰 feilaifang, it’s the opposite side of a wide brook, and little paths take you around to see amazing Buddhist rock carvings from the Yuan Dynasty 1271-1368AD. Jungle and cave exploration combined with the bright colours of Autumn and the fresh breeze made it the perfect end to our trip.

It was the first time I had returned home feeling completely refreshed and ready for another week of classes.

Buddhist rock carving in Feilaifang (Photo: Emccall 11/13)

My Chinese study experience (now with extra Chinese!)

Hey kids!  A kinda-translation-thing for ya’ll

I have been in China now for nearly 3 months now and I could be here for another half a year or so yet. Recently I heard the saying “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” This got me thinking, what was the start of my ‘thousand miles’?  This is my third time to China, the first time I was here I toured Beijing with my highschool, I remember having very severe culture shock, I was only 17 and hadn’t seen much of the world. It was overwhelming, the smell of pollution, the traffic and people swarming the streets speaking in a language I didn’t understand. Up until that point, I had always wanted to study Fine Arts in University. After being in China for two short weeks, I decided to study something which was a complete mystery to me… linguistics and languages, so that I could experience more of the world. I changed my university choice to linguistics at the last moment and I often wonder how my life would have turned out if I had studied art instead.

The second time I came to China was in late 2011, I had the opportunity to show three friends around Beijing and Shanghai.  It was really exciting to be able to understand and speak some Chinese this time around , but still I felt very nervous about using Chinese and possibly (probably) making mistakes or misunderstanding people. The day after after we arrived in Beijing, I went to the train station to buy tickets,  I was so tired and I was asking the sales assistant whether or not there were tickets available to Haerbin departing “Yesterday” “Yesterday!” Another customer in the line then prompted me, “Do you mean…Tomorrow?” I was really embarrassed, but the people around were so forgiving and so genuinely pleased that I was even trying to speak Chinese that I felt marginally better about the whole ordeal.

To this day,  I still occasionally mix up “tomorrow” and “yesterday.” I have no idea why…

When I returned home, I continued my Chinese study in University, but I didn’t work particularly hard in some of my classes, as I felt that the content was not particularly relevant to my reason for studying Chinese. I couldn’t believe that I had struggled to order train tickets in China, whilst back at home we were being taught advanced vocabulary related to policy/business/bureaucracy/transactions/intercultural/transatlantic/transparency.

I realised that I had been so nervous about speaking Chinese, because I was feeling so overwhelmed by the endless grammar structures and hundreds of words I had been studying, difficult to recall and utilise when you’re trying to have a conversation with a Chinese taxi driver who speaks rapidly about American films in his thick, regional accent.

So, back in Australia, I was meeting many Chinese people who were studying at my University. It was easy to speak both Chinese and English with them, to learn from them and to befriend them. We are very lucky in Australia, we have so many people wanting to live, study and work in our country from all over the world, what an amazing chance to learn about foreign languages and cultures…

This time around, as soon as I stepped off of the plane in China I consciously let go of my insecurities and decided to embarrass myself by speaking to everyone I met in very loud, enthusiastic, grammatically incorrect Chinese.

I often remind myself that is has only been four short years since starting my escapades into China and Chinese, and in that time I have been able to venture out and make friends and have amazing experiences and overcome many challenges.

Some people study Chinese because they hope to take a high level HSK (the Chinese proficiency exam) for future employment options in both China and other countries. This is a very admirable goal, but it is not my main reason for being here. I’m here to meet, understand and befriend people from all walks of life. I want to  have fun with it! Learning a second language doesn’t have to be a chore, used solely as a tool for future employment use, make it your play thing,  laugh at yourself, make mistakes and revel childishly in the smallest achievements.

Peace Out!

中文学习

    我已经住在中国三个月了，可能继续另一半年，　我最近听过了这个有意思词语　＂千里之行，始于足下”　用心思索，我的千里之行什么时候开始吗？我第三次来到中国， 第一次我去过北京跟我的中同学们一起，我记得，在北京的时候我大吃一惊，我十七岁了，在一个很小、隔绝的城市长大。 在北京，污染的臭味儿、不断度车和太多人们都用那么奇怪外语，当时我明白世界那么大，我很感兴趣。我本来想在大学学美术， 反而我决定了要学语言学， 对我是一个不解之谜，所以我能去别的国家，也会认识很多不一样文化。 我串换了大学专业 ，我常常暗想，如果没 串换了，没去了中国， 我的今天生活怎么样？

去 年， 我再来到中国， 我对三位朋友们介绍了北京和上海， 很高兴， 因为我会听得懂， 用了中文一点点， 不过我还用中文的时候很担心， 谁想说错啊？我在一个车站买票，当时我很累，我问了服务员，“有没有火票昨天离开…昨天…昨天！”　然后别人建议　＂啊．．．要用‘明天’，对吗？＂我很发窘了，但是人们都很友好的 、很高兴我连尝试说中文，我觉得了好一点儿。至今，我没时混同　“昨天＂和　”明天“．．．ಠ_ಠ

我回家了，在大学继续学中文，　不过我学了不太努力，因为我觉得除了我们的功课也对我的梦想用不着。　我为什么要学正式词汇，　比如讨论环境工商业，　有什么办法？在我的看法，在中国说中文担心的，因为语法或白上千生词不会记得好，不会用跟那个出租司机说话带特别口音。横心改进我的中文口语，我在澳大利亚见面很多中国留学生，跟他们说中文一起。　我们住在澳大利亚很有幸，因为有机会见面很多不同的国家人，能发现不同的文化、语言。

今年，我刚下飞机了，就开始说跟每个人用很热肠的、不对的中文。这下，　四年我来了中国和用不了三年学中文了，我能在中国适应、交朋友、能长见识。　我学中文，所以我能感受这些东西，不一定，所以我能在中国公司工作，或者做ＨＳＫ好多了.

我学中文为了游玩吧！

（不好意思，你能看，我不是一个很好的学生，所以如果不能看得懂这个作文， 请到看英语翻译的 (ー_ー)!! ）

Nanjing Massacre Museum

I decided that it was time to face something which I had been dreading, the Nanjing Massacre Museum, detailing the mass slaughter of Nanjing civilians by Japanese invading forces during the Second World War (December 13th, 1937). The grey, November sky was a perfect backdrop for our visit to that sombre, black stone building.  The first thing that you see as you walk to the entrance is a series of statues, human figures, bodies and faces distorted in various states of pain and panic. Look at the translated plaque beneath them, “The Devils have sent the bombers again, the poor orphans. Frightened by the vicious laugh of the brutal devils, Terrified by the corpses piling up in the alley…” Gritting my teeth, I mentally prepared myself for an afternoon filled with human tragedy and undisguised, volatile hatred towards the perpetrators. Visitors walk past a series of square-cut, grey structures. A monument stands with a repeatedly translated “300,00 victims” cut deeply into the side. Finally inside the museum. One of my group recognises the entrance-way as being built from the stonework from the destroyed old city wall. After an impressive light and sound show simulating a battle-field, we walked through to a room with a wall covered from top to bottom with the names of all the known victims. The character “女“ (nv, female) was written after many of the names, presumably to demonstrate that they are civilians rather than soldiers (I thought it was unnecessary, undoubtedly the males were just as innocent and defenseless). The memorial wall was a beautiful gesture and my defensive stance against the museum relaxed a little.

I waded through the swathes of highschool students in order to stand in front of each individual display, to read the plaques (translated from Chinese into English and Japanese) and to ponder on both the massacre as well as the present-day attitudes towards it. The first thing I noticed was that everything seemed very…disjointed. Each room had a loose theme, but it seemed as though someone had hoarded together everything which had a connection to that period in history and had scattered them throughout the exhibitions in a sort of “Find the Odd One Out” treasure hunt. You are looking at a torch used by a Chinese general moments before being shot in the leg, then you sidle along to the next artifact to read “This is a number plate from a wheel barrow used in 1937.” Wait, what? At best, it was bemusing, at worse, confusing and even insulting. Why would the curator place a photo of three children who had been killed by the invading force, directly next to a photo of the British ambassadors Mini? Are these two things somehow of the same import? How about the photo of a woman who had just been raped, next to a card about China’s financial situation of the times.

Smack bang in the middle of the building is an open mass grave, bones litter the ground and you can go around the outside to read in what horrific ways these people were killed. It was definitely too much, I cannot imagine why the bones needed to be on display, were the curators so desperate to make sure that the evidence was irrefutable that they would display human skeletons from only a couple of generations ago? I assume that these skeletons had not been identified, relatives would not know that their grandmother was down there, permission was not sought. In the same room were gruesome photos of the victims, next to them was a picture of two Japanese soldiers, noted for boasting about killing hundreds of Chinese single handedly. I noticed someone had slashed across their throats in that black and white photo.

Slit throats on photo of Japanese soldiers (Photo: emccall 11/13)

It was at this point I just wanted to walk straight out of the museum, indeed two of my friends left quickly after that. When I inquired as to why, they just said that they “got the idea pretty quickly.” However, hold strong and linger at the last couple of rooms. Bland, in comparison to the grand displays of the other rooms, but I stopped and read every bit of text and was very glad for it. A wall of pictures of present day survivors, as well as their testimonies, hung next to the quote “What we must remember is history, not hatred.”- Li Xiuying  “要记住历史，不要记住仇恨”－李秀英

Yes…YES!Was this the same museum? I felt like I was suddenly dealing with a whole different place. In that same room, the opposite wall was lined with present-day images and video archives of the people who had taken part in the massacre, with their testimonies. It made a strangely poignant juxtaposition with what we had been shown so far. These old Japanese men, crying and apologising for what had happened, taking full responsibility for their actions, saying that it must never happen again. Both sets of testimonies were used as evidence in the law suit which successfully brought the war criminals to justice. At the memorial site, were piles of paper cranes, folded by Japanese highschool students, wishes for ‘Peace’ were attached to them. A garden, donated by Japan, with a white statue of Lady Peace standing out amongst the grey buildings leads you out and back onto the streets of Nanjing.

My thoughts drifted back to the last thing visitors see before exiting the museum.

“Under the inspiration of the patriotic enthusiasm, we should struggle unceasingly for the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the realisation of the peaceful reunification of our motherland, and the maintenance of world peace.”

I can’t help but feel disgusted by the governments use of a tragedy, the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, for their own propaganda purposes. They had clumsily added and subtracted from what could have been a poignant reminder of this incident and in doing so, had confused and dulled the lessons taught by history.

Paper cranes and wishes written in Japanese in memorial (Photo: emccall 11/13)

Let’s Learn Chinese!

Hey kids!

Contrary to popular belief, not everyone in the world can speak English… this means that you may find it beneficial to either a) hire a bilingual goat or b) learn some phrases in the language of the country which you are visiting. If you opt for the latter, then please enjoy my guide to survival Chinese.

The first thing you’re going to encounter in China is a mumbling, strictly-Chinese speaking Taxi driver (make sure it’s from an official taxi rank, never take a taxi from the people who run at you shaking their keys, they will rip you off). Have the address of the place you wish to go to prepared. This means printing out a map (taxi drivers do tend to get lost, and they never use GPS), and not only having the address translated or in pinyin. Honestly, I don’t understand why hotel booking sites even bother with this, because a lot of the older generation in China don’t even read pinyin. Have the Chinese characters printed out in large, obvious font, this way you can point to the address, and say

“我要去这儿“ [ I want to go here] wo yao qu zhe er [pinyin]// war y-ow chew jar [phonetic]

If they start trying to set a price with you, point to the meter and say:

“打表啊！” [Run the meter] da biao a! // dar bee-ow ah!

If they refuse, get out and say “bye bye!”

When you get to the hotel, hand them your passport and booking details.

“我要入住“　[I want to check-in] wo yao ru zhu // war yow roo joo

护照　[passport] hu zhao // hoo jow

They will ask you for more money, this is the deposit if you have already paid online, so don’t be surprised and have extra yuan on you.

Numbers:

一，　二，三，四，五，六，七，八，九，十［1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] yi,er,san,si,wu,liu,qi,ba,jiu,shi // yee, ar, sun, ser, woo, lee-o, chee, bar, jee-oh, shir

十一，十二．．．[11, 12…] shi yi, shi er… // shir-yee, shir-ar… (easy! Just add ’10’ with another number to make 11-19)

二十，　二十五．．．三十二．．．　[20, 25, 32…]　er shi, er shi wu, san shi er // ar-shir, ar-shir-woo, sun-shir-ar (easy! Add a number (2-9) plus ’10’ to make the numbers 20-90, then simply add another number at the end for 25, 32 etc.)

一百，两百／二百，　三百．．．　[100, two-hundreds/ 200, 300…] yi bai, liang bai/ er bai, san bai.. // yee-buy, lee-ung-buy/ar-buy, sun-buy (For 100-900, choose your number and add ‘100’ (bai/buy) to it. For 200, the word for ‘couple’ may be used, as in “A couple of hundreds”)

一千．．．　［1000…] yi qian// yee-chee-an (1000’s follow the same pattern as 100’s)

Of most importance once you’re actually in the country is food, followed closely by shopping. Here, you can have some one-on-one experiences with the locals, I’ve only ever really had good fun shopping (outside of Beijing Silk markets) and the keepers are usually very talkative, curious and accommodating. If you aren’t confident enough to use this vocab, greet in English and they will switch for you.

Shopping:

你好 [hello] ni hao// nee how

老板 [‘Owner’] (call over) lao ban// l-ow ban

这个 [this one] zhe ge// jay ger

多少钱？[how much?] duo shao qian? // dwar sh-ow chee-an

我只看看 [I’m just looking] wo zhi kan kan // war jer can-can

太贵了[too expensive] tai gui le// tay goo-ay la

便宜一点可以？[Can you do it a little cheaper?] pian yi yi dian ke yi?// pee-an yee yee dee-an ker-yee?

不用 [I don’t want it] bu yong// boo yoong

好的！[Ok!] hao de! // how dur

谢谢 [Thanks] xie xie// share-share

Money:

——块 [bucks] kuai// koo-ay (slang for yuan)

——元 [yuan] yuan// yoo-an

——ＲＭＢ[yuan]

When you’re eating, treat it as one big adventure. Usually you will have no idea what you’re ordering, so bonus if there are pictures or hilarious english translations (like my recent order of ‘double smelly.’) My favourite tactic is to point out someone else’s food (not considered rude) and ask for “that one” [zhe ge // jay gur]

Food:

服务员 [waiter!] (call over) fu wu yuan// foo woo yoo-an

——个，i.e.  一个菜，三个人　[measure word, i.e. 1个 dish 3个 people] _ ge, yi ge cai, san ge ren // _gur, yee gur ts-ay, sun gur ren

米饭 [rice] mi fan// mee fun

热 [hot] re// rur

辣 [Spicy] la// lar

一点点 [A little] yi dian dian/ yee dee-an dee-an

冰 [cold/iced] bing// bing

打开[open] da kai// dar k-eye

对/ 不对 [right/incorrect] dui/ bu dui// doo-ee/
boo doo-ee

买单[pay the bill/ I want to pay the bill] mai dan// my dan

好吃！[lovely food/good meal] (a compliment) hao chi // how chur

吃饱了[I’m full] (a compliment) chi bao le// cher bow ler

包子 [steamer buns] bao zi// bow zer

肉 [meat] rou// row

菜 [vegetables] cai // ts-ay

有/没有 [have/don’t have] you/mei you // yo/ may yo (for example, don’t have ‘meat’ rou/row)

喜欢/不喜欢 [like/ don’t like] xi huan/bu xihuan // shee hoo-one/ boo-shee hoo-one (for example, don’t like ‘this’ zhe ge/jay gur)

会/不会 [can/ cannot, able/ not able to] hui / bu hui // hu-ee/ boo hu-ee (for example, I can’t ‘eat’ chi/ cher ‘spicy’ la/lar)

再见 [bye!] zai jian// zay jee-an

带走[take away] dai zou// die zoh

Ok, so that’s the big stuff covered, phew, what a lot to remember! It seems daunting, but really these words are incredibly common and you will find yourself having the same conversations over and over again.

Bonus Fun-time Chinese:

最近怎么样？[how have you been?] zui jin zenme yang? // zoo-ee jin zer ma young?

吃了吗？[have you eaten?] (How are you?) chi le ma? // chur lur mar?

对不起 [sorry] dui bu qi // doo-ee boo chee

不好意思 [pardon me] (if you knock into someone, etc. There is no word for getting people out of your way, just push) bu hao yisi// boo how yee sir

谢谢 [thanks] xie xie// share-share

不用谢 [no need to thank me] bu yong xie // boo yoong share

老外／外国人 [foreigner] lao wai/ wai guo ren // l-ow w-eye/ w-eye gwor ren

美女 [lit. beautiful young girl, Ms.] mei nu// may nyoo

帅哥 [lit. handsome young man, Mr.]  shuai ge// shoo-eye gur

你叫什么名字？[What’s your name?] ni jiao shenme mingzi? // nee jee-ow sherma ming zur?

我叫— [My name is…] wo jiao..//war jee-ow…

你是哪国人？[Where are you from?] ni shi na guo ren? // nee shur na gwor ren?

我是—— 澳大利亚人 [I am…. Australian] wo shi… ao da li ya ren // war shur… ow dar lee ya ren

你的中文很不错 [Your Chinese is great!] (expect this after every ‘ni hao// nee how‘ you say) ni de zhongwen hen bucuo!// nee de joong wern hen boo ts-wor

哪里哪里 [not at all] (modest) na li na li // nar lee nar lee

明白吗？ [Is that clear?] ming bai ma? // ming buy mar?

我不明白[I don’t get it… (your meaning)] wo bu ming bai // war boo ming buy

听懂吗？[Do you understand?] ting dong ma? // ting doong mar?

我听不懂 [I don’t understand] wo ting bu dong // war ting boo doong

再说 [say it again] zai shuo// zay shwoar

你会说英语吗？[Do you speak English?] ni hui shuo yingyu ma? // ni hoo-ee shwoar ying yoo mar?

会/不会 [Can/ Cannot] hui/bu hui // hoo-ee/ boo hoo-ee

我不会说汉语 [I can’t speak Chinese] wo bu hui shuo hanyu // war boo hoo-ee shwoar han yoo

我的汉语不好 [My Chinese is not so good] wo de hanyu bu hao // war der han yoo boo how

我怎么去-— [How do I go to…] wo zenme qu.. // war zerma choo….

警察局 [police station] jingcha ju // jingchar joo

银行 [bank] yin hang // yin hung

商场 [shopping centre] shang chang// sharng charng

…路 […road] ..lu// loo

地铁站 [subway station] di tie zhan// dee tee-yeah jan

在这儿 [here] zai zhe er // zay jar

在那儿 [there] zai na er // zay nar

进／远　[close/far] jin/yuan // jin/ yoo-an

…分钟 […minutes] …fenzhong// …fen joong

打的 [take a cab] da di // dar dee

帮我! [help me] bang wo! // bung war!

请问… [excuse me…] (to ask a question) qing wen… // ching when

你干嘛儿? [What are you doing?] (also, if you almost get hit by a scooter scream this after them to imply “What  the hell are you playing at?!) ni gan maer ? // nee gan maarrrrrrr ??

他妈! [fuck] (When you actually get hit by a scooter)  ta ma!// tar mar!

下车 [Getting off] (to get people to move aside when you’re getting off a subway) xia che// shar cher

干杯！[Cheers!] gan bei! // gan bay!

可爱的 [Cute] keai de// ker eye der

小心吧！[Careful!] xiao xin ba! // sh-ow shin bar

我爱中国　[I love China] wo ai zhongguo // war eye joong gwoar

FINAL NOTES:

Speaking horrific Chinese goes well with a huge smile and plenty of gestures. Always keep it pleasant and you will find yourself with discounts, friends and even the offer of potential husbands/wives.If you have a smart phone, download PLECO app. which allows for instant translation which you can show to someone if all else fails. Remember that you will be recognised fairly quickly as a foreigner, and there is no better way to strip back the unfortunate barrier of ‘othering’ that tends to happen then to approach them and make a genuine effort to communicate. Never assume that people can, or should, be able to speak your language, you may inadvertently embarrass someone when it should be you feeling all embarrassed and awkward about not bothering to learn a word of Chinese.

{Written for Steve, but available to the masses.}

Peace out!

苏州 SuZhou: Fun-times with Oxygen

After some depressingly difficult Mid-Term exams, I decided to reward myself with a day-trip to the nearby city of 苏州 (Suzhou.)
My lovely friend, Lea, also wanted to escape the climbing air-pollution index of Nanjing for a bit of (sorta) fresh air and sight-seeing.

The great thing about a day-trip to nearby cities is simply the ease of travel, there are 20 trains a day going from Nanjing to Suzhou and back again! And transit time is only about an hour on the faster trains.

When we arrived in Suzhou we were typically swarmed by dodgy ‘taxi’ drivers and people wanting to take us on overpriced tours. But atypically, once I had attempted to shoo them away using Chinese, they were genuinely curious about us and struck up conversation. Apart from being offered to be ‘introduced’ to some nice Chinese boys (one old man was especially despondent when I told him I lived in Nanjing), we were also advised what to see whilst in Suzhou and how to get there.

One driver even went as far as to point us towards the bus station, told us how many stops we had to go and warmly welcomed us to China.

It definitely pays to always smile and laugh when dealing with people doing this sort of hassling, it’s their job and being outright rude will get you nowhere.

The bus system in Suzhou is really great, don’t bother getting a taxi anywhere. For 1 元 (yuan), you can walk out of Suzhou train station and get on bus 1游 (yi you), which will take you to almost all tourist sites.

Lea and I left Nanjing at 8 in the morning and got home at 1am, and I can safely say that we made the absolute most of our time.

Firstly, we went to the Humble Administrators Garden 拙政园 (zhuozhengyuan). It was stunning, we felt dizzy from the amount of oxygen and fresh air. We meandered around and I fell in love with a particularly nice section of wall with leaves growing all over it. I will go back just to see that wall again.

Next, we went to the highly recommended Tiger Hill 虎丘(huqiu). It is a 300 metre man-made hill, which sounds kinda pathetic, but it was lovely. Gardens and ‘interesting’ rocks (including one called ‘pillow rock’ because it looked like a pillow…seriously?), it also had a little waterfall area and just enough people to be 热闹 (renao- lively) without being 麻烦(mafan- troublesome.)

Grabbing the bus back to the centre of the city, we went to the silk museum 丝绸博物馆(sichou bowuguan) which was FREE and looked at exhibitions dating from 200AD to present day. Silk is what Suzhou is known for, so I felt that I needed to know a bit about it. There were also women working invisible threads of silk into patterns on giant, old-style looms. Definitely worth a look.

Opposite the museum was the North Pagoda Garden, 报恩寺 (bao’ensi), so we climbed the pagoda and admired the not-so-smoggy view of Suzhou, took some deep breaths and reflected that yeah, it had been a pretty fun day.

To burn time before the train, we wanted to play cards and have a slow beer in a pub, 酒吧 (jiuba). We wandered around for hours, asked multiple people (NO! Not Karaoke…BAR!) and ended up drinking over-priced beer in a cafe instead. Nanjing may have a pollution problem at the moment, but hey, at least it has pubs.

At the Humble Administrators Garden (Photo: Emccall 11/13)

View of Suzhou from pagoda (Photo: Emccall 11/13)