Blogs from Tongli, Jiangsu, China, Asia

CHRIS In the morning a car came to pick us up. The guide's name was Kelly and she was very nice and she has been to Australia, she went to Sydney, Melbourne among other places. We drove out a long way to see the water town which is an old town built next to two rivers. We caught a boat to the other side of the water town and gave a toy koala to a little girl. (We have been giving out little toy koalas wherever we go) We saw a very old house where a rich Japanese family used to live. When we were going home we were caught in a very bad traffic jam but Kelly told us the traffic was quite normal. When we got back to the hotel, Mum let us order ... read more

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 ... read more

Lahdimme paivaretkelle Tonglin pikkukaupunkiin katsomaan seksimuseota. Jukka lahti aiemmin kaupungille ja tapasimme linja-autoasemalla. Menin perassa bussilla rautatieasemalle ja sielta mopotaksilla bussiasemalle. Ehdimme ostaa liput bussiin, joka lahti 10 minuutin sisaan. Olin vahan epavarma olimmeko jo myohastyneet bussista, mutta paasimme sinne. Sinne piti jonottaa samalla lailla kuin junaan tai lentokoneeseen. Bussimatka kesti vajaan tunnin. Perilla annoimme taksikuskille lapun jossa oli kirjoitettu seksimuseon tiedot kiinaksi. Han pudisti paataan, ajoi seuraavaan risteykseen, josta han loysi englantia puhuvan henkilon. Han neuvoi kuskin ajamaan paikkaan, josta saimme ostaa eraanlaisen golfkentta-auton kyydin vanhaan kaupunkiin. Siella myytiin portilla 80 yanin sisaanpaasy vanhaankaupunkiin. Otimme polkupyorakyydin museoon. Ilma oli yha hiostavan kuuma. Pihalla oli patsaita ja sis... read more

This walk around Tongli is a walk I would like to give as a gift to my dad who has told me how he has recently taken to getting on the local public buses in his home town of Matlock and tells the driver that he wants to go to 'Anywhere'. This is made possible as the bus ticket has a special straight UK pensioner fee of Free to any stop including 'Anywhere'. Dad then catches the bus towards a certain direction and, after a while, about 10 miles or so, he gets off the bus and walks home again... Something to do. He told me that the UK public buses are full of OAP's having a warm just riding around and then he laughs and laughs which makes me laugh, something new between me and ... read more

Tongli's Nanyuan Teahouse The Nanyuan Teahouse is an ancient teahouse built during the Qing Dynasty. It is located in a corner of Tongli and overlooks the shopping street. I always pick a window seat overlooking the shopping street so I can people watch. The teahouse is a two storey building. The first floor has the counters, a few chairs and an old Tiger Kiln. A Tiger Kiln is used to boil water to make it drinkable. It is heated with a wood fire. In the past it was cheaper to go to a Tiger Kiln to buy the day's drinking water than to burn wood to boil your own, so every morning everyone would head there to purchase water. They no longer use theirs, but they keep it clean and stocked so it looks like it ... read more