玉婷, 苏州， 南京

Where to start? So much has happened since my last post. The dominant occurrence of this interval was a trip to Shanghai, Suzhou, and Nanjing, my old stomping grounds in JiangSu province. First, I got all dressed up at the crack of dawn and got on a plane with Peng Gong bound for Shanghai and some mysterious business meeting. Little did I realize that I would somehow figure into this plan. We were picked up by a very nice friend of Peng, taken into downtown Shanghai, and ushered into a fancy building. To my surprise, I was not left on the street to fend for myself for several hours (something easily accomplished in Shanghai), but instead lead into a fancy meeting room in a fancier company and seated in a position of honor across from my hosts. At this point, I still had absolutely no idea what was going on. This confusion was compounded by the fact that that the proceeding conversation was conducted in part Chinese, part English and part Japanese. I resolved to play it cool and keep my mouth shut. I was obviously there for show. Long story short, I remained wisely silent, having a white guy at the meeting seemed to serve everyone's purpose, I got a free lunch and coffee, and everyone came away quite pleased. Next stop: the famous garden city of Suzhou. It is said that "there is heaven, and then there is Suzhou," placed here on Earth for the enjoyment of us mere mortals. This was destined to be an interesting stop: a reunion with my dear friend Emma. She is a girl I met in Nanjing years ago, and there is some history between us, not without an unhealthy dose of drama. I was nervous about seeing her again after so much time and feeling had passed between us. Upon first laying eyes upon her, I felt my fears to be allayed. She has grown into a beautiful and wonderful woman, accomplished, intelligent, and kind.


Emma whisked me away from my would-be business associates to take care of me on her own and I can not say I wasn’t grateful for her attentions. Our first visit was to the charming city of ChangShu, just northeast of SuZhou. ChangShu is an interesting place, rich and modern, yet having an ancient history, with abundant 小巷 xiao xiang’s or “small alleys” to prove it. It is possibly my favorite place in China. It was not my first visit to that city. We enjoyed ourselves with a pleasant interlude at a tea house nestled into a beautiful park, then a grueling stroll up the wall and over the hill to the other side. Here are some views of our excursion.

Views from the teahouse:


你可以看到常熟在后面:


Upon my urging, we ventured into the小巷 area for some exploring of these mysterious and somewhat sketchy passages lined with tiny shops, restaurants, houses, and one room “hairdressers” with scantily dressed 小姐’s (this term once meant simply “miss” but has come to include a variety of other meanings as well) hanging around looking bored and waiting for business. We agreed to each other that this was not a place either of us could safely venture alone. Emma claimed some guy was following us for a while through this labyrinth of passageways, and I admit to readying myself for an encounter, but he seemed to me to be simply sharing our route.




At any rate, this town has such areas in stark contrast to the upscale shopping districts, clean, opulent parks and bustling, modern streets. Here is a view from the town square, which somehow unites these disparate elements of society into a not unpleasant mosaic of past and present.


My original plan for this trip was to spend equal amounts of time in Suzhou and Nanjing, returning to Beijing directly from Nanjing. For a variety of reasons, this plan was altered to be spending merely one night in Nanjing, then returning to Suzhou for a day and leaving for Beijing from there. I was somewhat disappointed by not having nearly enough time in Nanjing, but made decent use of what time I did enjoy there. First, I hooked up with my best friend in China, Wu YunZhao. He is a first rate guy and I would trust him with my life.



Guys night out:


On my first and only night in Nanjing, he took me to the new bar street in town and led me up a darkened staircase to an unmarked doorway. Pushing open the door, I was confronted by the coolest, best bar I have ever seen in China: hot girls, live, loud Chinese hip-hop being performed with commendable flavor from what appeared to be the bar surface itself. What was shaping up to be a long night of utter debauchery was thankfully averted by Wu YunZhao before I was able to get into trouble. Before I got a single drink, we left the bar to get foot massages instead. Good call by Wu YunZhao. We all went to sleep with very relaxed feet. The next day, I visited some of my old haunts. It was weird to be back in Nanjing. There is a new subway, and a massive new skyscraper, yet the small streets and shops are as I remembered them.


Upon my return to Suzhou, I was somewhat anxious about the fact that I had severely underestimated my ability to spend money in this ritzy town. I had burned through most of my cash and foolishly (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) had neglected to bring my credit cards on this trip. The parts of Suzhou where we were hanging out are like a shopper’s paradise. The level of consumption was truly staggering, and infectious. From the Babylon of the city center, to the ritzy mall along the lake (think Newport Beach Fashion Island), Suzhou is a place for conspicuous spending. This is the town where government officials entertain their小姐’s (often more than one) with shopping and 花酒 (literally flowers and wine, but 花 can also mean “to spend” so this term carries the connotation of lots of money spent on booze, flowers, food, women, etc.) Good times. Fortunately I was with Emma. This place is like the wealthy suburb of Shanghai where the rich and powerful go to play. Here, Emma has made her home.

This is shopping Babylon:

And this is the fancy shopping area next to the lake:



Not bad, eh? No sailing on the lake though. I resolved to establish a sailing school in this place, in order to provide a healthier, more environmentally friendly alternative to the gaudy shops for the disposal of income. This place is a gold mine of opportunity, but the wheels of bureaucracy are not always well lubed. I told Emma my plan for getting some lasers and/or other small boats onto this lake and she said, “Typical American: too much freedom. It doesn’t work like that around here.”