SUZHOU: In Search Of Silk And Pearls

I had already spent one and a half days in Shanghai and felt already that I needed to see a different city. Shanghai was too modern from my point of view and I could have been anywhere in the world. My friend, Martin, who lives in Suzhou with his fiancee recommended to come over there for a day. It was pretty easy to get there by bullet train. The only thing I had to struggle with was decoding the destination signs as you need to compare the sign on your ticket with the one on the screen. Luckily, I got on the correct train and the rest was very straight forward and comfortable.

When you arrive in Suzhou, the first thing you may notice are the personal tour guides who try to sell you something from every corner. They are so persistent, they follow you outside the train station into the streets and buses. They do this for overseas tourists and locals as well. The best is knowing where the taxis go from and get a cab.

I finally used my poor Chinese and asked for a taxi. They understood me, but I did not understand their answer. So they pointed down somewhere, but the question was how to get down! So I ended up asking this question 3 more times and arrived finally in a taxi queue which was filled mainly with Chinese who knew the best way to escape from the tour guides!

Next challenge was to tell the taxi driver where you want to go. I just pointed on the map and said the English name, but he did not understand what “to the master of nets garden” meant. After an exchange of signs and using my limited Chinese I ended up in the right place. Phew! This place is definitely worth visiting. It was peaceful, quiet and green. Some very old furniture is still there and it just has something about it.

Next, I went to the old town of Ping Jiang where the huge shopping street, Pingjian Road, is. The price of clothes is very similar to European prices. Girls and boys are standing in the entrance of a store and are shouting to get people in. The same in front of restaurants, where I notice more girls standing. They do not seem to be shy at all in this country. Shouting seems a normal thing over here!

For lunch I ended up in a random Chinese restaurant where I tried some oily chicken claws and dumplings which were not the cooked in the Mandarin method – they had a thick dough coat.