My birthday, a party, and a museum

Sorry for the picture quality on this one. Most of these were taken with my pocket camera.

From 16 Nov 08

Some students have been reading my recent writing, instead of describing my comments as some would, as a jingoistic diatribe, they, universally, agreed with the accuracy of my comments and observations. They recognized the, ,near universal, disrespect for historic places and things. While recognizing that the attitudes look wrong when phrased the way I do, they see them as, just the way things are.

They found out that this week was my birthday. My Internet connection in the flat was not working (again) so I logged into my e-mail in the classroom, before class. As I was reading it several students arrived quite early. They happened to see the letter from Ken Lowdermilk and quickly passed the word.

That group of students then sent a member to purchase flowers, which are now in my classroom. In the next class a group of the students invited me to lunch and I ad a very good time. It does seem a bit odd to have students invite me to lunch, here it is not considered uncommon or unethical at all. They also purchased a small cake and a singing candle bomb (a candle thing that unfolds and lights more candles as it plays an electronic version of happy birthday).

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

My first class today then threw my schedule by bringing in a large cake which we shared at the beginning of class. As this had thrown my schedule I started a movie instead of using mu planned lesson (the lesson will keep, at least all but the daily news, which we did use) . I had a lot of reservations about this movie Tristan & Isolde; but, it seems to be going over very well. As my classes are about 20-1 in favor of the girls (and they prefer, “girls,” getting offended when I say, “women,”) I was mostly concerned as I see this as more of a, “guy film.” I will have a better idea next week when we do the discussion portion of the class.

We will include that in the stuff that we will cover in class on Monday through Wednesday, when we talk about the movie. I also have the stock, “describe the characters of ...,” and, “did you like, would you recommend the movie, why?,” question. Ten is the killer question of, “did they do the right thing why or why not, explain your answer, “ stuff. The real purpose is to get them talking and to keep the discussion focused and to have a topic. Many of the students want to talk but feel that they have nothing to talk about, in some of these cases, movies can help.

Then, on Friday, after school, the girls (about 42 of them) in a couple of my classes had a party. I was rather pleased to be invited and, of course I did attend. The class parties are generally held in an unused classroom. It still seems to be a bit odd to me; but it is just the way. That did give them use of the audio-video equipment for karaoke, which there was a lot of. They also held several impromptu dance competitions.

Most of the girls do take a dance class as part of the PE curriculum. Asa result, most of them are pretty good dancers and can, quickly, put together a ,synchronized, group dance for a variety of types of music.

On Saturday He Zhi Qing came over and we went to the museum. It struck me as interesting, when I asked my student's if there was a museum I got a universal answer of, “no, there is not one,” from them. Then, I was out with the riding club and I asked what a particular, odd looking, building was. They told me, “it is the museum.” At that point I not only knew there there was one; bit, I also knew where it was.

From 10 Nov 08

Then, on my riding trip to Ling Shan, I found the one last bit of information that I needed. I found its name, Historical Museum of the Revolution of Xinyang, The Martyr Commemorates The Wall. I then asked some questions about it and was told that it is always open.

He Zhi Qing and I got to the museum and found that was not quite the truth. It was not open on Saturdays. She asked and was told that they would have people to open it for us on Sunday. At that point we returned to my flat and worked on material for my class. I played with the 'never ending story game' see if she would get the idea. If she, or Gao Jing, does not understand an instruction, then it is pretty sure that my class will not either.

We then went to Dio's for dinner. This is one of the more expensive restaurants in town. We usually go to noodle shops and such. That night I just felt like going somewhere nicer. It was a bit strange to me to have a person stand by the table the entire time I am eating just to make sure that my glass is never empty and that I have all I need. It was good; but, like I said, I usually eat at cheaper places.

From 16 Nov 08

I did try to make He Zhi Qing use a fork. It went reasonably well; however, it was obvious that she was more comfortable with chopsticks (kuaizi 筷子).

The next day we returned to the museum at the time they had given us. The person that we needed to pay to get in was at home so we had to wait about a half-hour. We spent the time walking around this, rather industrial, part of the city.

There was a lot of construction at one place and He Zhi Qing described it as, “a hospital, like in that movie 'flew over the co-co birds nest.” She agreed that this meant a psychiatric hospital, one would hope that it would not be like the hospital in one flew over the co-co's nest.

We then walked back to the museum, just as the person who was supposed to take our money was arriving. I wanted to take some pictures of the mock airplane in front; but the guard wanted to make sure that we would not get lost on the way to the entrance. The courtyard was quire large; but there was no way we would get lost.

From 16 Nov 08

I think he was also in a hurry to get us to the door so that he could unlock it and return to his heated guards room. This is the thing that was most noticeable, not that the heating and AC were turned off, not even that most of the lights were off; depending on the skylights for lighting instead. No, what was noticeable was that other than employees, and us, there was not one there. Even the guest book, which I signed, showed that there had never been many visitors.

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

From 16 Nov 08

Everyone who has read this far knows that I am a Museum lover. I make an effort to visit the museums in every city I go to (yes, I missed the Museum of Sexology in Wuhan). My criticisms of this museum need to be considered against the reality that it is a new museum; and as such, it does not have a large collection artifacts (interestingly, the word, “artifacts,” does not seem to translate, well, to Chinese). It also seems to lack focus. This is apparently a result of an effort to use whatever artifacts that they have on hand.

The purpose of the mock airplane in front was to recognize that the first airplane in the Peoples Army had crashed here. He Zhi Qing insisted that the information board said, “landed;” but when you land and lose the wings and landing gear, as shown in the pictures, I feel safe in calling it a crash.

From 16 Nov 08

The number of artifacts was disappointing. Further, they were often representative artifacts; such as, not the lamp use by a famous general, but a lamp 'like the one' used by a famous general. In general. The museum featured photos and a small number of assorted artifacts from the late 1800's to the mid 1950's. These were supported by a number of dioramas, some of which seemed unfinished. Even HZQ seemed a bit disappointed that the hall of Martyrs, the last exhibit on the museum, principally featured people who were not from the local area, or even province (state), and many of them had died well after the revolution.

My suggestion, one made in the guest book , was to increase the number of locally significant artifacts, And, to include more information on both the history of Xinyang and its significance, both to China and the revolution.

After the museum we went and did some shopping and returned to the college. I had a “meet the Foreigner” lecture scheduled for the math department at 19:00 so we ate at a shop that I have never tried (and liked well enough that I will return to it) near the main gate of the school. I then returned to my flat and left HZQ there and hurried off to be taken to the math building.

From 16 Nov 08

I returned just as HZQ was finishing watching Mean Girls; which she then recommended for my, nearly all girl, classes. I gave her a gift (some flowers) to be taken to Gao Jing, and she wandered back to her dorm.

And with that, another week has passed.

A place I often eat breakfast

Walking to the College this week

Visiting Wuhan

From Wuhan

Well, national day vacation was a bit of a bust. As you know, national day actually encompasses an entire week. However, as you know, I am now teaching at two different colleges and it was not made entirely clear, by both schools that I would have the entire week off.

The problem with this is that the plan making stage of any vacation activities got delayed. Once I got definite word I carpet bombed the hostels in Beijing, Wuhan, and Hangzhou with letters asking if they had any expected vacancies. However, as I expected, I was too late. the responses began trickling back informing me that I was too late.

My plan B was to ride my bicycle to Nanyang, Gao Jings 高静 home, and perturb her. However, she did not go home. Instead she traveled to various cities to visit her friends and siblings.

Very simply, it would cause discomfort for me to travel to He Zhi Qing's 贺志青 town, it is a small town and to have a man visit her family would start the tongues wagging, so I did not really consider visiting her; although, I threatened her that I would.

My next plan was to ride my bicycle for a couple of days in the direction of Zhengzhou. This plan wold have me visiting several people as I went along. In fact, considering that the rain stopped and the days were beginning to look pretty good, this was the plan I was preparing to follow. Then, the evening before I was set to leave I got a letter from a hostel in Wuhan informing me that they had a vacancy.

So, I went to the train station the next day and got both my ticket to Wuhan and my ticket from Wuhan at the same time. I carefully wrote down all I wanted, in Chinese, and handed the note to the person at the station. I was in no way surprised when this left her terribly confused. I had the train numbers and the times written down for her. This was not the problem, I finally handed her a phone and had her talk to a student.

It was no surprise to me what the source if the confusion was. I wanted a ticket from Wuhan; but, I was not in Wuhan yet. The student reassured her that I really did want to purchase two tickets at the same time and that I would not go to Wuhan unless I had a ticket to return. As I have said, this is just not the Chinese way. The problem is that it is not the way of 99.99 percent of Chinese. However, that .01 percent of all the people in China can, without even engaging in an organized effort, purchase the tickets that the hapless traveler desires unless the traveler has swooped upon them first.

I have mentioned Wuhan in the past and in needs to be understood that Wuhan is really three different cities, Hankou, Hanyang, and Wuchang. The D train, as well as most of the trains from Xinyang, enters in Hankou. My Hostel was across the Yangtze River in Wuchang.

The trip to Wuhan was an uneventful, if crowded, D train ride. I have noticed that the D trains are filling up. I also noticed that this train had been retrofitted with a squat toilet.

By the time I arrived in Hankou it was already getting dark. I took a stab at following the bus directions but quickly found that I was not having any luck in finding the bus stop; so, I reverted to plan B and took a cab.

The cab took me to the hostel, the Wuhan Pathfinder Youth Hostel, with a minimum of fanfare. From where the cab dropped me, on the street, the signs were clear and obvious all the way to the hostel. In fact, I was the one that noticed the sign from the street, not and cabbie, I think it is simply that I am more aware of what I am looking for.

Later in the evening a couple of Chinese women moved into the room. They knew no English and my Chinese is too limited to have much of a conversation, thus He Zi Qing's suggestion that I “chat with them” was pointless. All I really wanted them to do was to be quiet.

I have noticed that, while this hostel is similar in amenities to the others I have visited, the clientèle is almost entirely Chinese. In most of the places I have stayed it is unusual to see a Chinese guest, here it is unusual to see a western one. I suspect it is because Wuhan is not a big stop for westerners. The main reason for stopping in Wuhan is as an end, be it the start point or the terminus, of the Yangtze River cruises that take about three days (yes, if I had more warning regarding the vacation I wold have reserved a cabin to do just that). Other than that, there just isn't a lot to do in Wuhan.

I am not trying to disparage the Hostel, it is no different than many of the others in China, the staff make a strong effort to be helpful. Probably the biggest thing I can say against it is that the menu is limited. The trouble is that Wuhan is a modern Chinese city. That of course means that nearly all of the historically significant structures have long since been removed.

Even the much vaulted “yellow tower” is a new structure built in an old style. There is a photograph showing the tower standing in the early 1950's. It was later destroyed and then there was so much local demand that a new tower was built in its place.

I wanted to go to the Huebi History Museum (Wuhan is the capitol of Huebi Province). However, this was a free week. In essence, free weeks are a great idea. During certain weeks many of the nations and provincial attractions are opened up for free. The problem with this is much like what HZQ and I ran into in Xian. The lines are so long that a visit becomes an all day affair, with the day being spent waiting in a line. Instead I went to the East Lake, another attraction of Wuhan.

From Wuhan

After leaving here I went to the waterfront and visited the First Bridge. This bridge is interesting in that it is a remaining example of Stalin Era architecture as it was designed by the Russians to transport both rail and truck traffic. Before this bridge was completed all traffic crossed the river in ferries. It is a two level bridge with the rail traffic routed to the lower level. Without a doubt, it is one of the most interesting features of Wuhan, if not the singular most interesting; with crowds gathered to look at it and stirring music being played at its base, it is an impressive bridge.

From Wuhan

From Wuhan

On my way back I tied to find a hat shop. I want to replace this cheap fedora that purchased in Kunming. However, even though I tried my best to follow the directions given to me by the hotel staff, I never did find it. That seems to be a recurring theme of the directions given by the hotel staff. If they gave directions, I never did find it. It really doesn't matter what it was. If they had given me directions to the face of the earth I, most assuredly, would be writing this while floating in space.

They tried, I will give them that. Trying was much more than the place I tried to eat that night did. After failing to find the restaurant that the hotel staff tried to direct me to I wandered (took a bus) back to the riverfront district. I had seen a place with a tremendous number of food vendors in Hubu Alley. I decided to give it another look. On closer examination I saw that it was mostly sea food. Huge platers were covered with crabs and shrimp things. All forms of seafood was being cooked on sticks. But, I was not in a seafood mood (I am still trying to get a shot of “scorpion on a stick” I regret passing that up the day I saw it).

I then wandered into a restaurant that had example plates siting in a case. I pointed to one and told the waitress, “that one,” (jigga). She did not seem to understand me but she did take me to a table and gave me a menu. I found what I wanted and pointed it out. At that point she insisted on asking a bunch of questions. Finally, after realizing that I was not going to get anything to eat there I got up and left.

Later, on my way back tot eh hostel I passed a “meat on a stick” bar-b-q vendor that was next to a bread shop and a drink vendor. So, I went to all three and had some bread along with spiced “sheep on a stick.”

The next day I started out with the intent of visiting several of Wuhan's points of interest. The first thing I did was to wash some laundry; thats right, I used a washboard. Then I got directions to several key locations. As it turned out, the directions were, as described, universally useless.

One place that I wanted to go was the “yellow tower.” I followed the directions and sat on the bus for about 30 minutes in, near stalled, traffic just to watch myself pass the tower. I did see it, and for the day, that was enough. It was another case of lines that extended for hours. I was actually enjoying the ride through the city on the top deck of the bus. I saw one place but was not quick enough to get a picture and there was no way I was going to walk back to it. The sign over the building proclaimed it to be the, “Museum of Sexology.”

From Wuhan

As I approached the Hankou train station I saw the Wuhan Museum and decided that I would walk back to it. It was a good museum, in many ways similar to several I have seen in China. If a person is in Wuhan and not “museumed out” it is definitely worth a visit. I remember, the first time I went to Wuhan HZQ had mentioned wanting to go to that museum with me. as we left the Hankou train station to go shopping.

Upon leaving the museum, about 14:00, I decided to try something. I decided to try getting from the Hankou station to the Hostel using the directions that they had given me.

The first step was to take the number ten bus to the Wuchan train station. That leg went pretty uneventfully. I, again, sat on the upper deck and enjoyed looking at the city as I went through it. I then got off at the Wuchan train station.

This is where things went wrong. My directions said that at the Wuchan station I was to get on the number five-eleven bus. The trouble was that there was no indication of where the bus stop for the five eleven was. The buses only stop near, note, never “at” but only “near” the route bus stops (not for traffic lights either). This leads to wandering and looking for a bus stop that the bus you want uses. Realize, not all the bus stops are marked, “because everyone knows that the bus stops there.”

I stopped and had lunch at one point and continued my search for the elusive bus stop. At one point I asked a traffic cop siting in his NEV (neighborhood electric vehicle) and he pointed me in a direction. I went that was about a kilometer and came to a bus stop. I got on only to discover that the bus was headed to Wuchan station from that point. So, after following his directions I got to about 200 meters from where I had asked for directions and was told that it was the end of the line.

I then went to the next stage of finding the bus stop. That method consists of identifying the bus that I want to be on and walking along its line until I reach a point that I no longer had visual contact and then waiting for the next time that bus passes and repeat the process. It is reliable; but slow and involves a lot of walking.

When I finally got on the correct bus I was one stop form my Hostel. I had spent close to three hours following the route that I had been given by the staff. I am glad that I had chosen to take a cab that first night.

Some time during my return to the Hostel it had begun to rain. I am glad I had my hat, I only wish I had been able to find a better one. It continued to rain into the evening and I decided to stay in the hostel and play on my computer. Well, this being linux, play means tinker until it is broke. I ended up doing another full reset which cost me about an hour of writing. However I did send some time talking to another person that was using the same model of computer and he had done some tinkering on his Linux that looked interesting... fix it till its broke...

Then about midnight I remembered that I had done laundry. It was still on the line, in the rain. It was definitely not drying.

Shanghai

I finally rode the Chinese Bullet train. I have several good things to say about it. I already discussed the problems, which center on the station service. The train itself was a pleasure; it was a modern train.

Both the interior ventilation and the lights worked. The seals between the cars were in good repair; this means that my seat, between the car connections, was not a deafening experience. There were no vendors and the toilets were clean and modern.

Compare this to the, all to common, older cars in service that are ventilated by means of opening the windows and a small number of ceiling fans that rattle against their safety cages. Power for these fans, and cabin lights, is supplied by generators that are belt driven off of a pulley on the car, resulting in lights that flicker and vary, when they work at all. As I have mentioned in the past, the toilets are often a hole in the floor of the car. Compared to this the bullet train was a marvel of luxury; the seats were even padded.

I have not made much of a point about the speed for two simple reasons. First, it is a bullet train; you expect it to be fast. The second reason was that on such a short run, only about 90Km, it never managed to get, fully, up to speed and topped out at about 230 K/h, which is just less than 144Mph.

Because it was so late, Shanghai railway station, gladly, did not live up, or down, to its reputation of being a massive peasant encampment and a sea of vendors, poorly, managed by a disinterested railway staff. Instead, it was quiet and well managed. I was directed to the correct bus by a staff that was bored and tired enough to actually be interested in being helpful. I got to my bus rather quickly where my destination was rechecked (I had taken the precaution of printing the destination, in Chinese, in a large font before I left) and when I reached my stop, the bus driver informed me that I was there.

At that point I phoned the Hiker Youth Hostel again, as I had been trying to do all day, and this time I got a person. I was given correct directions and within minuets was walking in the door. Unlike the last place, as I walked through the door I knew I was in a hostel; if I had not seen the sign I would have noticed, walking through the door, the music, the activity in the lounge and the sound of billiards. It was a little after 10:30p.m. And I was in ShangHai.

The reason that I had been trying to contact them all day was that I was actually scheduled to arrive the next day, as I said; I had just gotten bored in SuZhou. My arrival caused some confusion as they thought that I was late and was convinced that they had already let out my room. The solution that they offered was to call around to other hostels to find me a room or to allow me to, at no charge, in the lobby. Seeing as that offer included a shower, pillows, a blanket, and what really was a comfortable couch, I chose the latter.

As the lounge activity died down, and I finished writing, it was about 1a.m. and time to get some sleep. What I did not realize, although I have seen it in enough hotels that I should have expected it, was that the staff also sleeps in the lounge. It was in no way a problem, it just took me a moment to figure out what all these other people were doing there when I woke up about three a.m.

The building was starting to come back to life by about seven a.m. By ten in the morning I had a bed (although I still could not use it because it had not been changed, but this gave me a place to drop my bag). The only remaining challenge was to secure a return train ticket.

I told the desk what I needed and they reported needing a deposit of payment in advance. So, I went in search of a bank. During my walk to the bank I also took a moment to get breakfast from a vendor with a cart. It was no real search seeing as I had seen a bank the previous night while walking.

I then returned to the desk and explained to them what I needed. Basically, I need a ticket back to Xinyang. I want a soft sleeper but am willing to settle for a hard sleeper. Further, I want it on the fourth; however, I am willing to leave on the third or the fifth. I am being very flexible in there plans. The only two things are that I want to be back in time for school and would like to spend an afternoon in Zumaden before school starts. I returned tonight to find that there were no soft sleepers on the fifth, I restated my flexibility and the priority in my plans and they stated that they would check tomorrow. If it turns out that they still haven't gotten me a train ticket then I will try booking a boat ticket back to SuZhou and getting a ticket there.

I then went and got a pair of pants and returned to drop my existing laundry off with reception. When I returned to the lobby I met a pair that I thought were a couple and discovered that he was a Chinese who had spent sometime in the states and she was his student. They then offered to have her show me to one of the places that I had intended to go. On the way there she offered to pay for a river trip that she stated she had also never gone on. Her reasoning was that, by this time, she had discovered that she was getting good quality tutoring for the cost on entertaining me for a day (yes, my scam detector was running on high). We then walked to a large tourist shopping district that was crowded way beyond Disneyland. Speaking of crowds, my morning walks were deceptive. Later in the day, when the people were out, I discovered that this is a truly crowded city.

From there, and lunch, we went to another garden; this was not comparable with the ones seen in ShuZhou however, it was interesting, relaxing, and there were some fantastic calligraphy artifacts, taken from the wild pidgin pagoda on Xian, on display.

From there I went to see the famous "nine curves" bridge, I am not clear why it is famous, but it is. This was followed by purchasing some DVDs' and a visit to some book stores in, yet another, crowded shopping district. From there, after dinner, we returned to the Bund, a famous park of Shanghai. Then, back to the Hostel from this description it may not seem it; but, it has been a full day.

Seeing as I actually had a bunk this night I pretty much slept in. I did not sleep in so much as some of my roommates, who I discovered just got out of the army in Singapore, but, for me, I did sleep in. I then fixed my breakfast and checked my email and was ready to go.

My two destinations for the day were both museums. There are two important museums that are both near the people's park. The first one is the museum of city planning. It is devoted to the history and future of Shanghai. This museum has a display that perpetuates the myth of the Bund once being signed, "No dogs or Chinese permitted," however; it is well known that no one can actually document such a sign having ever existed. This myth remains and is repeated as part of the, larger, "triumph over racism within their own land" since of achievement.

On my way there I did run into a form of the tea house scam a couple of times; at least I think I did, seeing as I just wandered off the moment I saw it developing. The scam goes like this, a pleasant young woman, or a small group of them, approaches a person and introduces themselves as a student and asks them to come to tea; or, if claiming to be an art student, to see an exhibition. Then the tea, or the art that is "given," is billed for, often at well above market rate. Seeing as the exact same line was used on me by three different women as I made my way through a large, several block, plaza, I can expect that this was the game of the day. The real looser in this scam is the legitimate student that wants to spend some time talking to a person from another country; the visitors are often too trepidatious to be courteous (I prefer the more direct approaches, then I can be more sure that I am not being rude as I ignore them and walk away).

The museum was very good for what it was; I would have liked to see more about the infrastructure; which, for a city of this size, is always an incredible achievement. It is interesting to see cities in China go away from a dense walkable and bikeable development to a system of residential communities and auto dependence. This is something that was done in the west with disastrous consequences.

Just leaving the museum of city planning was a strange experience that contained its own bit of irony. I followed the exit signs and they took me to a narrow, seldom used staircase. This staircase descended deep below ground level and it began to feel like one of those dreams in which one continues to descend, by a variety of means, until awakened. I finally came out in a duty, seldom used, passage, well below street level, which was detailed to appear as a street in Shanghai in 1910. Following this passage to its end let me out at a door marked, "staff only," on the other side. The door opened to an underground mall that provided pedestrian passage to several areas in the city. This led to a heavily trafficked passageway which took me to the park in front of the municipal museum.

The municipal museum is one of the best, if not the best, museums that I have seen in China. The displays were well lit and non-flash photography was permitted in nearly all of the exhibits. The collection was large and varied. It did not suffer from the "advance to the present" view of history but was instead logically arranged by artifact type. The building itself was a clean and modern building and while it, to, suffered from a vendor explosion; the placement of the vendors was tastefully done.

I remained in the building until I was chased out at closing time. There were a lot of western tourists and it was funny watching them react to the authoritarian way of chasing people out of the exhibits by the guards and police. It was clear that the guards and police viewed directing westerners to be akin to herding cats.

As I left I chatted with some students who I suspect were legitimate and just wanted to practice their English; but there is no way to be sure so I separated from them quickly. I then went to an early dinner, seeing as I had missed lunch while touring the museums. I then returned to my hostel, stopping to get some more DVDs along the way.

Upon arrival I found that the hostel had secured my return ticket to Xinyang and had finished my laundry, they even folded them for me and put them away. I then chatted with my Singaporean roommates who had just finished their compulsory service. They were using their exit money to do some touring before starting university the following year. It seems that the former enlisted members had hidden the former officers clothing leaving him no pants other than a pair of tight shorts with ,"hot buns," embroidered on the rear pocket (he referred to them as "gay" shorts). This indicated to me that relations between the ranks were quite collegial; they all seemed to be friends.

I then went for a last moment bit of shopping. I wanted to get Merry something for the help that she had provided me. I then returned to the hostel for the loud music in the lobby and a table to write on.

Suzhou

http://imgcash2.imageshack.us/img502/5052/dscf6761gs3.th.jpg

So far, the trip has been somewhat uneventful. On the way to the train station I stopped at a large grocery store and got some munchies and put them in my pack. I am rather glad I did as this hostel is no where near a grocery (at least as far as I can tell). The train was a slow one and made a lot of stops, the only issue with that is the stops sometimes woke me up. In the morning I did see my first bullet train (trains that run in excess of 300K/h or 176.5mph) and I intend to ride one soon.

Finding the correct bus, to the hostel, was a bit of an ordeal due to an expansion of a canal. To add to the problem, after I got of the bus I followed the directions provided exactly. This got me no where near the hostel. I then called and on the third try got a person who spoke some English. In her attempt to clarify the instructions she said," I'm sorry, I don't know which way right and left are." This was my clue. I returned to my starting point, where I got off the bus, and did exactly the opposite of what the instructions said; this took me to the hostel with no difficulties.

This hostel, SuZhou International Youth Hostel, is a strange one. It is on the fifth floor above a regular Hotel. Where most of the hostels have been... well, party central... This place is more like a hotel; it is very quiet and has a very different atmosphere than I am used to.

There is a small self service kitchen but there is no bar or food service, and, as one German I was talking to noticed, the toilets are squat toilets. There is a TV room but here is no public lounge. The real funny part is that it turns out that this is not the hostel that I made the reservations at. All I can say is that the website for contacting these hostels is outlandishly poor. I may go look at the place I was supposed to stay when I am out riding tomorrow.

Well, my roommates did show up. They were a couple of South Korean brothers that were studying in ShangHai and enjoying their spring vacation. They basically came in and left. We talked for a while as we ate breakfast and hat was about it. In the evening a German student also dropped in; I intentionally left my door open so that there would be some life here. He was leaving to look for another hotel. The toilets were it for him. I found it interesting that a person of Chinese heritage, and born in china, and who was studying Chinese culture would be so put off by the toilets; but I do have to admit it, squat toilets do smell pretty bad.

This morning I got up and rented a bicycle, for which I was charged 20RMB.This is about the going rate. The bike itself was a total mess, bad brakes, bearings, and about everything else. However, it was a bike and made seeing the city enjoyable.

Many people referred to Kunming as the garden city. Su Zhou has everything Kunming claimed to have. The first place I rode was the lion garden. It had a great stone maze. One thing that is notable about Chinese gardens is that they do not try to adapt to or in any way utilize the natural beauty. They are seen as objects of art in and of themselves. As such, everything about the gardens is artificial. That aspect takes some adapting to and adjusting our concept of outdoor beauty.

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I was surprised, considering the rain, just how crowded this garden was. Like most Chinese scenic things, there are many organized bus tours. Once you get away from the tours the crowds diminish rapidly.

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They are really into these stone boats, no garden is complete without one

From there I went and looked at some bicycles. The bikes I was looking at were high-end models that are, simply, not available in Xinyang. In truth, they were very reasonably priced when compared to what the same models cost in the states. As much as I am attracted to the skinny tired racing bikes, I am looking harder at the touring models.

The main two things that held me back at this shop were the consideration that I am going to ShangHai next and expect to see more, and better, bikes and the fact that I have some questions regarding shipping and with no one in this shop speaking English I felt that I needed to shop somewhere that I could get answers.

I then located Pan Men (coiled gate); a large park that recently hosted the Pan-Asian economics conference. Before entering I rode until I found a small shop that would provide me lunch. I then entered the garden and climbed the Ruiguang Ta pagoda, an 11th century structure. I then spent several hours wandering around the park and then visited the remaining sections of the city walls. These sections are also within the park.

This city is a great place to return to with Zeneta. Not only for the many gardens and photographic opportunities, but also for the silk industry and the many Chinese silk dresses that are available.

After leaving there I rode to the docks looking for a boat that would take me down the Grand Canal to HangZhou. I had a bit of trouble communicating with the boat crews; but, with Merrys help, I was able to determine that there are no more passenger boats that make that run. It was a ten hour trip and most people, simply, what to travel faster.

I then returned to the hostel, returned the bike, and walked to a restaurant for dinner. I am strongly considering cutting my stay here a day short and heading for ShangHai tomorrow.

Today it was still raining when I got up; so, I first checked out of the hotel. While checking out I tried to get the hotel staff to write what I needed to say at the train station. They got it wrong. This was not a typical full service hostel and they were not prepared to get the tickets for me; which was just as well, seeing as none of them spoke English.

The train station was its own ordeal that I will go in to in short order. However, after the train station I went to two museums and had a good lunch (good because I managed to get lunch).

I arrived at the train station with a note that did not say what I wanted. I wanted a first class ticket on the high speed (bullet) train to ShangHai. The staff at the hotel had only written, "SuZhou to ShangHai." An English speaking Chinese woman tried to help. However, she, seeing that I wanted a bullet train, got me a ticket that would have gotten me to ShangHai faster than any other way. She booked me a ticket on a regular train that was leaving in about twenty minuets.

What she failed to understand was that I did not need the fastest transit to ShangHai. I wanted to ride one of China's bullet trains.

I got back into line after taking a picture of one of the promotional posters for the train and, after waiting in another unbelievably long line, showed the picture to the woman at the counter along with pointing to the words, "first class." It seems that her vocabulary was limited to the word, "mayo," which is a form of the word, "no."

I finally got into another of the intractably long lines and made another try. This person was willing to tell me that there were no first class tickets available on the bullet train that day and that the next ticket was for a train that left at 8:47p.m. I took the ticket.

I then went in search of the Silk Museum. It was supposed to be on Ren Men Lu (people's road); however, due to construction, I was having trouble finding this road that is in each and every Chinese city.

After walking several kilometers (remember, at this point I am carrying a pack) I started to give upon that museum and caught a bust that should have taken me to the SuZhou city museum. As I passed the museum I was assured that I was on the right bus and I also realized that I would have a walk back.

The museum itself was a very good and modern one. The bathrooms even had clean and modern toilets (that fact that the condition of the toilets is considered something worthy of note should tell you something about China). The exhibits were a collection of jade pieces (found in all Chinese Museums) and some of the artifacts removed from, nearby, pagodas and tombs. Many of these artifacts are of such quality that they are classed as national treasures. However, as you will notice, there are very few pictures from this museum; thus, few lasting memories. Like many places in China, photography is forbidden. However, unlike so many other places, this place was crawling with guards to enforce this rule.

After I left the museum I started walking toward where the next museum should have been. I stopped at several places for lunch but they all insisted that I point to what I wanted on the menu. Very simply, my ability to read Chinese is not that good and I refused to call on Merrie's great skill with the language just so that I could eat lunch (For those who are wondering why she did not help me at the train station, she is not with me. When I need her, I phone her. If Zeneta were to come I would ask Merry to accompany her; but, I am making this trip on my own).

After lunch I walked further and found the Silk Museum. I passed a pagoda on the way there but realized that I was coming close to closing time at the museum and wanted to get there more than I wanted to see the pagoda. A couple of more blocks put me across the block from the museum.

The silk museum was interesting with a number of samples of ancient silk, which has been cultivated since about 4000BC, and a large number of looms and other traditional machines for making and processing silk. Unfortunately, there was supposed to be a room where I would be able to see a plethora of the little mulberry munchers at work. However, they were all dormant when I visited.

Leaving there I caught a bus that took me most of the way to the train station. I was not able to bull my way into the first class waiting room as I did not have a first class ticket and this is a large town that is used to dealing with foreigners (in fact, I was surprised at the number I saw in this town). Someone did help me find the correct waiting room and a seat; yes, I could have found the room and a seat on my own but people like to feel helpful.

At that point, it was just a couple of hours of reading while I waited for my train. I did have one person who told me that he as a senior, majoring in English, and who wanted to talk for a while (he was also having trouble with the he/she thing). So, I chatted until it was time to catch my train.