The Leaning Tower of Tiger Hill

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Zhouzhuang & Suzhou photos on:

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/China-Zhouzhuang-Suzhou-2012/

Other photos on:

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/

…..Zhouzhuang is small canal town about an hour by bus from Suzhou, or north west from Shanghai. After Chen Yifei, an artist from Zhouzhuang living in the USA, painted “Memories of Hometown” in 1984 it was bought by oil tycoon Armond Hammer, later presented to then Chinese Premier Deng Xiao Ping. Later still the UN made use of the image & soon everyone in China wanted to have a look at the place. It has become a rather overrated tourist trap, quite pretty but, with tickets to get in at ¥100 per head, some overpriced & very average food plus the usual shops selling stuff I could probably buy more cheaply in Yangzhou, it is, as Chinese English speakers are likely to say, “just-a so-so”.....

…..maybe I have just arrived too early to see the best of Zhouzhuang. Outside the old town is a hoarding advertising a new development with the slogan, “Do Amorous Town”. Maybe I should return when it's finished.....

…..why am I even here, on a Monday when surely I should be teaching? We get a few “personal days” off each year. Unused days were carried over from last year but it won't happen again so I thought I should use at least some of them while Paul & Gyu use the opportunity to check my students at close quarters by taking my classes......

…..buying bus tickets early highlights one disadvantage. The first ticket sold is number one, right at the front of the bus. This is dangerously close to a horn which is operated almost continuously at a volume which just would not be allowed or tolerated in Australia. Passing or being passed by any other vehicle on the freeway is sufficient reason to give it a long blast, maybe more. With or without profanity, conversation is continually bleeped out at the sort of volume that brought down city walls in biblical times.....

…..I heard a radio news article recently which mentioned Audi car horns specially designed for India. It was calculated that the average Indian driver uses the horn as much in a day as the average European driver would in a year so they fit special heavy duty horns that are tested by being left on continuously for 2 weeks! I assume these are also available in China.....

…..as there is no direct bus from Zhouzhuang to Yangzhou why not stop off in Suzhou & have a look around Hu Qiu, or Tiger Hill? I haven't been there before, the weather is perfect, warm-but-not-too-hot spring weather & I find there is a Chinese equivalent to the leaning tower of Pisa, but considerably older. The Yunyan Pagoda was built around 960AD, (or CE to be politically correct), is 47m high & leans over at 3 degrees. By comparison The Tower of Pisa was built between 1173 & 1319, is a bit taller at around 57m & now leans at around 4 degrees. Still the Leaning Tower of Tiger Hill is an interesting find that I haven't heard about before.....

…..my second gig at Lounge 5, in the Living Mall, goes well enough. We're still playing around with the layout & positioning of the PA system, I'm bringing some new customers in, between teachers & other friends, so the manager is happy about that. Their prices are a little steep as they appear to be trying to attract people who want a western style menu, pastas, steaks, “London style” fish & chips – ha ha! FAIL! I try that tonight. They're not even chips but spindly little US style french fries. I don't mind as I'm fed in addition to getting paid, but the prices might be a deterrent to returning customers......

…..Dr. Wei lives in the area & turns up with a friend, looking almost ready to book a bed in the labour ward already, even though her baby isn't due until September. She doesn't have to work night shifts any more which I think she's pretty relieved about.....

…..my private student George is really happy at coming second in Yangzhou in the recent CCTV speech competition. I helped him to structure his speech & made a few suggestions but he did most of it himself & likewise corrected most of his own errors. This is in contrast to the students at our school who present speeches for foreign teachers to “correct” or “tidy up” neither of which are possible as the meaning is indecipherable in the mass of mixed tenses, metaphors & Chinglish that we think is a result of their writing the speeches in Chinese then running them through an online translator without any further checking.....

previous issues of the YYW are on:

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Laotou/

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