September 19 - China: Zhouzhuang to Suzhou
The digital camera is gone.
It is now a travel statistic. One minute it was there, and the next minute it wasn't. I have no one to blame but myself and my irresponsibility. But now someone in Suzhou is currently enjoying our Canon S100 Elf with 128 meg memory card and newly recharged battery. Schmuck. I hope the battery dies soon. In fact, I hope he/she can't figure out how to use it. That would make me very happy. But I'll never know.
So I'm sorry for the lack of color on the website from here onwards. We're missing two days of pictures (yesterday and today) which is surprisingly less painful than the loss of the camera itself. Hopefully, we can replace it in Vietnam or Thailand, but I'm afraid that there will be no lovely pictures until late October at the earliest. We were very much looking forward to posting pictures of us at the Great Wall.
Regardless of the loss of my dear friend Mr. Canon, I will continue with the journals and hope that your imagination is working.
Bathroom Break
The big joke this morning is that Anne locked us out of the bathroom last night. Our shared bath has two doors: one to the hallway and one to Anne and Robert's room. But last night she used the bathroom and forgot to unlock the hallway door and then she went to bed. So Jon and I had to go downstairs to the laundry room/bathroom whenever we had to use the loo - which was twice for me and once for Jon (we drink too much water).
This morning, Anne was so completely distraught by it that we had to laugh. She's so sweet, and we laughed at how she kept reminding Robert last night to remember to unlock the bathroom door if he used it. Then she was the one who forgot. So funny! We tried to reassure her that we've been in worse bathroom predicaments. Jon and I have slept in campsites where we had to be escorted to the bathroom by a guard because of hippos. We battled stomach illnesses in a guest house where the bathroom was down a flight of stairs. In the Serengeti, we wouldn't go to the bathroom at all for fear of being eaten by lions. This trip down the stairs was a piece of cake! But it was still fun to tease her about it.
Note added on 16 Oct: Our group leader in Tibet had warned us of a haunted hotel we'd visit in China, but we forgot what town the haunted hotel was in. Since we kept bumping into Sue who was leading an Intrepid trip through Vietnam, we decided to ask her if she knew which hotel was the haunted hotel that Intrepid groups stay at in China. She used to lead groups in China so she immediately told us that it was the little place we had stayed at in Zhouzhuang--and it turns out that it was the room without a bathroom. The one we stayed in! How funny is that, that we have some sort of paranormal experience in a 'normal' hotel in Shanghai but everything's fine in the 'haunted' hotel??
Trip to Suzhou
We walked out of the Old Town of Zhouzhang and took an hour and a half boat ride through the lake to a bus. The boat trip was lovely, and we passed what we think are fish farms along the way. These are many fenced-in areas of water where we saw local fisherman bringing up nets. Although today was a bit overcast, the trip was still very nice and most of us sat out back where we could breathe the air and enjoy the sights. After the boat ride, we climbed on a bus and drove to Suzhou.
Suzhou
There is a famous Chinese saying, "In heaven there is paradise, on earth there is Suzhou and Hangzhou". Hangzhou is where we were on Sept 14. Suzhou isn't as blatantly beautiful as Hangzhou, but the gardens located throughout the city are stunning. (If only I could show the pictures!!). The city is on the water, and - like Zhouzhuang - is made up of an intricate maze of canals running through the city.
We went with the group for a boat ride through the different canals and enjoyed the beauty of the bridges and the quaint houses on the water. The boat took us through some side canals where we could admire the age of the canals and the city. At one point, we had to "pull over" to let a concrete barge through. I didn't believe we could both fit in the narrow canal, but the drivers of both boats got out and - with their feet and poles - managed to get both boats through. This is obviously why all the boats have tires tied to each side of the deck.
We took some nice pictures. Wish I had them.
Humble Administrator's Garden
The boat trip let us out at the north part of the city, just near the Zhouzheng Yuan (The Humble Administrator's Garden). So a small group of us decided to share taxis and go there. Lonely Planet says "Dating back to the early 1500s, this garden's 5 hectares feature streams, ponds, bridges, and islands of bamboo." The gardens were absolutely huge and unbelievably beautiful. Every time we thought we were nearing the end, we would turn a corner and find another beautiful path or pond. The ponds themselves were filled with lotus flowers, and many of the pavilions had names like "Hall of the Distance Fragrance", "Hall of the Lotus Flower". It was all very romantic and soothing, except for the tour groups with megaphones.
At the "Hall of 36 Pairs of Ducks" (which, incidentally, only had about 7 pairs of ducks) we sat and watched the ducks flap about in the pond. And then we were completely amused by the swimming rats, which would paddle out to the dinner dish, steal the ducks' food, and swim back out to the hole in the wall. Being from New York, rats are not a wholly uncommon sight to us. We've seen Subway Rats, Trash Rats, Basement Rats, just to name a few. But I can't say that I'd ever seen a Duck-Dinner-Stealing-Swimming-Rat. I guess there's a first for everything.
After a few hours in the gardens, we made our way out. We passed some birds in cages hanging from tree branches (yes, don't let the irony escape you), and one of them said, "Hello!". So we hung out and watched him for a little while until we heard it again. He could also say "Ni-How" (Hello in Chinese). Very talented bird. After this, we left and went to the Sheraton to try and get some English newspapers.
Anyway, this was the last time we saw the camera - at the Humble Administrator's Garden. I really don't want to talk about it because it makes me want to bang my head against the wall. But if I had been more responsible then we would still have it. Jon says "at least it wasn't our passports or money" - which is true - but this doesn't make me feel better. I'll get over it eventually, but for now will have to live with that "Geez I wish I had my camera" feeling every five minutes.
Group Dinner
We met the group for an early dinner and Grant took us to a place recommended down the street. The food was delicious and I decided that I needed a beer after my traumatic afternoon. Given my very low tolerance level, the world looked much better after one beer!
Show at the Garden of the Master of the Nets
At 7:30, we went to the Garden of the Master of the Nets to see a show. Performers danced, played music, read poetry, and sang in different parts of garden, and we made our way from one room to another to hear the performances. Our guide - Mr Wu - explained the significance of each performance before it began. Here's what we saw:
It was a lovely night, the weather was perfect, and the performances were very interesting to see. As we exited the gardens, we were bombarded by the touts selling souvenirs outside. We saw some more Mah Jong sets, which Ken and Mel were looking to buy. So we called to Ken and - out of habit - said "K-k-k-ken!" (quote from "A Fish Called Wanda"). The vendor had seen what we were pointing at and when he heard this, looked up and said, "M-m-m-Mah Jong!" It was the funniest thing we'd heard in a while, and we laughed hysterically. So maybe it's not quite as funny written out, but we enjoyed it.
Mah Jong
We walked around looking for a bar which had large tables to play Mah Jong, but we couldn't find one. So we went back to the hotel and re-arranged our room so we could get a large playing surface. The five of us alternated playing with a foursome until about 11:00, and then we went to bed.