Excursion to Suzhou

Today was a field trip to Suzhou, a city 1 1/2 hours west of Shanghai. A driver took Alex, my university host, and one of the University professors and her husband in a University van. Suzhou is known for its gardens and the Tiger Hill Pagoda that leans at 2.34 degrees. The Pagoda was built before the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The pagoda complex itself was first built around 934 AD. Makes American history look pretty recent. We walked around the ornamental gardens, which cover several acres. The gardens include walking paths and small outbuildings where wealthy nobles would relax. Very few people lived on the grounds. After the pagoda, we visited another ornamental garden in Suzhou, which is very world reknowned.

At lunch I ate with Alex and the driver (the others had eaten earlier). Alex treated me to a feast, including cooked vegetables, hot pot with lamb and spicy cabbage, sweet pork, and boiled freshwater turtle (see picture). Dessert was a type of pumpkin/soy filled donut that was very tasty. This was my first taste of turtle and it was very delicious. Hard to describe the taste, but to eat it you grab a leg or a part of the body with your chopsticks and take a big bite. You spit out whatever bones are in it and then eat the rest. The soft part on the edge of the shell was the best part and I cleaned out my quarter of the shell with ease. Toward the end of the meal the server brought rice, unlike the U.S. where we eat rice right from the start. After lunch Alex and I haggled for a few neckties. I paid 20 yuan for two ties, but some shopkeepers were offering two for 15 and I wished I had time to shop a little more but we had to go.

Driving home on the freeway was scary. The drivers here use their brights and the horn to let people know they are passing or want to get around. Also, people drive all over the road. The only driving rules I see are: the biggest vehicle has the right of way, and don't get in an accident.