Blogs from Jiangsu, China, Asia - page 10

Suzhou is a small city called the "Venice of the East" by tourist guides, so we had imagined a gentle, peaceful place, forgetting of course that in China a "small" city is still huge by European standards, in this case ten and a half million people. We took a boat trip through the canals, but although it is pretty, with pagodas and traditional homes, there are plenty of visible signs of industry and of the huge population, as we passed under concrete flyovers and past Soviet-style apartment blocks. The heat in Suzhou took some getting used to: by the afternoon it was in the high 30s, and we began to relish walking down the shopping streets, because every time we passed an open shop we would feel a blast of the cook air-conditioning.... read more

New photos on: http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/ …..for someone brought up in the UK one thing that is impossible to get used to in China is the queue bomber. Not all Chinese people do it & Chinese friends tell me they don't like it, although they don't always say anything. Stainless steel rails are erected in every bus & train station in every major city in China to direct those waiting for tickets to the right. After buying their tickets they exit left. Except for the queue bombers, who occasionally, brazenly, enter left &, as though you don't exist, thrust their money through the hatch while loudly requesting their ticket. I am waiting patiently behind a petite lady when, just as she receives her ticket, 2 men & a woman block her exit & do just what I described. ... read more

Please don't think that I only see and write about bad things - I don't. I've lived in this city for about 2 years in all over a period of 5 years and know it very well. I don't write about regular things like the shops or Jade, or dresses or Chinese umbrellas or any other things to buy or eat or do because I don't see those things as important and actually, I hardly see those things at all because I'm used to them. I write about the things that make me stop and feel. Here are some real things of beauty. In a small room at the ‘Innovation Center for disabled persons of Suzhou’, facing Ping Jiang Lu, the child has come for her one hour calligraphy lesson. She is seven years old and ... read more

I walk down the lane skirting what little shade there is. It’s 10am and already 30 degrees. There’s no getting away from this heat or the people or the noise. I walk over Big Heart Bridge, down the next lane and round the corner, start walking up the old stone bridge by Cai Gen Lin’s house and come face to face with him after 2 and a half years. There was no way of letting him know I was coming, I can’t write hanzi, the post is unreliable especially when I stick a photo of him on the front of the envelope and make a stab at the address and hope it will arrive - I just thought I would turn up. We both stand in silence looking at one another. He’s thinner, taller, older and ... read more

Europen sanoin, viimeinen lähtölaskenta on alkanut. (Kiitos vaan Mika P. kun lasket mun puolesta) Huomenna menen Shanghaihin ostoksille ja sitten lauantaina koitan saada koko elämäni mahtumaan kolmeen pieneen matkalaukkuun. Ahdasta tulee koska pelkästään urheilukamat painavat noin kymmenen kiloa ja vievät ison tilan! Kotiinpaluu on sunnuntaina ja siellä olisi sitten parasta olla lämmintä!!! Lomalla tuli viikon aikana ajeltua noin 570km, mikä on kohtuullinen määrä. Ajaessa tuli nähtyä taas nähtyä kaikenlaista omalaatuisista muuttokuormista mitä ihmeellisempiin liikennevälineisiin. Kiinalaisten mielestä erikoisin tielläliikkuja oli kuitenkin minä, koska eihän täällä ole polkupyöriä ennen nähty. Hienoja hetkiä lomalla oli mennä lautalla Jangtsen yli, ajella keskellä autioita rypsipeltoja, väistellä tienvarsiankkoja ja eksyä Rammsteinin takia. Kyllä, "eksyin" koska kuuntelin Rammste... read more