Day 4, Suzhou/ Hanzhou

We left Suzhou after we attended the "National Silk Embroidery Museum" or something like that. Another opportunity to see beautiful hand-made pieces of art work. They were truly spectacular, and again, "No photos, please." I'm very obedient most of the time. The buildings didn't have stairs, but they were very cold. The luncheons we attend are held in banquet rooms, usually NOT on the ground floor, so there are stairs. Sometimes we get lucky and Berenice can use an elevator. But sometimes not. Third floor banquet hall in a restaurant! That hurts after a while, you know? I'm so grateful for my healthy knees at this point in my life.

Don't you love the teapot above? It was in the tea plantation area of Hanzhou. We drove to Hanzhou after our one night in the Suzhou hotel. The drive was on toll and express ways. They moved fairly well most of the time, but we did end up in some heavy traffic. Luckily, the bus was comfortable.

When we arrived in Hanzhou, it is another large city, mostly industrial, very polluted, too. We never saw any rain, but it was overcast. I was never sure if it was haze, smog or fog. My lungs didn't burn, so mostly just haze and fog? Hard to say. I think it was about a three hour drive, so we got to our hotel in Hanzhou and went to the hotel we were staying in and had dinner in the Hotel restaurant. Yes, we didn't eat in the regular part--we were in a banquet area and were served the same fare we usually had. I have no complaints about that! As we walked through the regular restaurant with regular local people eating there, I kind of did not enjoy the smell of the foods they were eating. I was glad we didn't have to deal with menus and ordering on our own. That could have been scary. They took good care of us wussie Americans who eat with forks.

In the evening after dinner, a few of us went out to the nearby shopping center. It was interesting to see. One of the couples went, and they said it was so different from the place they were in the previous night in the previous town. Suzhou's market was crowded and had more of a Walmart feel to it (yes, they have Walmart in China); Hanzhou was a more high-end area in a newer part of town. It felt like most malls in America (only everything was in Chinese). Restaurants, shops, an arcade for youth, escalators, open courtyard.
Here is our Hanzhou hotel room. Yes, they all kind of blend together in the end. Maybe it was Shangha! At this point, I'm really not sure. ;-)
But that was live bamboo in the vase in the bathroom. This bathroom didn't have a tub with a window in it--it had a VERY tall shower with a rain showerhead on the ceiling...no place to soak one's feet in this place. If you looked closely in the one hotel room picture, you could see Berenice elevating her feet when we go there after dinner.
Above you can see a barge or two. Most rivers were much busier, but maybe the misty weather was keeping some of them clear. But you can see how NOT clear the air is. I think we were about 80 Km from the water (China Sea).
Above is an interesting photo snapped from the bus as we drove past a cell phone manufacturer. Their building looks very much like a UFO. And it is much larger, It's about three frames wide, actually. I'm just posting the middle section of the building.


Our first stop in Hanzhou on Day 4 was a drive through the mountains surrounding Hanzhou to the tea plantation areas. Lots and lots of tea plants being cultivated in the hills. We attended the required demonstration about green tea, how it is dried, it's anti-oxident features and other health benefits. Apparently, one benefit is to soothe your eyes with the steam. Isn't this funny? Here we are, steaming our eyes with green tea vapors. And none the worse for it, I might add.

We had a really cute demonstrator. She apologized for the people of China who, sometimes, will fill the top part of a tea leaf canister with top quality tea leaves for purchase, but really below the top layer was poorer quality leaves. She was sorry for that. So they were packing that top quality green tea right there in front of us for us to buy right then and there (guaranteed!) and we would know what we were getting. But I'm not a green tea buff, so I passed. Two of our group made a purchase, and of course the exit was via a gift shop.
The area around this little visitors' site was quite pretty. They had a LOT of buses coming and going through here. They must really cater to a LOT of tourists. Most buses were carrying way more than the 7 passengers that ours had. And they could have used a bigger parking lot.

Day 3 and 4, Suzhou

Tiger Hill

We don't know why it was called by that name. Perhaps tigers roamed there at one time. But it was pretty and had a nice big pagoda on the top. Pagodas are also alway built with odd numbers of stories. Always 7, or 9 or 13. Never as small as three, apparently.
And it included steep stairs everywhere, so Berenice came in and we all used the bathroom (my first "floor model" experience!) and then went back to the bus to wait for us.
There are interesting details everywhere. This is a rooftop. None of the stairs have handrails, the rocks/stones that were placed for stairs actually looked as though they might have been re-built and arranged differently than the original. The carvings didn't always match up, for example. But I didn't take a picture of that. Just an observation. But I would think that things this old would have had some 'renovations' over the eons.
Closer to the pagoda so you can see some of the intricate details.

Above is a group of us. Me, Linda (the other one), Suzette, and Carol.
It was a very pretty garden area, it had wells, bridges, walkways, buildings (souvenir shops, tourists), pretty things that will one day soon burst into bloom. And even a Buddah. (below)
OK. I need to back up a little to the beginning of day three. We left Beijing and went to the airport to catch a flight to Suzhou on the 3rd day of our visit. If it's Wednesday, it must be Suzhou. I believe it was March 17 and I didn't even wear green. I had asked Wally to please try to arrange for a wheelchair for Berenice's use at the airport, but Wally was not able to make arrangements for it. Well, he sort of did. It would have been available in an hour from when we got there. But we needed/wanted to be at our gate sooner, so we just walked. It's a little different set-up there. We did have the benefit of many moving walkways to get us to where we needed to go, but after we are at the gate, we get on regular buses to transfer to the plane and we had to walk up stairs to get on. There was no jet way. Needless to say, we were the last ones on. She does OK, but has to take it very slowly, and it just plain hurts her knee very badly. But, again, she never complains. Our flight to Shanghai was about 1 1/2 hours long. They fed us a snack of some kind. Kind of like a manapua in Hawaii. Hot, steamed roll with meat mixture and beans or something inside. It was lunch time, so we were glad to get it. Although, we did have our granola bars with us! And nuts and candy. Some of our group had an interesting experience at the airport before we left Beijing. Berenice and I got a head start and went on through security with no difficulty and headed off to the gate, but a member of our group was stopped because of some liquids in her carry-on. She had to go back and check the bag, rather than just surrender all her makeup. So she did take the time to do that. It might have been scary in a foreign airport like that, as our tour guide had assisted with our initial check-in at the ticket counter there. However, good ol' "Beijing Wally" was watching the security checkpoint area and could see there were some hang-ups, so he waited and helped her to get her bag checked. And it was a good thing--by then there was a long line and she might have missed her flight! We were sad to say goodbye to our Beijing Wally.
Here is our (messy) hotel room. Honestly, we were so tired all the time, few things got hung up or put away. And we were only there one night in this place! It was a Holiday Inn. Not quite the 5 star quality of our previous one, but comfy beds and a nice bathtub for soaking feet in at night. With a window in it again. So odd.

After our NEW guide, David, gathered us at the airport in Shanghai, we put our stuff on the bus and headed to Suzhou, about a 3 hour drive away from Shanghai airport. That hotel (above) was where we landed our things, had a minute to "freshen up," met in the hotel lobby and headed out to our first excursion. We took a canal boat ride!
First, here is typical street traffic. No lanes, really. I mean, they are painted on the street, but everyone just kind of drives where-ever... and no honking is allowed in this city! Imagine that! Actually, I could tell a big difference between here and Beijing. Suzhou was David's "hometown". It has a population of FOUR MILLION PEOPLE.
I didn't have my camera on the canal tour. It's called the "Venice" of China. Having seen Venice, I have my doubts. Granted, they HAD had a lot of rain. The water was murky, the homes very VERY old and falling down. I supposed it has potential to be lovely in certain seasons. Winter didn't do it much good. We saw people doing laundry in the canal. And one man brushing his teeth and dentures in the canal water. Ugh.

We hopped off once and walked briefly through an authentic market. It was crowded, smelly, noisy, confusing, small, dirty, interesting and I spent quite enough time there, thank you very much. He left us on our own to wander and browse!! It was mostly food-stuffs, living and not quite so living. It was amazing to see, however. Local residents use electric motor bikes. They make no noise (electric motors are quiet and pollution-free!) BUT they beep their little horns at you to move out of their way. I just didn't know what all those squeaky-beepy noises WERE, so we were slow to move. Well, some of us just move slowly, anyway.

I guess there was more than just food and animal items there. I did see a pile of fabric at one place. Nothing appealing, however. But there were turtles, the biggest bamboo shoots I've ever seen, live ducks and chickens and chicks, eels, other un-identifyable items. Lots of smells. Public bathrooms with seemingly limited plumbing (I didn't go in--that's just what my nose gathered). PUBLIC means they are for the people who live in the hovels there. I'm sorry, they are masonry buildings. Just small, old and very run-down. Very little indoor plumbing.

OK. After we saw the famous Grand Canal Area, it was about dinner time, so we went to a restaurant to eat. It was the regular fare. We were informed by David that we would like it much better, because, after all, it WAS his hometown and their cooking was MUCH better than the stuff they serve in Beijing! My non-discerning taste buds could tell very little difference. I was grateful to be given a fork at every meal. And our Sprite. Always Sprite. The restaurant was in an area that had a very large concentration of wedding dress shops. Dozens. It was very pretty to see them as we drove by on our bus. THIS bus had a nice lower extra step up--Berenice was grateful.

There are many factories in the Suzhou area, there was lots of pollution. There were MANY canals and rivers. The canals were very full and busy with barges coming and going. It looked like mostly construction dirt and gravel to me. There are a lot of lakes in the region, too. So, there's a lot of humidity and my hair was very straight (well, it always is. Who am I kidding?). There seemed to be a lot of agriculture in the area, too. Lots and lots of new high-rises going up everywhere, in both Shanghai and Suzhou.

After our dinner, we went to bed early and were very , very tired. And Berenice had swollen feet and ankles. She seemed to be very VERY worried about them, but I put her mind at ease and let her know that considering how much sitting on planes and walking she's done in the past 5 days, it was to be expected and she must elevate, elevate, elevate! And she must drink more water! So she did, after a good foot soaking and foot massage, and pain relief rub for knee and shoulder. Her shoulder hurt from pulling herself in and out of buses, I think. I'm telling you, she never complained, but she was in a lot of pain. AND she took a pain relief pill every morning and every night (either Tylenol or Ibuprofin)! And she never takes pills of any kind. I thought that was something of a minor miracle, that I could get her to take any meds at all.

Our Holiday Inn didn't have washcloths in the room. Odd. I like washcloths and use them, so I missed them.

Now we begin on day four of our adventure. Early in the morning, we checked out of our hotel, we ate a great breakfast IN the hotel, then we loaded up and headed to our first place, called "Lingering Garden" This is pictured below in many different shots. I took more. Here's just a few.

Mosaics in the walkways.
More rocks. They love those rocks.
Ceramic barrell/stools to sit on at a table to have tea or what ever. They were icy cold! It was warmer in Suzhou, but still only 57 degrees F or so. Chilly weather and we were walking in shady areas most of the time. No sunshine. But it was warmer than Beijing. I just thought these were pretty. They had buildings in this garden, furnished beautifully.
And they had a lovely Bonzai garden area, too.
And pretty flowering trees. The guide tried to tell us they were magnolias. (the pink one in the back) Not your Southern ones, that's for sure.
Some workers moving marble slabs around. I didn't get the picture of them moving it with sticks over the shoulders and ropes...
And, Oh LOOK! Here's Judy again!
Even though Lingering Gardens was pretty, it was cold, and the walkways were uneven for Berenice and there were still stairs everywhere. But it was nice. I'm glad we went. It has a status there in China about the equivalent of what we would call a National Historic Site or something like that I think. Historic home? It was a privately owned entity at one time.

OK. On to our next stop. The SILK FACTORY! I was REALLY looking forward to this. But first: The BUTT chairs. Have you ever seen chairs with divots for your butt? I haven't. So I took a picture. And, yes, they were comfortable.

David is instructing us on the life stages of the silk worm.
And we weren't supposed to be taking pictures in the little "factory" area. They didn't really take us to factories. They had a room set up with the equipment that is used in the real ones. For the amount of things this country produces, I can only imagine how much space a factory would take up. And how many people to run it! Wow. We saw them spinning threads by machine. But there was no demo of dying it or weaving or printing. We did see them making the fluff for silk comforters. It's silk instead of down (or polyester fiberfill). They make it from the twin cocoons, which cannot be unwound to make thread, so they make the comforters and pillows out of those. I did see many many acres of little mulberry shrubs growing all around this city's outskirts, to furnish the food for these silk worms--which are quite large!

Here we are watching a brief fashion show. After we learn about silk, then we have the opportunity to BUY silk merchandise. This place did get my business. I bought a silk scarf and wore it to work on yesterday. It was a windy day, and I have to tell you, I LOVED the way the silky scarf fluttered in the breeze. Or gust. It just made me smile! :-)
Clean streets. And the broom is made of tree branches.

To be continued....

China Day 3, Leaving Beijing

Here is our little group as we are preparing to go to the airport to catch our flight out of Beijing to Shanghai. I think Suzette's picture turned out much better...but we haven't exchanged photos yet.
Here is the lobby of our hotel. It was a Crown Plaza, 5 star. We really enjoyed it.

Here is our room. See the glass window with blinds? That's our bathtub! There was also a shower (all glass) in the bathroom with a lot of reflective black marble on the wall, and mirrors, mirrors everywhere. I don't recall seeing myself quite so clearly before (kind of scary!). But it was very comfortable and they served delicious breakfasts in the morning. Tons of great food.
Our last night in Beijing (actually Day 2) we had our PEKING DUCK. This is a special treat and we'd postponed it to allow for one of our members to recover a little from her illness so she could join us. She did. They are pretty. And they tasted OK. But there's so much food! Always. They just stuffed us (to keep us fat, I think. So they could sell us more de-fatting herbs for our livers) ha. And it was really good. Again, I don't think to take picture of the pretty table before we have dug in and gobbled a lot of it up.
Oh, and this is a funny little story! [below] Judy (in green shirt on left) and Berenice ran into each other on the day before...the first day I think. They met, actually, in the men's restroom. I guess they both didn't look up to see which way the arrows were pointing and walked the WRONG way to find a couple of men washing their hands in the basins. So naturally, they left rapidly and laughed about together. But then, because Judy and her group was also on a Chamber of Commerce tour, they were going the same places we were and we ran into them EVERYWHERE! It just really tickled Berenice and she delighted in telling people how they had met. So watch for pictures of Judy. This is about the second time they've run into each other since the initial meeting. Judy's from Massachusetts. They exchanged addresses and MAY run into each other this summer, too!

China, Day 2, Part 4 (still in Beijing)

We next hiked around Tian An Men Square, the world's largest square. Our guide had helpful numbers to aid us in envisioning just how large the square is. It will hold 2 Million Chinese people. But only 1 million of Americans. Because we are big. He said it much funnier, however. Here is my artsy view of the gate to the city that is near / right on the square. There are light bulbs all over it, so I'm assuming the illuminate it at night. Or at least part of the night. The square also contains the tomb of Mau, who is on display there twice a day. His HUGE building was built in about 6 to 9 months. Workers labored around the clock to build it in such a speedy fashion. It's just really big. We were unable to go in because it happened to be under some renovation for a few days. I think Beijing Wally was quite disappointed. So we walked all the way around the square in the very cold wind! We saw monuments, lots of tourists, the flag, guards, Mau's portrait and the famous sayings on either side. You'll have to look those up on the internet. I didn't take good enough notes to remember what they said. And even then, we have to take his word for it because we surely wouldn't know what it said!


Mau's tomb is the large building behind the statue. There was a pair of statues in front. One of farmers/common people, one of soldiers. The rest of the square was surrounded by larger buildings, like a parliament-type one, a museum, a gate at either end. And the gates are large structures.
Strangely enough, surrounding the entire square by the streets (and no sidewalks next to the square), was a very short 3 1/2 foot tall metal fence. There were several security checkpoints around the square at entrances. We had to put our bags through an x-ray machine and walk through a gate (thank you, 9/11). But I did wonder what would prevent someone from just hopping the fence and coming on it? Not much--just a dinky little fence. I did ask Beijing Wally what they would do. He didn't have an answer. I didn't want to find out. Use the proper entrances, please.
Below are some Asian Tourists who thought we were funny-looking enough to have me hold their bare-bottomed baby (quite a story about those pants!) and have their pictures taken with us.
But right before (or maybe it was after--it's not quite clear in my notes) we hiked around the square, we stopped in at a Chinese Pharmacy. They specialize in herbal medicine, ying and yang, balance in all things. So, we had the opportunity to listen to their speil, meet with a Doctor, have our pulse listened to, our tongues looked at. Each Doctor had an English-speaking interpreter with them. But I had to interpret the interpreter for Berenice. Their accents are very thick. ha. They offered a brief massage after the sales pitch where they recommended what herbs we should be taking (and of course, BUYING from them for the rest of our lives!) for our ailments. For example I should have some ______ for my fatty liver. No thanks, I said. I think I'll eat less and exercise more to de-fat my liver. [Hey, I went for a one-mile walk with Mike this morning!]
So here is a picture of Berenice getting a massage from one of the younger assistants (not the doctor). We didn't hear that they were charging for them...but they did. But only $3.00. I thought it was worth it.
The bad part about this excursion to the square was that it was so BIG. It was way too far for Berenice to walk comfortably, but Wally didn't seem to think it would be difficult for her. It was. It was very cold and windy, too. AND, even though the square was flat enough, the crosswalks to GET to the square were under the street crossings with stairs down and back up. Then after our circuitous route around the square, we went out, under and up and out and UNDER ANOTHER street, besides! Berenice was about done in!!!

Day 2, Part 3, continued

More shots of the Forbidden City. Below is a very gnarley tree. It's still alive. It's in the garden part of the Forbidden City/Royal Palace. The OTHER part of the compound has absolutely NO shrubbery or growth at all. And it has very tall walls in order to discourage anyone who might want to try to assassinate the emperor. There's nothing to hide behind if they got over the walls.

So after seeing all these scenes in the Forbidden City, all of us wanted to go home and watch the movie, "The Last Emperor." Myself included. Gail has it now on her list of instant views on Netflix, so I'll be doing that sometime in the future while this is still fresh on my mind. I have a hard time believing that the Chinese government would allow film makers into their Royal Palace, so it'll be interesting to see the sets they must have had to make! Maybe. I'll have a film review later. ;-)
I belive this is an incense burner. Bronze. Big.
Here's the description of the "Large Stone Carving." What an original title, no? ! ha. But they also made ICE ROADS to slide the stone along to get it to it's home in the palace. That was during the winter. During the not-so-cold months, our guide said they rolled it over logs as a mode of transportation. It's one big stone. Really.