Sunday, December 31, 2006
Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi
Haven't managed to continue the update as I've been quite busy over the past few days.
Anyway, we went to Song Qing Ling tomb, which was basically a nice garden with some tombs in it. They even had a tomb for their maid. We were then brought to a nearby shop where a fengshui master explained how the architecture of Shanghai's buildings is associated with fengshui. After a rather long talk, she tried to get us to buy some stuff which is supposed to bring us good luck for the new year. This kind of thing will be repeated quite often in the days ahead.
After lunch, we took the tour bus to Suzhou and went to see the Zhou residence. It was actually a little village and we toured a couple of the houses. The unique thing about this village is their easy access to water transport. One of the homes even has its own little harbour.
One of Suzhou's specialities is their crab. These are quite small and I found them hard to eat. Didn't seem worth the trouble for so little meat.
The next day, we went to see a few more tourist attractions. It seemed like the rich Chinese of the past were very very free. The women were confined at home while the men had all day to read books, write poems, make music and pass their time in idleness. They did make very nice homes and gardens for themselves though. The one we visited had a pond, lots of greenery and even a man made mountain.
Next was a visit to a silk factory. We saw how they unravelled the silk cocoons and made them into silk blankets. It seems to be all a big show. After we left the factory area, they all stopped working. It's all part of a sales pitch leading up to the showroom where we actually buy the stuff.
After lunch, we went onto Wuxi. Our first stop was at 三国城(san1 guo2 cheng2), which was where built mock ups of ancient Chinese buildings and warships for filming purposes. The best part of this attraction was the mock battle staged in a large sand arena. The stunts the actors did on horseback were quite exciting.
The last stop before dinner was a place where they make ceramic teapots. The material is unique and these teapots are only made in that part of the world. The workmanship is very nice and the teapots are well designed. However, none of us bought any and that seemed to annoy the local guide. He spent a long time after that explaining to us the difference between 逛街 and shopping. According to his definitions, when shopping, it is compulsory to buy something. Since he had brought us to a shopping stop, we were thus compelled to buy something. None of us really paid much attention to him. He was probably annoyed because he couldn't get any commission.
The next day, we went to yet another garden. It was quite nice and there is a view of a large lake. By this time the tour guide seemed to have lost all heart, and his explanations were robotic, with no passion in them. He even wanted to skip the visit to a pearl design centre, but in the end we went. This time the explanation was on how valuable pearls are and which types are the most valuable, after which we were free to look around and buy them. These things are very expensive, so the group as a whole only bought a few small trinkets, which can't have pleased the guide too much. Anyway, that was the last we would see of him, as we moved on to Nanjing after lunch.
Anyway, we went to Song Qing Ling tomb, which was basically a nice garden with some tombs in it. They even had a tomb for their maid. We were then brought to a nearby shop where a fengshui master explained how the architecture of Shanghai's buildings is associated with fengshui. After a rather long talk, she tried to get us to buy some stuff which is supposed to bring us good luck for the new year. This kind of thing will be repeated quite often in the days ahead.
After lunch, we took the tour bus to Suzhou and went to see the Zhou residence. It was actually a little village and we toured a couple of the houses. The unique thing about this village is their easy access to water transport. One of the homes even has its own little harbour.
One of Suzhou's specialities is their crab. These are quite small and I found them hard to eat. Didn't seem worth the trouble for so little meat.
The next day, we went to see a few more tourist attractions. It seemed like the rich Chinese of the past were very very free. The women were confined at home while the men had all day to read books, write poems, make music and pass their time in idleness. They did make very nice homes and gardens for themselves though. The one we visited had a pond, lots of greenery and even a man made mountain.
Next was a visit to a silk factory. We saw how they unravelled the silk cocoons and made them into silk blankets. It seems to be all a big show. After we left the factory area, they all stopped working. It's all part of a sales pitch leading up to the showroom where we actually buy the stuff.
After lunch, we went onto Wuxi. Our first stop was at 三国城(san1 guo2 cheng2), which was where built mock ups of ancient Chinese buildings and warships for filming purposes. The best part of this attraction was the mock battle staged in a large sand arena. The stunts the actors did on horseback were quite exciting.
The last stop before dinner was a place where they make ceramic teapots. The material is unique and these teapots are only made in that part of the world. The workmanship is very nice and the teapots are well designed. However, none of us bought any and that seemed to annoy the local guide. He spent a long time after that explaining to us the difference between 逛街 and shopping. According to his definitions, when shopping, it is compulsory to buy something. Since he had brought us to a shopping stop, we were thus compelled to buy something. None of us really paid much attention to him. He was probably annoyed because he couldn't get any commission.
The next day, we went to yet another garden. It was quite nice and there is a view of a large lake. By this time the tour guide seemed to have lost all heart, and his explanations were robotic, with no passion in them. He even wanted to skip the visit to a pearl design centre, but in the end we went. This time the explanation was on how valuable pearls are and which types are the most valuable, after which we were free to look around and buy them. These things are very expensive, so the group as a whole only bought a few small trinkets, which can't have pleased the guide too much. Anyway, that was the last we would see of him, as we moved on to Nanjing after lunch.
posted by cosine @ 2:35 PM 
