Suzhou - Easter 2008

On Easter Eve with the rain slowly drizzling in Shanghai I spent the evening on dinner and a movie. The dinner was, oddly enough, Brazilian food. I had noticed a Brazilian Churrascaria down the street and decided I should try it. I hadn't had Brazilian food in a long time and where better to eat it than in China! I was hoping with all my heart that they would have black beans and rice. I'm not a big fan of all the meat, but I love me some beans and rice. Thankfully they had some. I loaded up on black beans and rice, some potatoe salad and a little meat. I could only eat two plates. I was even able to speak portuguese with the waiters. It was a wonderful meal for a mere $10 USD or so. Much better than the $30 I'd have to pay in the States. The movie I bought at the market was Jumper. I had wanted to see this since it came out - and being in China we are lucky enough to get movies on DVD that are still in theatres. It had gotten harsh reviews but I was still thrilled to see a movie with Anakin, Mace and Summer from the OC. And in the end - I loved it. Perhaps the best movie I've seen in a long time.

Easter morning I woke up and got ready to go to the train station. It was supposed to be good weather and so unfortunately I didn't get to explore to find a chapel here (which I don't think they have anyway). I took the metro to the Shanghai train station and bought a ticket to Suzhou. The next train was an hour from then, so I had to wait a while in a crowded station with a bunch of smoking Chinese. It ended up that the train was one of the fast bullet trains. I wasn't sure which train I would get. I boarded and enjoyed the 20 minute trip or so to Suzhou. The train went about 250 km/hr or so, which seems fast but will be nothing compared to the Maglev I'm taking tomorrow. Upon arriving in Suzhou I bought my ticket back and was glad I did as they only had tickets for trains after 7PM. Not as many people speak English in Suzhou so I was able to practice my Chinese. I hoped she understood my "One ticket Shanghai" and in the end she did.

I had been given a route to take by one of my friends who lived in Shanghai for some time. Upon starting out a man approached (as they always do) offering a tour, etc. In the end I just paid him to drive me to my first stop at the big Pagoda. This is an old buddhist temple about 8 stories tall. I climbed to the top and looked over the city. The city, by the way, is beautiful. On the trip over on the train I had noticed that many of the cities had rivers, or canals, through them - a lot like Venice. Suzhou was similar. I then headed over to the Silk Museum. I was hoping to see live silk worms as I was told they had them years ago, but I only saw dead ones. It was still nice.

From there I walked over to the Humble Administrator's Garden. This is the largest garden in Suzhou and was pretty crowded. But it was beautiful. From here I grabbed a guy on a bike that pulls a little chair behind it that you can sit in. For 50 cents or so he drove me to a place to eat. I entered and did my best to order some Kung Pao chicken (a suggestion from Mark) and something else. I had fun speaking with the waiters and staff and was proud that I could get through it with little English. I then picked another guy on a bike and had him drive me to the Master of Nets garden. This garden was the most highly recommended by my friend and I can see why. It was far away so less crowded, but much smaller than the other garden. I spent quite a bit of time here contemplating the fact that I was in China - miles away from my family on Easter. I enjoyed the warm sun and beautiful scenery.

From there I walked along the canal over to the Blue Wave Pavillion or something like that. It was also beautiful and I spent quite a bit of time here. After that I headed over to the Confucian Temple across the street. At this point I thought it interesting that I was visiting these temples of other religions on Easter Sunday. And though they were certainly beautiful, serene, and peaceful - they did not hold the spirit of the Lord.

At this point I walked back to the train station - which was quite a trek. This took a lot of pushing off people wanting to drive me back, but I gots me some feet and after a few miles I was back at the train station. I waited another hour or so there in an even more crowded room with people spitting and throwing their garbage on the floor. Spitting, littering, and even peeing on the street are quite common here. When we walked down to the train I realized I wasn't getting the nice bullet train back, but the common train (should have recognized as the ticket was cheaper - only a couple of bucks). Here there weren't seats at all but benches. I squeezed into the spot where a faint number was written above the bench. The floor was completely covered in peanut shells and fruit rinds. People were smoking and I put my headphones on and drifted off to Harry Potter's world. I had thought it funny that in the morning there was a sign for waiting rooms for two sections: soft seats and rigity seats. Rigity is how it was spelled and I wasn't sure if they meant rickity or rigid. Funny. I got home around 9, grabbed a quick Big Mac and blogged about my day. Tomorrow afternoon I head back to HK.