Suzhou Planning Acrobats
So the next day I was becoming more than a touch bored of Shanghai and
its hawkers and hookers hassling me everytime I walked the streets. So
upon reccomendation I decided to take a day trip to Suzhou, a place
full of canals that calls itself the Venice of the East (I can quash
that one right now) but it promised a little more culture and a little
less westerness so I jumped on it.
After breakfast I found a ticket for the crazy fast Maglev (magnetic
levitation I assume） train out to Suzhou, this took 30 minutes
including a stop to go 85km, the train gets to over 250 km/h in speed.
A rather cool experience it must be said. Upon getting to Suzhou my
first stop was the Suzhou Silk Museum, which if anybody reading this
is thinking of visiting I have one piece of advice for you： Unless you
are some kind of textiles freak don’t bother.
The “museum” takes a good 20 minutes, maybe half an hour if you read
all the signs in English to get around, the only thing I really
enjoyed was seeing the shoes the women who used to have their feet
bound used to wear, so tiny and excessively cruel but interesting to
see an example after reading about similar shoes in the excellent
Memoirs of a Geisha.
From there I headed to the Northern Pagoda, quite an impressive
structure that reminded me a little of Wutai in my all-time favourite
game Final Fantasy 7 on the Playstation. I did not find any summon
materia when I made it to the top however which was a trifle
dissapointing. From there I headed to the beautifully done Suzhou
museum which comes reccomended, not only for being free but packed
with genuinely interesting artifacts, a rather interesting place.
From there I went to what so far in my trip is the best named place in
my trip: The “Humble Adminstrator’s Garden” not the Gallant King, the
Dashing Prince or the Beautiful Princess, no, the Humble Adminstrator.
It was beautiful despite the lackluster weather of the day. With a
cool section full of bonsais and some cool pagodas which had some
awesome names when translated such as the “With Whom Shall I Sit?”
Pagoda and the “Good for Both Families” Pagoda.
At the end of my time in the garden it was raining and me being me I
was coming down some ridiculously slippery steps (great for looks, not
for grip) and absolutely stacked it. Thankfully with only damage to my
pride and a bruised bottom rather than any serious injury!
After a nice 3km walk back to the station I hopped back on the Maglev
and returned to Shanghai in time to spend an evening chilling out and
doing precisely nothing, an absolute pleasure!
The next day was my last full day in Shanghai and time to get done all
the things I had left on my list! This came down to two things, the
first the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Museum, reccomended by a
friend and despite its incredibly boring name its a rather excellent
and interesting visit. The highlights are a 1:500 scale model of
Shanghai which is enlightening; the number of skyscrapers here should
be illegal and the 360 degree Shanghai exhibit was top as well, having
a look round the major sights in, you guessed it, 360 degrees, quite
enjoyable it was.
On the night I had tickets for the acrobats, I was quite excited about
them but I wasn’t prepared for what I would see. Much of what they did
was completely mindblowing, standing on a flat board, while rolling on
a circle, with four glasses on top of board no/1 with board no/2 on
top of the glasses, then four more glasses and another board, all
while balancing on these the guy is flipping things on to his head and
they are staying there. Nuts.
Guys on stils being vaulted into somersaults buy two guys jumping on a
see saw and landing. And plenty plenty more. Everyone in China should
head and see the acrobats if they are here, between them, the F1 and
the lamb at the Mongolian place those are the three highlights of
China so far for me.
From here its on to Beijing for the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and
the Olympics Stadium. Which is all pretty exciting.
And now I have to fly, so adios and see you next time!
Love and Acrobats!
J. Xx
