Alice in Waterland

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Arriving in Suzhou our impression was of another city of high rises in the dusty afternoon so we jumped on a bus to Tongli where the unlucky recipient of 'Do you speak English?' was Alice (Xu-jia) a university student studying design at Nanjing with little enthusiasm, home for the holidays. We were fortunate that she had listened to the repeated propaganda of a TV ad at the bus station exhorting the population to be kind to the elderly, don't push, be quiet in cinemas and libraries and most importantly to help tourists! Her reluctant English improved and she kindly arranged a small hotel for us and once ensconced showed us the gated water village. Was this old China, or a Disneyland version? We wandered along the canals and narrow lanes and were told most adamantly not to buy or eat in this area. She pointed out the cheap restaurants near our hotel and bought us steamed dumplings with crispy browned bottoms as they cooked on a steel pan over a brazier. Even this non-meat eater had to admit they were delicious.



So was it a Disneyworld? Much has been restored and preserved but it is a functioning living area together with ancient homes and gardens from the Tang, Ming and Qing dynasties on show as a mirror of the past. Tea shops and restauranats are set up alongside the canals alongside stalls to catch the tourists who are mostly Chinese from other parts of China. We made the day of some giggling teenagers who desperately wanted their photo taken alongside some Westerners. In very halting English they asked us where we were from and then ran out of words. Embarrassed they covered their faces and giggled some more. We waved goodbye and wandered around looking for the Turquoise Realising Garden to no avail and had to be content with basking in the afternoon rays in the old stage area of the Pearl Pagoda garden belonging formerly to Censor Chen Wangdao and family.



Gawking tourists aside, the locals got along with their daily tasks, clambering down the steps to the canals, washing their clothes in the muddy winter water, cleaning their saucepans and drying fish together with clothes on the lines carelessly strung in the winter sun. From our viewpoint on one of the ancient stone bridges one unfortunate skidded too quickly and tumbled into the canal, moaning loudly she was hoiked out by an equally old gentleman who steered her still wailing home to change. Old ladies in the ubiquitous blue tunics and trousers of the former China swept the paths with twig brooms or sat knitting in front of the doorways to the small simple houses in complete contrast to the preserved opulence of the palace estates we were viewing by ticket.



Sharing some green tea we relished the quiet and avoided the few strident Chinese tour guides waving their red flags aloft. As we stockpiled the sun against the bitter weather yet to come I reflected how low our batteries had become. We are still sleeping long hours but it hasn't resulted in superfluous energy. It's been a long hard year. My sister-in-law kindly reminded me that the first year of marriage is always the worst!

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