Suzhou

March 27, Thursday

Day 5

Today we slept in, flew to Shanghai and bused to Suzhou. We just got in and rushed off to visit Tiger Hill with its beautiful gardens, 1000 year old Buddhist pagoda and "leaning" tower.

For dinner, we had a very special fish dish.......... it speaks for itself!!

from my sister Judy-

Thursday, March 27 We were allowed to sleep in a little later this morning, but most of us still got up early because of the time change. The East Coast is about 12 hours behind China and the West Coast is about 15 hours behind China. This all happened because we crossed the International Date Line. Everyone met in the Sheraton Hotel lobby at 9:30 AM and the buses transferred us to the airport. We had an hour and forty minute flight to Shanghai where we met our new tour guide for the next leg of our trip. Our tour guide, Emily, who was young, perky, and had an extensive vocabulary, gave us a lot of information about China on our two hour bus trip to Suzhou (Shoo-chow). Emily explained a lot about Chinese history, their feelings toward Japan, and their relationship with Tibet. She said that the Chinese people view China as being the mother and that all of the provinces, including Tibet, are the children. It is the job of "Mother China" to keep her "children" within the family and not allow them to separate from the family. Emily also told us that Chinese people, including her, speak "Chinglish." Children are taught English in school and their English teachers choose their English names. On the way to our destination, we stopped at Tiger Hill. The huge tower at the top of the hill was built as a memorial to an important Chinese nobleman. It started to lean in the 1300's and definitely has a tilt to it. The Chinese people like to compare their Tiger Hill Tower to the leaning Tower of Pisa, but always remind you that their leaning tower is much older. We climbed about 100 steps to ge to the beautiful pagoda and tower area. There were flowers in abundance because the town was celebrating a Spring Flower Festival. There were tulips, daffodils, azaleas, and many hyacinths which smelled amazing. After our breathless climb, we started to leave and were, once again, surrounded by vendors and beggars. This time, they were selling, table linens, Gucci bags, postcards, flutes, and wooden toys. On the way to dinner, Emily told us that we would be hearing some traditional Chinese music during our meal. She wrinkled her nose and said that she did not like the music or the way the lady sang; especially, the song from "Titanic." So Emily, in a sweet and melodic voice, sang the "Titanic" song for us. She has a lovely voice and we sat , spellbound, while she performed. We had dinner at a large, fancy restaurant with the traditional Chinese, lazy-susan buffet. It was only O.K., as was the traditional music that Emily warned us about. We stayed overnight in Suzhou at another 4-star hotel. Our hotel accommodations have been quite nice. They have all been 4 or 5-start hotels with all of the amenities that we, as Americans, are used to. The only exception to that is the restriction on water consumption. We have been warned not to use the water for drinking or brushing our teeth. The hotels, consequently, always provide us with complimentary bottled water. One must remember not to rinse a toothbrush under the running water. You can't forget, no matter how tired you are!