Strolling through the canal towns of Jiangsu

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Don't really remember why we put Nanjing on our initial plan in China. Familiar name maybe, indicating to us importance of the place? We had heard about this place before for sure. Then when we read the history of the place in LP and imagined beautiful canals of the Yangtze River we got really interested in it. 'Venice of the East' sounds really appealing, doesn’t it? Then we discovered there were many more beautiful canal towns in this province so it happened to be a pretty amazing week for us.

Everything is free in Nanjing

We checked-in to our riverside youth hostel and we went for a stroll. Really liked what we could see. Laid back town, canals and cute bridges everywhere, markets and food stalls. We also discovered some cheap shops selling accessories, electronics and cosmetics and we thought it was a really good place to buy some bits and pieces i.e. 'acer' mouse for our netbook just for 16Y/1.6£ ;-) We were in the old city part part of Nanjing and we decided to walk around for the whole day. We finally had a chance to climb some old city walls. In Pingyao it was too misty to walk on the walls and in Xi'an we just did not see the point. The weather here was great so we enjoyed the 3-4km walk up on the walls.

We could admire the river, old town and some slums. It was the first time we saw 'slums' in a city in China. They do pretty good job hiding them or removing them so that everything is nice and pretty. Of course if you go to the outskirts of any metropolis you can see them but why would you go there if there is nothing to see. We met some professional photographers that did that for their job but that is understandable. Anyhow we could see people leaving in houses that were literally falling apart and the newly reconstructed pagodas, traditional Chinese style houses and pretty bricked alleys were being put just next to them.

I assume they are all being evicted somewhere else soon so that tourist can have their pleasurable walks alongside the old city walls. We have heard about this process from local people, who were complaining and cursing the government for doing so. Yes, they do provide them with new accommodation, sometimes much nicer, however in the flats far away from the city. Their way of lives is not in the apartment and they feel trapped and limited. Also they loose contact with friends and most importantly they cannot keep their jobs and they live too far away. That is a huge change in peoples' lives just to build another food and shopping street. Was this place called People's Republic or something?

When we got back to our hostel we saw one more bed taken in our dorm. 5 min later we saw a familiar face walking into the room. It was Marie, whom we met in Pingyao. This women's story is amazing. In her late 50-ties, she spends every saved penny and every holiday allowance travelling. She has done so all her life. From what we spoke she has been pretty much everywhere except for 'Black Africa' which is still on the plan, she says. We spent the whole week travelling together and it was very educating. It was her second or third time in China and she told us how some places looked like when she visited them in 70-ties or 80-ties. China must have been very fascinating country back then. Million bicycles everywhere not cars and authentic houses not the newly build apartment blocks.

Anyhow, Marie has got far more energy than any of us I would say and she kept our pace even when we climbed the ZhongshanMoutain in Nanjing. We went to the foot of the hill by a local bus and we saw a ticket office instructing everybody to buy entrance pass for the Memorial Hall of Tao Xingzh i (80Y/8£) and The Scenic Area (i.e. mountain, another 90Y/9£) I read about the entrance fee for the Memorial Hall but there was nothing in LP indicating that we have to pay for the hike up. We decided to go as far as we can towards the Memorial Hall and see when they would ask us for tickets to the scenic area. We went as far as the top of the mountain without even being asked for a ticket ;-)

I would be very angry if I paid for thid very impressive Memorial Hall that consisted of 4 gates and waterfalls of stairs build into the hill of the mountain, and then see people like us getting there anyhow with no ticket. Same with the mountain. 90Y – are you kidding me? Same story repeated the next day when we walked into the Lake Parkwith beautiful islands, gardens and temples. Why they did not charge us for it – have no idea! We spent the whole day walking with two Chinese students and they did not have a clue either why everything was free of charge.

One more interesting thing to be seen is the Nanjing Massacre Museum. It is said that people of China should visit it and learn this awful part of history of their country, therefore it is free of charge. They do monitor how many foreign visitors they get by asking all to sing in. If anybody has ever been to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland they can compare experience of that place to this. Maybe even more awful in a way. Not because of the scale of the murder but because there are explicit photos taken by Japanese soldiers during the 6 weeks, when they executed, raped and murder 300,000 residents of Nanjing. Concentration camps play with your imagination but here you have it all in front of your eyes. What shocked us even more was behaviour of Chinese people, running around, laughing, talking on the phone and taking photos of photos of naked women being raped or men being decapitated (there actually were a No Photo signs everywhere which westicked to). Very disrespectful. Another thing what they forgot to mention anywhere in the museum was the fact that it was Chinese government that locked the city gates and ask people to stand up for their country, letting 300k people being slaughtered. Shocking.

Nanjing is the most appealing at night. When the Confucius Temple area comes to live, food stalls open up and everything around is beautifully lit up. There are Opera Boats floating through canals and you can listen to the traditional singing when you walk around. Very charming place to spend few days in and just relax. As usually we looked for the best spot to eat and we really enjoyed the Mala Tang (spicy soup) place located in the middle of the souvenir market. This soup was so spicy I had to mixed it with mineral water but all the ingredients we could pick personally were fresh and yummy. We went every single night eating there when in town. Together with Marie we decided to move on next to even more charming Suzhou.

Ancient Suzhou and Tongli

We arrived to Souzhou in the afternoon and we decided to share a taxi (10Y only so not worth the bus hassle) to our hostel Ming Town located on one of the ancient roads - Pingjiang Road. It was a first time we took a taxi from the station so we were really amazed by the queueing system. Of course there is no such thing as standing in line and waiting in China so they had to put long metal gates so that one person could only go in line. Was working perfectly ;-) Ming Town Hostels are Chinese chain and they always offer very good conditions. We stay in few already and you can always count on good value for money. This one was located in an old traditional house and what we did not like was the lack of lounge and sitting area. We had to go to their cafe to get Wi-fi as it was not accessible in our room ;-( But the rest was great.

We walked around a bit, checked few food markets and restaurants and enjoyed the scenery of the canal street. Unfortunately, there are only two of those streets left in Suzhou and it is very touristy place as well (all organised tours from Shanghai come here). Pingjiang Road has endless number of luxury porcelaine and silk shops as well as expensive coffee shops. Not for our budget but well suited for Shanghai's clientele. When you walk out of the Pingjiang Road you can see modern buildings, shopping malls etc. Charm of the place is immediately ruined. However, you can find some excellend food markets just 5 min walk from the expensive area. We walked there everyday for breakfast and lunch and we just loved the feshly made pankaces with eggs and vegetables we found over there (8Y/0.8£). In our hostel we run into Jon, guy we met in Pingyao and we had a long chat about what we all had been up to so far. He just came back from the near by Tongli and he was truly fascinated by its beauty. We immediately decided to check it out the next day.

Getting to Tongli is very straight forward – just take a local bus. Then either get lazy and take an electric cart or just walk and follow the people. There is a 100Y /10£ entrance fee to the whole village that also allows you in to many Pavilions, Temples and amazing gardens. But far more interesting than that are just streets and canals of this incredible place. Local people still live in the village so it is not some artificially made tourist attraction and you can spend days interacting with them, wandering around and enjoying the place. They also have an amazing choice of inexpensive souvenirs and we were all able to stock up on some painting rolls, cushions etc. We also had some nice local meal in family run restaurant and watched some free fishing cormorants show. There is one thing in Tongli that you wont find anywhere else though. Chinese one and only Sex Museum. Mostly attracts foreigners and Chinese teenagers but it is really worth to check it out. Some of the exhibited objects are really interesting and apparently whoever set it up spent all their lives collecting them, so well done. We were really charmed by Tongli and it must be our favourite place on par with Paingyao.

We explored Souhou a little bit more, checked some museums even a traditional singing show. We went to check the second ancient street as well but it lacked the charm of Pingjiang Road by far. There are many bridal shops around though if someone is interested ;-). We were just a short ride from Shangai now. Short ride of 20 min by Chinese bullet train at 312km/h ;-)

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Photos

cute little girl
already posing Chinese style ;-)

bird as a pet?
people walk them to parks in their cages to get some fresh air... no freedom though

pushing fish out of the bird's throat
dying profession apparently, I actually thought it was kind of cruel

Tongli's canal
so chilled out

discovering new taste of Jangsu
steamed buns always taste different at new place

being asked for a photo
ow well they paid for it I got nice photo ;-)

Comments

[Susurros somnolientos]

I want to eat Chinese food now...
Nice blog! :) It's really great that you mention how much some things cost, so the reader gets a rough idea of how expensive China is these days. Those entrance fees are really way too high in my opinion. I would definitely visit Nanjing as well, but I can't imagine it to be more whocking than Auschwitz. I was ill for a few days after visiting the concentration camp. And same there, many people were running around, laughing, talking on their mobile phones, taking stupid pictures, etc. Maybe for some people that is their way of dealing with the horrors, don't know. It's good to see your progress in China, good luck for your other destinations! Cheers, Jens

[Beata and Tomek]

hey
Thanks Jens ;-) We are Polish and Auschwitz is part of our history and of course there is the massive scale of millions of people being murdered but this place is just so in your face - maybe that is why we felt it was quite a similar feeling. Fees are ridiculous and make the whole stay here quite expensive as for Asia but still worth it;-) cheers, B