10 September 2012
Humble administrator
I have been to Suzhou before, last time it was a grey and polluted day and one of the first days I spent on the mainland. That day was long and hot but fantastic!
So today I went back again, its not far on the bullet train, and a return trip costs about $10. According to various China tourist rankings, of which they now rank the rankings, Suzhou is either #1 or #2 tourist city in all China! I have no idea how this is measured.
There certainly are a lot of people that take daytrips from Shanghai, when you get there and even before you leave theres pushy day trip sellers waving cards at your face and screaming at you in English. My answer to this is 'wo shir suzhou ren' which I hope means I am from Suzhou. It certainly has the effect of getting rid of them fast.
Once you get there the police control the scrum line of tour operators waiting at the station exit gate, it wasnt as bad as last time which I think was a weekend. Today is Monday after all and I was there quite early.
This time the first metro line of Suzhou is completed, so being the nerd that I am, I rode it to the the 'new city' part of Suzhou and marvelled at the new. It was a fantastic ghost town built ready for the influx of people riding the new metro. I guess since the line has only been open about a month the lack of people was understandible.
Unlike Nanjing and Hangzhou who are constructing their metro lines by digging open cut trenches in main roads, with the ensuing dust storms, traffic chaos and noise, Suzhou has elected to do theres with tunnelling machines. Theres cool videos being shown in the stations of how this is done which I sat and watched (really!).
I am quite sure that the new metro, the new city, the shiny buildings and under patronised outdoor malls are not what makes it the #1 or #2 tourist city, but as the photos will show below, I found this just as interesting as the actual tourist bits.
Since my last visit, they have started constructing the second half of the high speed rail station. Presumably once this is completed you will be able to exit the station on the city side, so that you dont have to walk along a busy highway underpass.
I went up this pagoda last time, so no need to do it today. I was tempted because it was really clear and I could do some funky panoramas and stuff with my nerdy camera.
Fresh noodles are better than dried. This photo demonstrates why, your noodles may be dried in the street. This adds a delicious concrete dust flavour.
The main tourist attraction seems to be this garden, called the humble administrators garden. Apparently some old town clerk built it.
According to a sign, this garden is in the top 4 privately constructed gardens in all China! Now they are just making lists up arent they? This website is in the top 7 travel photography humor websites typed by me.
The garden is very popular with the tour groups. I have done my best to avoid them and take photos where the view isnt obscured by flags, fat people with huge cameras, matching t-shirts (Shanghai or BUST!) and back packs and tour leaders with loudspeakers and whistles.
I am not sure what the creator of this garden was humbly administering, but he must have been getting some additional funds. Is this the garden that fraud and corruption built?
The centre of the old city. The buildings are made in an old style to get tourists excited enough to get their wallets out. But fear not it has many mcdonalds and KFC's in case you are worried you might have to suck the flesh off the face of a pig to get a feed in Suzhou.
After quite a lengthy ride on the brand spanking new metro, this is where I popped out.
Its so shiny and blue. And as if to show me how shiny and new it is, a nearly clear blue sky presented itself.
Hmmm, not today. But I feel quite foolish for going on one yesterday. My ferris wheel quota is already met for this trip.
Lunch was fantastic! Again!, !. This is freshly made mini wontons in szechuan pepper oil, with cucumbers in vinegar and garlic. They complemented each other superbly. I ate the whole lot!
This is the ghost town indoor / outdoor mall area. Its lunch time and theres not many people around. The shops are all open though, with very bored looking staff. I teased them by walking toward their stores, and then suddenly veering before entering.
This had the effect of waking them from their slumber on their counters, ready to greet me entusiastically, only to be dissapointed at the last second.
I have to take a photo of myself in each city in case I need an alibi. This is under a bridge with twinkling gold lights.
This building was on news.com.au the other day. On one of their 'news' stories about the worlds most ridiculous buildings. Im surprised they found room for it on their site in amongst all the big brother, farmer wants a wife, masterchef and whatever other crap idiots find important which now dominates real news websites in Australia because our country has collectively become retarded.
I boarded my train back to Shanghai and this guy was in my seat. Hes not really asleep. I told him excuse me in Chinese, showed him my ticket. He shrugged his shoulders and pretended to sleep more.
So I took his photo. People around started laughing at him. Still he didnt move.
So his bags which you can see in front of his feet, I grabbed one of those and started walking away with it. He moved swiftly then.
He was lucky, my next move was to beat him with his own bag.