Travels with Dad: Part Three

The promised photos from Sun Yat-Sen

At the bottom ready to climb:

A whole lotta stairs:

Stepping off the train in Suzhou, I immediately realized that the short ride had brought with it a rather drastic weather change. We were now in a cold drizzle. Everything around was wet and there were mud puddles as far as the eye could see. Emma (my student and travel guide) asked whether it had been raining in Nanjing. It had not. But, it had been raining in Suzhou--for two weeks and counting! Cold rain . . .


After a long wait, we finally got on the correct bus and were headed to Emma's grandmother's home. The house has been in the family for several generations and it is an old temple. Emma explained that it is what Chinese people call "a deep house" because there is the front section of houses, then a door to more houses, and another, and another . . . until you are at the heart of the complex. When you are trying to imagine this place, this a large gate/door at the front with more inner walls/gates/doors each one revealing what once was rooms but is now sectioned off houses. Emma's father cooked lunch for us. It was an enormous amount of food and pretty much the best Chinese food I've ever had (and probably will have). Some soup, fish, veggie dishes, and BBQ pork . . . mouth watering just thinking about it.


After lunch we headed to a cultural museum. Took one of those bicycle pulling rides around some sidestreets before the men decided to blow off his end of the deal, throw a fit in the street, and scream at us for about 10 minutes demanding extra money. It was a bit scary. On to the Suzhou Opera House which is the most famous in China. Beijing Opera is a subunit of it--all of the masters were trained in Suzhou. Saw lots of photos and costumes of famous characters. The interesting thing in all of this: none of the costumes were the originals. Everything was a reproduction. I have noticed this about quite a few things in this country--whereas an American would want to see the original and perhaps falling apart original, the Chinese seem more want to have a brand new replica. Different ideas of beauty, I guess. At a building adjacent to the Opera House we ran into some gig where old people were gathered to listen to a man and a woman give a performance that involved some singing. Apparently, though, the speech was indecipherable--Emma had no idea what they were saying.

The next morning we rose up bright and early--6:30 am to meet Emma for breakfast and then a day's worth of garden touring. The owner of the restaurant at which we ate completely ignored my request for hot tea and then told Emma that my Chinese was "quite standard." I think that was meant as an insult.

First on the agenda was the Humble Administrator's Garden. Quite large, quite beautiful, quite overwhelming. Here's a picture of the front part of the garden. I took many more photos but all look pretty much like this one--fog in the background, a pretty building, some water (perhaps a reflection) . . . you get the idea. I was still freaking freezing despite the fact that I had more clothes on than a Chinese baby (on bottom: underwear, my long underwear, a pair of my father's long underwear, jeans, two pairs of socks, winter trail running shoes. on top: bra, t-shirt, long sleeved shirt, long underwear top, sweater, fleece with hood, scarf, coat, hat, gloves). So, it was a wet cold that just seeped in to the bones.


After the Hum. Admin., we went to the Lion's Head Garden which had lots of rock formations. I think it was built by a monk and was a monastery at some point. Then, it was donated to the city? Spent a good bit of time walking through the mazes of rocks. Emma and I lost my dad and were frantically looking for him for about 30 mins before I spied him all the way across the lake!!
Here is one of Suzhou's many bridges--you know, the city used to have very few streets and travel was mostly done on boats through the canals.

In the evening on day 2, we hopped on the train to Shanghai. This train left much to be desired. When we finally found our seats up on the second floor, a couple was already quite moved in and attached to them. I showed her our tickets and said that the seats were ours to which she said, "It doesn't matter. I don't want to move. Find different seats." Okaaaay. A little while later we were in Shanghai. Met up with another student and went out to dinner . . . a noodle shop, much to my father's delight. He had been asking for noodles since his arrival and this was the first time I gave in. After dinner, we took the new and uber-awesome subway (there were two layers of safety doors and televisions) to our hotel where we checked in. Dad and I were too wired to go to bed right then, despite the fact that we had to be up early for another flight, so we watched some music videos. It was a combination of Madonna's hits and Sinead O'Connor's, "Nothing Compares 2 U." I had never seen the music video and thought it was, well, spectacular. And then, we went to bed. The morning brought the most expensive taxi ride yet for China and another delayed flight at the airport. I don't remember much of the plane issues, but I do remember getting on and off the flight and waiting around. A lot. I feel asleep somewhere in there and was completely disoriented when I woke up and thought we hadn't yet taken off. So that tells you how sleepy I was . . . didn't even feel the take-off!

We had a week left in Weihai and mostly just took small trips downtown. Dad got a massage at a Korean place and I translated for him. It was really interesting to see the lady at work. She even stood on my father's back to massage it! And then, as fast as he came, he was gone.