Mangosteen
Mangosteen
There are fruit shops and street vendors selling fruit on every corner in Wuxi. Even in winter the selection was varied and interesting. Now summer is settling in, the shelves are heaving with tempting things, many of which I have never seen before. For example, the picture is of a mangosteen. Only the white bit inside is edible, the purple rind is really bitter. The flesh is really sweet and juicy and a bit mushy. Yum.
My favourite, though, are the melons. Last week the temperature reached 34 C, plus humidity, so the piles of watermelons outside shops were just irresistible, although I nearly collapsed carrying one home.
Visitors and changes
Kennedies in Suzhou
We have had a busy few weeks from the end of April up until now. John’s parents were visiting from the UK. It was great to be able to introduce them to Wuxi and environs. They have been to Hong Kong before, but never to mainland China. They made the most of their time by arranging a tour of Beijing, Xian and Guilin while there were here.
They are currently spending a week in South Korea, but will be flying back to Shanghai for one night only on Saturday. Hopefully we will get the chance to show them the lights of The Bund at night time. The view really feels like something from the future.
I think they have enjoyed their time in China. I was very impressed at their language skills. We arranged a brief lesson for them with my teacher, Grace, and afterwards they were ni hao-ing and xiexie-ing like natives. I also admired their chopstick skills, I don’t think there is a noodle or peanut in China that could get the better of them.
It will be sad to say goodbye on Sunday, but we will be seeing them soon, as well as lots of other friends and family. We have made the decision to move back to Europe this summer, rather than staying for another year. John has a job at a school in Lausanne and now I just need to find something for myself. We will be leaving China on 21 July in order to spend a few weeks in the UK before term starts.
Anyway, we have a lot to do before then. John’s students are now in the middle of exams and I have my own exam booked for 17 June (HSK level II), so all being well, I should have something to show for my studies. We planning a tour of Yunnan Province before we leave. It will be good to have an adventure before we go.
A lesson in bicycle security
A happy man on his trusty bike
Since coming to China, John has fallen in love with cycling. He bought a second-hand bike, with a loose chain, from a colleague and it became Silver to his Lone Ranger.
Even though he cycles to and from work everyday, he still likes nothing better than to zoom off for a ride in the evening or at the weekend, especially now Spring is well and truly here. No trip is too short or too long to go by bike.
Despite this love, he has been very lax about bicycle security. He says that this is because Wuxi people are generally honest, so it won’t get stolen. I wondered whether the real reason was that he didn’t like to keep his trusty friend in chains.
Yesterday the worst happened: He left home to go to the shops and there was no sign of his bike. Usually, it is parked immediately outside our apartment, next to my bike. My bike was still there (safely locked up), but it looked pretty lonely.
We searched everywhere in case the someone had just moved the bike. We even looked in the spooky basement of our building. The basement is a dusty, last resting place for every imaginable type of bike, but John’s wasn’t there. In the end, John came to accept his bike was gone and sadly set off for the shops on foot.
When he reached the security guards’ office at the gate of our area, he suddenly spotted his beloved bike. The guards had taken it in the night to give John a lesson in bicycle security. He muttered something about how they should have better things to do, but I noticed this morning his bike was safely secured.
The Brilliance of Lake Li
John at Lake Li
The sun shone today and it really felt like Spring. John and I cycled to Lake Li to enjoy the good weather. Cycling around Wuxi is quite straightforward. Most of the cycle paths are good, although you do need to watch out for potholes and the occasional ebike rider travelling in the wrong direction. The lake looked lovely in the sunshine.
Out and about again
Blossom
After a couple of week’s of hibernation to recover from colds and hide from the bad weather, John and I decided it was time to go on a bike ride today. I was keen to visit a garden close to Lake Li famous for its plum blossom (Mei Hua Yuan) as the blossom will be gone in a few weeks.
The weather this morning was misty, but as it wasn’t actually raining, we thought we would try it. The garden is about 7km from our apartment and is quite an easy bike ride.
The garden was really lovely and worth a visit. It was good to be able to smell the blossom and listen to the birds. Even though there were quite a few visitors, it didn’t feel too crowded. It was beautifully maintained and had some beds that had been planted with bulbs ready to sprout as soon as the ground warms up. We guessed that some of them must be tulips as they surrounded a miniature Dutch windmill and giant clogs.
After an hour or so, the sky turned dark and it was obviously about to rain. We thought we would risk taking a longer route home between two mountains and over the Grand Canal. So, we got completely soaked in heavy rain. Maybe not the best cure for a cold, but it was a good ride.
All quiet
Sorry this blog has been so quiet lately. I have been in hibernation and I keep hoping Spring is just around the corner. John has been busy though: http://wuxifrisbee.tumblr.com/
Happy Dragon Head Rising Day
Today is the second day of the second lunar month, which is, of course, Dragon Head Rising Day. Apparently this means spring is just around the corner. Let’s hope so…
Nanjing
After a period of doing not very much, John and I are now in Nanjing. Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu province and about 1 hour from Wuxi by (fast) train. John had to come for a work meeting, so we thought we would tag on a weekend break.
Nanjing was an ancient capital of China.Nan means south and jing means capital as opposed to Beijing, which means north capital. So far we haven’t seen much of the city, apart from the area immediately around our hotel, but tomorrow we intend to visit the Sun Yat-sen mausoleum and surrounding area. More to follow…
Sunshine in Suzhou
Panmen Garden
We returned from the excitement of Beijing to our chilly apartment in Wuxi; everywhere was still shut for the Spring Festival holidays and to top it all, we both caught colds. So, we decided we deserved a short break in a comfortable hotel in Suzhou.
We managed to find a special rate at the Pan Pacific hotel. This hotel appealed to us especially as the bathrooms had a separate shower and bathtub. We agreed that if the weather was bad, we could just take it turns to soak in the tub.
At the train station, I was pleased to be able to conduct the transaction entirely in Chinese. It might not sound like much, but 6 months ago, I didn’t really speak any Chinese at all. Now, I was able to ask for tickets departing on one day and coming back on another, at a specific time and on a specific type of train. I might never be fluent, but it is good to be understood.
Boatwoman
Suzhou is on the Nanjing – Shanghai line and the ‘G’ trains are fast and efficient, travelling at up to 300 km/h. The system is also much more organised than in the UK. Each passenger has a seat allocated in a specific carriage. All passengers wait in the main station until about 10 min before departure time, then they are allowed onto the platform. Along the platform, there are numbers indicating which compartment stops where. This does away with the confusion about which end of the train you need (the trains are pretty long). Also, a note to Virgin Trains, they only feel the need to have one first class carriage, thus allowing more room for standard class.
The Pan Pacific hotel is at the southern end of Suzhou city centre. It is a relatively low rise hotel, built in traditional style. Our room was lovely with a balcony overlooking a fish pond. From the balcony we could see the pagoda in the Pan Men garden adjacent to hotel. Staying at the hotel allowed us free entry into the garden, so, as the sun was shining, we set off to explore.
Twin Pagodas
Pan Men is a large garden in classical style. We climbed to the top of the pagoda, from where we had a panoramic view of the city. We then took a river boat trip. The wooden boats looked a bit like punts. Ours was powered by a stern looking oarswoman who started singing to us as we set off. Once we were out of sight of the ticket office, she suggested we might like to give her a tip in appreciation of her talents. She looked quite capable of casting us both overboard, so we thought it was best to comply.
That evening, we had a nice meal at a large restaurant nearby. Our meal was spoilt, slightly, by lots of chain smokers at the other tables (I nicknamed one of them ‘Smoky-Joe’ as he would start another cigarette as soon as he finished the previous one). There were even quite a few women smoking, which is unusual in China. I still find it hard to get used to the number of smokers here and how acceptable it is to smoke anywhere. I had forgotten how in the past after going to the pub in the UK, your clothes and jacket would stink the next day. Tobacco is really cheap here, to I don’t think it is something likely to change in the near future.
The next day we got a bus to the centre of the city and went to the Mingtown Cafe on Pingjiang Road for
Garden of the Master of the Nets
an American breakfast. This kept us going long enough to walk up and down this lovely canal-side road with its interesting little shops and views. We then went south to look at the Twin Pagodas. Apparently, they were built by some grateful students in appreciation of their teacher. I could see John was getting some ideas, so we walked on to the Garden of the Master of the Nets.
Suzhou is understandably famous for its formal gardens. The Master of the Nets is one of the smaller ones, but is fascinating with its little rooms and pathways around a central pond. We had walked enough by now, so caught a taxi back to the hotel. We had dinner at the hotel and spent a lovely evening watching films in our nice warm room.
This morning, we woke up late, enjoyed a substantial breakfast and felt ready to return to Wuxi.
Cat statue (catue?)
