Suzhou, China

See, it rained in Suzhou, a lot, and we finally succumbed and bought umbrellas (which we left in China).
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When we arrived in Suzhou, we couldn’t see anyone. It was pouring down with rain and we wondered just what we would do when we got there. As we left the train station our guide found us. His name was Roy - and Roy was cool. He took us to the Garden of the Humble Administrator after lunch. Did I mention it was pouring down? This was good and bad. It was good because there was hardly anyone in this garden, but it was bad because it was miserable weather and we were getting colder and wetter by the minute. Roy told us that a garden needs five things, plants, rock, buildings, bridges and water. This garden was very pretty and, as you can see we have some pretty cool photos of it.

The bell that is the focal point for the Hanshan Temple, Suzhou
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We also visited Hanshan Temple. There is a poem A Night Mooring near Maple Bridge written by Zhang Ji, a poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). In this poem, Zhang described the midnight bell rings of the Hanshan Temple (Cold Mountain Temple). Since then, the temple has become famous for its bell ringing. The temple itself includes the Grand Prayer Hall, Sutra-Collection Building, Bell Tower, Fengjiang Pavilion and Tablets Corridor. In 1995, a five-storey Buddhism pagoda as high as 42 meters (about 138 feet) was erected called Puming Pagoda, which then became the symbolic building of the temple. We walked up all the pagoda stairs! The view from the top was great. It is said that the Buddhas remains are kept in these pagodas, but if that were the case then there would only be a few real pagodas. So nowadays its more the “essence of the Buddha” rather than the “presence of the Buddha”. This temple was cool with 150 golden Buddhas each representing something different. Unfortunately, the original bell described in Zhang Ji's poem disappeared a long time ago. The bell in the tower now, was modeled on the previous one in 1904. Every year on New Year's Eve in China's lunar calendar, the bell is tolled to pray for the happiness and safety of the coming New Year. This festival attracts thousands of tourists both at home and abroad.

The only dry place in the Humble Administrators Garden, Suzhou, China
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We left there and went back to the hotel to dry off. Roy took us to a place where we could buy DVDs for very little cash and we bought Shakespeare in Love, Stick It and a Pierce Brosnon one. They actually played them in the shop to show us they were in English and also good DVDs. Roy sat with us and had dinner – he said most people are only in Suzhou two days and one night and we were there three days and two nights, and that he had only been a guide for a month.

Next day, Roy had all kinds of scheduling for us – not happening. We went to old town Suzhou (Zhouzhuang), after a small battle to get a cup of coffee. Apparently, when you have a guide and driver, it is not the guide who is in charge, but the driver. Our driver did not want to stop to allow us to get coffee at first, and finally, when she could pick the place, we were allowed to stop. Not off to a good start. We had experienced this same attitude with our driver in Xi’an.

Ancient Chinese Theatre - this building was across from the open air stage and we sat there drinking tea watching the performance.
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Back to Zhouzhuang – you have to pay an entry fee to go into this town. It is preserved the way things used to be 400 years ago and is quite idyllic by Chinese standards. People do still live there, but I’m not sure that I would want tourists day in and day out coming through my streets. We had had enough of gardens, so we told Roy we didn’t want to see any more and just wanted to stroll around. Of course, this is where our camera battery ran out, so we have lots of mental pictures of this beautiful little village, but not too many digital ones. Zhouzhuang is surrounded and divided by lakes and rivers, 14 stone bridges cross the rivers, showing distinctive views of the water-town. Twin Bridges which comprise Shide Bridge and Yongan Bridge are the most famous and is considered the symbol of Zhouzhuang. Built in Wanli era (1573 - 1619) of the Ming Dynasty, Twin Bridges is in the northeast of the town. Shide Bridge is east-west and has a round arch, while Yongan Bridge is north-south and the bridge arch is square. Crossing the two crisscross rivers (Yinzi Creek and Nabeishi River) and connecting at the middle, Twin Bridges look like a Chinese old-style Chinese key. In 1984, 38 canvases of the notable painter, Chen Yifei, were exhibited in a New York gallery of Armand Hammer, chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corporation. 'Memory of Hometown' which depicts Twin Bridges was one of the items on display and has gained the world's attention for Zhouzhuang. The painting was chosen to be the first-day cover of the United Nations' postage stamp in 1985.

One of the Buddhas at the Hanshan Temple, Suzhou
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We wandered around and found an ancient outdoor theatre which was brilliant. And, there was going to be a performance later – we could see the ladies getting made up - such elaborate makeup. So we sat ourselves down and had some tea and waited. Well, it wasn’t exactly watching paint dry, Fiona said it was like someone plucking hairs out of a cat one by one. Roy said that they were singing Opera in an ancient Chinese dialect and maybe his father would understand a few words, but he certainly didn’t. We did wait until the end though, because, as actors ourselves, we know how awful it is when people get up and leave in the middle of your show. There weren’t too many people there because it had been pouring with rain all week and this was the first dry day, so people were still staying home in case the skies opened again – that suited us just fine. There were more canals than roads, so we asked Roy if we could take a boat, sure he said, so on we got. It was a pretty busy canal but an interesting way to see everything. When we were done, I spotted a sign for an underwater tomb of some high ranking official and we tried to find it, but all we found was the marker above ground, and John and Fiona took great delight in mocking me about that for ages – underwater indeed! When we left, we were late (duh), not by our standards, but the drivers, so we took a short cut out of the village. My camera battery had run out by then or I would show you what we saw. It was definitely “behind the backlot” kind of area. There was rubbish everywhere. A couple of houseboats had been abandoned and were overgrown and dilapidated and someone new had moved in. There were stray puppies around, chickens and cockerels roamed free and it didn’t smell good at all. We mentioned to Roy, that although it was okay for us, as we were not really tourists but travelers, it might not be the best way in the future for him to bring tourists out of the village. It tends to ruin the image a little to see all this poverty and trash – even though we all know it is there – right next to such a pretty little city.

Chinese Opera on an ancient stage in Zhouzhuang, China. We watched this girl put on her makeup.
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That night, because we had missed lunch (something our driver was really unhappy about) we were going to have hotpot with Roy. Roy explained that we were allotted a certain amount of money for each meal and as we hadn’t spent it, we could spend it all that night. I wish we had found that out earlier, the amount of money that the tour company saved on our food consumption did certainly not come back to me! Anyway, Roy took us to hotpot which is like fondue inasmuch as you cook the food yourselves. You add raw meat and veggies to a spicy or non spicy boiling broth and then when they done, eat them. There were loads of Chinese families in this restaurant, and this was probably the first place where we were the only non-Chinese, it was very cool. The evening ended with all of us (including Roy) going off to get foot massages – our first in China, and Fiona’s first ever!

Roy, Lynne, John and Fiona at the Suzhou Museum, China. This had fabulous art exhibits - and yes, it was raining
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Next day, more rain. Our schedule said shopping, but Roy was now used to us and said “Shopping”? and we said “No” and he said “OK” with a chuckle. I think he knew that we were not going to stick to the schedule at this point. We ended up going to the Suzhou museum which Roy had not been to for ages. One thing struck us, the translations in that museum from Chinese to English were the best translations we had seen anywhere in China, Beijing and Shanghai included. Whoever did those translations was definitely very familiar with all parts of the English language and very educated. If there is such a thing as “high English” that is how these translations accompanying the exhibits were written. The museum itself was good as far as museums go, but the highlight for us was the contemporary art section. It had two rooms. In one room was a painting done by using gunpowder – ask us and we will explain. In the other was a backlit picture probably 30 feet by 10 feet which reflected shadows of twigs and rocks and stuff to completely imitate an old Chinese line drawing of a hillside. I’m not explaining it well, but it was totally amazing. I asked if I could take a picture, and was told no. I should have taken one anyway because everyone else just seemed to do it, ah well, mental picture on that one.

A window into the world of Chinese Opera's makeup, Zhouzhuang, Suzhou, China.
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Then off to the railway station with Roy. While we were waiting for the train to Shanghai, I taught Roy Siduko and gave him some of the pages of my book to practice with – he loved it.

Goodbye Suzhou, you are a lovely city.