Visiting good Chinese friends - Suzhou, China
Suzhou, China
Where I stayed
The Puyu Serviced Apartment (Suzhou Baodai Road)
Suzhou – Wu Treasures (Source: Suzhou Museum)
Of the center of the Wu region, Suzhou was called the "shining pearl" of the Jiangnan Area. The earliest traces of civilization in the Yangtze River delta began 10,000 years ago, with the discovery of the prehistoric Sanshandao Man. Suzhou was established as the capital of the Wu Kingdom 2,500 years ago, in 514 B.C. And it began its rise as an important and influential commercial and cultural center.
Endowed with lush, beautiful landscapes and abundant natural resources, Suzhou is one of China's most historic and well known cities and has often been known in Chinese expressions as the "Village of Fish and Rice," the "State of Cultural Relicts" and "Heaven on Earth." Its central geographic location, its well-developed river and canal systems, its fertile agricultural land and its beautiful water life enabled Suzhou to become the political, economic and cultural hub of the region with developed a uniquely rich artistic tradition.
The relics that remain with us (the Museum) are witnesses to our history. The artifacts excavated from Suzhou and the surrounding region embodies the quintessential essence of Suzhou's long tradition of fine arts and crafts and the glory of Chinese culture.
Suzhou, with its rich history and magnificent culture, is the symbol and pride of the Wu region.
Saturday, 7 September 2013
We used the bullet train from Shanghai to Suzhou (25 minutes) and our teacher friends picked us up at Suzhou's train station. We checked out a private home but it was too far from the downtown area. We checked in to Motel168 closer to the school area, where we were very familiar with locations and bus connections.
It was very difficult to negotiate the price per night with the people at the Motel168. Fortunately, our Chinese friends helped and we got a better rate. The motel staff neither spoke or understood much English. At the first night we stayed in a room with PC, Internet access and TV. The second night, we moved to a room with TV and free wireless Internet access. It was not a disadvantage because we travel with cell phones and laptops. The room was less expensive. But the Internet speed was very slow and most of the 500+ TV channels (if the TV was working) were in Chinese language.
Our teacher friends invited us this evening for dinner at a local restaurant and also brought their sons. What a treat and what delicious food: lots of veggies including pumpkin; chicken, pork, and fish dishes, then noodles for good luck.
Sunday, 8 September 2013
We visited a pre-school class with our teacher friend Angel and taught the children the 'Hello' song in English. They learned the English words and their Chinese meaning and at the end they could sing along with us.
Living in a small hotel room without a kitchen was not our goal in Suzhou. Therefore, we were looking for apartments with kitchen or better a fully served apartment. We knew from last year's visit the SIP (Suzhou Industrial Park) area which has a nice lake. It is reachable by bus #1 and metro line 1 (though not so convenient to Bibo school or where our friends live), so we asked an agent to show us some properties.
Monday, 9 September 2013
We met Neil, an real estate agent at Xinghai Square Station at 1:30 pm to check out some apartments for rent. The apartments in SIP are very expensive, very nice but not close to shopping areas. So we would need a car or taxi to most places. Also the walk to the next Metro station from the apartments was far away. We looked at Crown Serviced Apartments in SIP. It was in a walk distance to the metro but a long walk to grocery stores.
So we continued looking for apartments close to the school area but this time for serviced apartments only.
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
It was Teacher's Day in Suzhou and we visited Bibo Primary School. The grades 3 and 4 that we taught last year are now in grade 4 and 5. Wow, they grew up very fast. What a surprise for them to see us again. One class knew about our arrival and greeted us with flowers. What a touching feeling - we received more flowers than the class teacher.
We also met the principal and he invited us to have lunch with the teachers in the new lunch room and to teach some classes. When a volunteer teacher from Germany leaves the flat at the end of September, we can move into the school's flat. That was good news for us because we don't have to rent an apartment for an entire month. We also would be locally very close to our teacher friends.
Our teacher friend Angel invited us surprisingly to have dinner with her family at a local restaurant. She picked us up at the hotel and we met very interesting and nice relatives of Angel. We had again very nice food on a traditional round table: fish, pork, duck, beef, veggies, noodle, dumplings in a soup, etc. And they like to drink 'firewater.' Gānbēi, that means 'bottoms up.' But as a non-local you can ask for 'idiente', that means little sips - at least in Suzhou.
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Our teacher friends helped us to move from Motel168 to Puyu Zhongrun Apartment Hotel, which is located at 399 East Baodai Road (Baodai Dong Lu). The rooms can be viewed at the hotel's website:
http://english.ctrip.com/hotels/suzhou- hotel-detail-345781/puyu-zhongrun-apart ment-hotel
Yes, it is a serviced apartment but doesn't support towels and kitchen ware.
We didn't have problems with our credit cards in Shanghai. But here in Suzhou, these cards are not working in ATM machines or at stores. They expect a 6 digit PIN number and ours have only a 4 digit one. Our credit cards didn't also work at the Puyu Zhongun Apartment Hotel but we have to pay for one month in advance around 7,000 RMB. They ask us to go to a bank and get cash. We decided to visit a big branch of Bank of China because they have a good reputation servicing foreigners. We changed some USD in RMB and surprisingly, our credit cards also worked on their ATM machines. A very nice and helpful bank manager on duty recommended opening a savings account and we would receive a card like our US ATM or Debit card. With this card we should now pay everywhere our bills. The bank manager on duty spoke very well English and also the teller was helpful with the transactions. We gave both six stars.
Back at the apartment, we paid with the new card our bill and had no problems. It seems to be in China like in the US. Nobody trusts you without a credit or debit card. But with the card you are the king.
Now, we must go shopping with our new card because we need some stuff for our new apartment. Just around the corner is Suzhou's largest and most high-end shopping mall (Lefo Mall Lai Fung - pronounced Lifong) including a big supermarket selling much western-style food.
Thursday, 12 September 2013
We had lunch at Bibo Elementary School's new lunch room in the new building and met our teaching friends as well as the supervisor and the principal. In the afternoon, we picked up our laundry at a local cleaning store and went back to our apartment.
The weather is very muggy and hot (30+C, 86+F) and we sweat like in a sauna. To carry a little towel is very helpful - even in a bus with A/C.
Shopping at Vangard (formerly Mega Store). Our old favorite store for groceries and pretty much everything else is now a Vangard store. Inside it still looks the same. Yes, we need some kitchenware and food for our new hotel apartment (they only supply bed linens and some cleaning). Electric stove didn't work - yes, something happened with the high-sophisticated cooking touch stove.
Friday, 13 September 2013
Today we had a very nice day - went to the Suzhou Museum and Pingjian Road, and got caught in heavy rain, but it was okay. We hopped with our new umbrella from one cover to another. We had some dumplings at the famous" dumpling place "Pin Von" in Pingjian Road, then walked through Guanqian Street and took the #1 bus home.
The hotel is very good about helping us with the cooking stove top and the washing machine. Yes, all instructions are in Chinese symbols. The Internet is very slow on Western websites - but Chinese sites are very fast, for example youku.com, soso.com, tv.sohu.com, etc. And yes, they show English movies. Surprisingly, some websites could be accessed using Internet Explorer (Microsoft) but not using Google Chrome.
Saturday, 14 September 2013
It seems that we are very popular because many friends invited us for lunch, tea or dinner with them and their family. So today we received another invitation from our friend Si Ma Yun Yun. We didn't know that it was her son's birthday and some of his classmates were invited. The kids played all games on their iPads. We sat on a round glass table with the kid's mothers, drank green tea and tasted Chinese fruits, nuts, pudding (looked like yogurt), ice cream, etc. The names of the fruits: mangosteen (Shānzhú / 山竹), durian (Liúlián / 榴莲), pomegranate (Shíliú / 石榴), jujube, also called Chinese or red date (Zǎozi 枣子).
Sunday, 15 September 2013
It was a relaxing Sunday staying most of the time in our apartment area. We met in the morning our teacher with son and had ice cream. Later, we had lunch at the restaurant Shanghai Weilue Cany Suzhou that is located in the Lefo Mall. We bought also some food in Lefo's supermarket.
Monday, 16 September 2013
We spend most of the time at Suzhou's district police station and reported Michelle's lost passport. Our good teacher friend did the communication. Without her, we surely got lost in translation. My view words in Mandarin didn't help because they spoke Suzhou dialect and didn't understand me. A police car drove us back to the school. Wow, what a Chinese service.
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Our good teacher friend picked us up at the apartment and her father drove us to the new Entrance Exit Bureau, a tall police building at Renmin Road, passing the new Wanda shopping mall. It was very fast getting the 'lost passport document' in the 14th floor. And our Chinese friend was again very helpful in Chinese communication. On the way back, they dropped us off at Renmin Lu (Road) and Guanqian Jie (Street). Of course, we went shopping and had late lunch.
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
This was another day with a big surprise. The principal of Bibo School asked us to help another primary school teaching English. Of course, we were thrilled to help and an English teacher picked us up in front of the Bibo School. It was a one hour ride to Wuxianshi Taihu Experimental School. The school is located on Lake Taihu and we used S230 Provicial Road, passed Muduzhen (the end station of Metro line 1), Cangshuzhen, Yanishan, Qionlong Mountain, Guangfuzhen, Guangfu (the home town of the English teacher), and Changputan. We passed a small part of the lake with many fishers selling fresh fish and arrived in Hudongcun, a very small village. The principal and other teachers welcomed us in their conference room and showed us our classrooms for grades 3 and 4.
Approximately twenty-five students are in each class. Michelle taught in the auditorium maximum with theater seating and many parents followed her session observing their children. I was in a smaller classroom but the children's parents watched me also with "eagle eyes." Singing, drawing and interact in English with the very intelligent students were a success and the principal invited us for lunch in a local restaurant. And it was fish season. You can guess what we got. Wonderful tasting silver fish (jing ju), tai hu, isaen bai, and bai ju. Hopefully, I spelled the fish names correctly.
We never ate nuts from the lake that are growing under water. They tasted similar to water nuts. The Chinese name is língjiǎo (菱角), líng meaning "caltrop" and jiǎo meaning "horn." It has also the name water chestnut or buffalo nut. We brought back a bag with "língjiǎo" for our teachers in Bibo School. And they knew exactly how to open it: with teeth, fingers or scissors.
Jiāobái (茭白), the wild rice stems are grown as a vegetable and tasted also very good. Lotus roots or Lián'ǒu (莲藕) has a crunchy texture with sweet-tangy flavors. Brasenia or chúncài (莼菜) is another edible aquatic plant that was cultivated in China and Japan as vegetable. It tasted good together with pork, chicken and lake fish. Shui Qin tasted a little like celery but with stronger flavor.
I think that we made new friends. That was a wonderful experience.
Thursday, 19 September 2013
Today is Mid-Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival, a Chinese public holiday. The festival celebrates three fundamental concepts: gathering with family and friends, thanksgiving for the harvest and praying or asking for conceptual or material satisfaction, such as for babies, a spouse, beauty, longevity, or for a good future. Many people buy Moon-cakes and give it away. The cake is way too sweet for us. So we passed this time.
Michelle arranged for next Monday an appointment at the US Embassy in Shanghai to apply for a replacement of her lost passport. So we needed to buy train tickets for Shanghai. We found the address of the ticket office in the Internet but it was very hard to find the address. We knew the Guanqian Street but not No.71 Jiuxueqian Lane in Guanqian Street. Street signs are rare and after asking many people in Guanqian Street for the location of the ticket office, a very helpful salesperson from a Samsung store showed us the right way. And it was very wise to have the request to buy train tickets written in Chinese so we could show it when we asked for. Fortunately, I could ask the lady in the ticket booth in Chinese whether she can understand English. The response 'idiente' is always helpful and we received our round tickets for the bullet train.
We were also very lucky to had dinner in a very nice Italian restaurant close to Guanqian Street. It is called Da Marco (大马可意 3;利餐厅). We passed it a couple of times but we couldn't find it. Very helpful hotel personal called the restaurant and a girl from the restaurant picked us up. It is located at No. 19 Ta Ni Lane, Guanqian Street. The ambience and the Italian food were excellent. I had a house salad and pasta frutti de mar; Michelle a Caesar salad and a steak. We can really recommend this restaurant. BTW, this is not the restaurant located in SIP, which got on "tripadvisor" some bad reviews regarding pizzas. It has the same owner but different cooks. See also http://www.liveinsuzhou.com/article.asp ?id=834
Friday, 20 September 2013
Slept in, relaxed, had dinner in a restaurant at the Lefo "Lai Fung" shopping mall. Food was OK, spicy and very creasy. No comparison to other Chinese restaurants we've been before with our Chinese friends. And we had problems to understand the waitresses. When a one meal couldn't be delivered they pointed on a Chinese written line of the order paper. It took a while to let them know that she should show us the picture of the non-available meal in the menu card. We should order again some sea food in our well known restaurants in the school area.
Now, our standard sentences in a restaurant are:
We need two menues : Wǒmen yào de càidān -- 我们需要 ;个菜单
Wait before we can order: Wǒmen deng hui er dian.
We need more time. Wǒmen xuyao yixie shijian
(The Chinese must be approved by our Chinese teacher -- see also the picture with writings)
Saturday, 21 September 2013
It is a rainy and windy day today. After a late breakfast and doing our laundry, we are invited for an English Corner in SIP. A taxi brought us to the Dushu Lake (14.4km) and we met around 100 interested people to improve their English. We read in small groups of five a Times-Magazine article, discussed the meaning of the writing, and I explained new words to the group members. We also discussed work-related problems as well as how to set priorities between work and leisure time. More on my blog "Schools – Teaching"
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/dieter44/4/1379823937/tpod.html
Sunday, 22 September 2013
Tomorrow, we must visit the US Embassy in Shanghai regarding the lost passport. We prepared our trip and made sure to have all train tickets and papers together. I ate a delicious beef noodle soup at our nearby shopping mall Lefo.
Monday, 23 September 2013
It was a very short trip to Shanghai. We took the bullet train G7005 at 10:14 at Suzhou's railway station. We arrived at Shanghai railway station at 10:39, took the metro line 1 to People Square (3 stops) and continued with line 2 to West Nanjing Road. Signs for directions in English and also address numbers on buildings made it very easy to follow our path and to find 1038 Nanjing Road. It was a little bit tricky to find in the Westgate Mall the 8th floor, the location of the US Embassy. The mall showed only signs for floors 1 to 7. After arriving floor 7, we saw an escalator for the floors 8+. We were too early for the appointment. So we had an excellent lunch at the restaurant Chrystal Jade at floor 7 in room 719. The restaurant is known for its Cantonese kitchen and for their Dim Sum.
We had Peking dumplings (XiaoLongBao), Shrimp dumplings, Peking duck, mixed greens, and clams with bamboo. What an excellent choice. We will definitely come back and try other things. All waiters and waitresses were polite and nice. Since I speak a little (idiente) Mandarin and know the phrases for "2 Menus" and “give us some time for the orders”, everybody was very helpful.
After we came back from the US Embassy, we had ice cream at Haagendazs in the Westgate Mall, and headed back to the metro station. We know now the procedure with the ticket machines and took the way back to the train station in reverse order to catch the train G7068 at 16:20 (for Americans 4:20pm). Bus #1 took us back to our apartment.
See more info under “Lost Passport”
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/dieter44/4/1379371932/tpod.html
Tuesday, 24 September 2013 until Friday, 27 September 2013
Time flies very fast. We did this week some pre-school teaching and had a head massage in a local hair salon. Depends on your gender, nice looking young girls and boys (mei nu and shuai ge) shampooed your hair, washed it, cleaned your ears, massaged your head, neck, shoulders and arms. At the end, they blow-dried your hair.
After the pre-school, our teacher friend Angel taught us to make dumplings. We sat on a table with a big bowl of fillings and some teachers prepared the dough. We took little flat pieces of dough in our hand, used chop sticks to place the fillings in the middle of the dough and closed the ends of the dough carefully. Angel showed us how to make them look like weed. Angel's husband cooked in the kitchen aubergins, sweet potatoes caramelized in sugar, pieces of cow's stomach, and roasted and salted peanuts. We drank hot water or wine – so they call it. But it is really 55+% 'corn liquor.’ And they drink it in water glasses. Just the Russians do it with vodka. But pregnant women and drivers don’t do this. They stay with hot water.
On Friday, 27 September, we were invited by the school to say good-bye to the English teacher from Germany. We met him and his mother, who is working at the German airlines Lufthansa. He did a good job teaching the children and the school was again very pleased with the German work ethic and thoroughness.
Saturday, 28 September 2013
Today is a holiday and we went shopping and visited our next apartment.
Sunday, 29 September 2013
This is in China a work day because of yesterday’s holiday. So will move to our new apartment (flat) and make it for the next weeks cozy and homely.
Monday, 30 September 2013
The wireless network didn’t work in our apartment. A guy from the Chinese Telecom couldn’t fix the problem because the wireless router was not from Telecom. He only exchanged the modem to get a faster speed.
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Finally, we are again wireless connected to the world. Our very good Chinese teacher friend brought a technician from a private shop and he exchanged the wireless router and adjusted the computers. We no longer must type in userid and password to connect to Telecom’s broadband.
By the way, today is Chinese National Day - 国庆节 (Guóqìngjié). This week China is celebrating the day the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded on October 1st, 1949. Most companies in China are closed for a full week in celebration of this day. During this long holiday, organizations will decorate large parks and town squares with large flower displays and some locations will set off fireworks in the evening. These colorful designs matched with the incoming fall season make for a beautiful place for sightseeing. This is a great time to have a picnic at the park! Most Chinese citizens take this opportunity to travel to international destinations.
And the Chinese people don’t travel internationally only. We felt it late afternoon, when we used the public transportation systems. Bus #1 was crowded but we were lucky and got a seat. We left the bus at 乐桥 Leqiao metro station. Underground at Suzhou’s Rail Transit (SRT) were long lines at the ticket machines. Finally in the metro, we were lucky to get a standing place with holding handles. We passed the stations 临顿路 Lindun Road, 相门 Xiangmen, 东环路 Donghuan Road, 中央公园 Central Park, 星海广场 Xinghai Square, 东方之门 Dongfangzhimen, and 文化博览 ;心 Culture & Expo Centre. We left the metro at 时代广场 Times Square station and still underground walked to the nearby shopping malls. This area is located at the the Jinji Lake and its shopping huge and very modern, west-oriented designed. You feel like in an US shopping mall. See the map http://www.liveinsuzhou.com/uploads/200 901/15_222731_times_map.jpg or visit info about Time Square: http://www.liveinsuzhou.com/article.asp ?id=663
We walked from Times Square to the lake and passed the amusement park with the big wheel. Nice walk paths lead us to a restaurant area and we decided to have some drinks at a quiet second-floor lounge terrace with lake view. On the way back, we used the metro line from Culture & Expo Centre to Leqiao and then to bus number 1. Now, we feel more and more familiar and comfortable using Suzhou’s transportation system.
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
Today, we were invited from Beata, a teacher’s daughter, to visit her home and her family in Guangfu.
Guangfu (光福, the glorified blessing) ancient town, located in Wuzhong District, Suzhou, is a famous town for history and culture. It is 25 kilometers away from the west Suzhou and at the foot of Dengwei Hill (邓尉山). Nearby the Taihu Lake, it is a peninsula of Taihu Lake. The places of interest scatter all over the town like the stars in the sky. The main tourist attractions include bronze Kwan-yin Temple, Situ Temple, Shengen Temple, Shilou Nunnery, Xiangxue Hai (The Sea of Fragrant Snow) and so on, what’s more, a group of local craftsmanship represented by the core carvings have been listed as the intangible cultural heritage. Guangfu has a picturesque landscape, and its name was originated from a part of history that local governor of Liang Dynasty dispensed his residence as the temple. It was named Guangfu since then. The history of Guangfu could be dated back to 7,000 years ago in accordance with the archeological discovery. Gungfu Ancient Town has a history of more than 2,500 years. It has been existed in the ancient times and it is said that imperial Qianlong in Qing dynasty had been there for many times for appreciating the ancient temples and trees. More on the website http://www.mildchina.com/suzhou-attract ions/suzhou-guangfu-town.html
We used the metro to Mudu and a family member picked us up. And again, the metro was packed like a sardine can and it seemed that the passengers had the same direction as we and left also at the end station Mudu. It seemed that they would like to picnic at the lake or hiking in Dengwei Hill.
Beata’s family gave us a very warm welcome and we had lunch in their family home. What delicious home-made food mostly from their garden: lotus roots; dumplings with veggies and meat; cola drum sticks; taro; silver fish and scrambled eggs; broccoli; corn in a pork soup; white fish; white tea.
After lunch, we did a hike and visited Guangfu Pagoda that is also called Buddhist shrine and is located at the Guifengshan Mountain. From the top, we had best views to the lake and the city. Beata’s grandmother is working there and the family gave us a guided tour. We also visited the Stuart Temple (tai fu miao) a nearby garden with over 1500 years old pine trees.
What an interesting visit and the family will welcome us again. Yes, we have new friends and exchanged QQ addresses.
Thursday, 3 October 2013
A few days ago, we met a nice girl on the #1 bus and she spoke some English. She was very friendly and wrote her QQ and phone numbers on our hands, so we stayed in touch. She invited us to join her and a friend to go to Guanqian Street and Pingjian Road. And of course, it was really crowded. We sat down in a little tea bar and had some discussions in English and Chinese. Both Hao yu (Blue) and Xia li – twenty-one at age, I guess - are logistics students from a University in Wuzhong and working one or two days a week in small shops to make some money. They go to school and work, so we think they are very busy. The school is free and they only have to pay 10 RMB for lunch. The management of the flow of resources between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet some requirements (logistics), reminded me on my teaching time in IT solving the travelling-salesman problem. However, the girls want to work later in import and export and in a customs agency.
We ate some dumplings from a street vendor in Pingjian Road and went back to Guanqian Street. The girls invited us to watch the Chinese 3D action movie with English subtitles “Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon.” It is basically the Sherlock Holmes of 7th-century China. Dee Renjie can read lips, unravel plots and remedy poisonings, plus execute all the kung fu moves required of a Chinese action hero. A provincial magistrate, Dee arrives in the cosmopolitan capital, Luoyang, as it reels from a crisis. The imperial fleet has been destroyed by a sea monster, and in response the city fathers have decided to sacrifice a beautiful courtesan, Ruiji. She’s played by a Hong Kong-based actress who calls herself Angela Baby. Whether the dragon has a taste for courtesans is unclear, but the possibility of human sacrifice does give the cartoonish story some grown-up urgency.
We didn't understand everything but it was still fun and we enjoyed. When people were laughing, the English subtitles were very often not funny to us. It reminded us to the movie “Lost in Translation.” Both girls Hao yu (Blue) and Xia li were very kind and we hope to see them again before we leave.
Friday, 4 October 2013
It is a day to rest from playing (游玩 / Yóuwán), as the Chinese say when they mean amuse, go sightseeing, stroll.
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Invitation from a school teacher.
Sunday, 6 October 2013
??.
Monday, 7 October 2013
Last Chinese holiday. - Invitation from a school teacher - school begins tomorrow.
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