Wanderings in China - II

I: Shanghai-1

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 18:58:18 -0700

Water towns and gardens.
These are covered in a separate entry. Click here to get there.

a: China Private Tours.

We stayed at the Renaissance Yangtze Marriott, a Western, well-appointed hotel. Service was excellent most of the time. But this is a business hotel and the staff is overwhelmed in the mornings as everyone tries to leave to get to their appointments in time. In the mornings there may not be enough places in the restaurant for breakfast. For members Wi-Fi in the room was free. The restaurants have very good service, except the one upstairs which was so-so. Their prices were twice that of Chinese food outside. They do well, because the average foreigner would hesitate to go outside to find an eating place, if he/she does not speak the language. The hotel was in an area with many Japanese stores and even an alley of Japanese restaurants. There was even one called the Obama restaurant. We didn’t know the president of the USA also had Japanese relations.

left: The Chinese signs on the top reads: Obama Restaurant - Shanghai. You can get a snack sitting outside, or you can go inside for a more substantial meal.

The hotel is in a busy neighborhood, but then, it is always busy anywhere in Shanghai. This makes it hard for guided bus tours with many passengers, because an inordinate amount of time is lost just getting around. Large guided tours try to combat the traffic problem by leaving the hotel at the ungodly time of 8:00 a.m. or even earlier.

Ours was a private tour organized by China Private Tours, which gave us the leeway to leave at a more civilized time in the morning, adjust the schedule up to the last minute to take advantage of weather conditions, and to explore little unknown places, usually inaccessible to large parties to eat in little local eateries, jostling with locals to savor the local menu at leisure. There is no need to gulp down the food usually served to large tour groups, because we did not have to leave in a hurry for the next destination on the tour.

China Private Tours was rated to be excellent by commentators in TripAdvisor.. Their coordinator, Sam, was almost always available —I presume he lives in front of his computer— and requests and questions by e-mail are routinely answered in less than 24 hours. His e-mail address is chinaprivatetours@gmail.com and his telephone is 86 (for China) 137 3541 1378. I started to ask them to serve as our guide for Shanghai only, but expanded this to include Suzhou and Hangzhou for a total of two weeks, because he was knowledgeable and he was prompt.

By the time we started our tour we had exchanged some 30+ e-mails. He was also able to make many suggestions to improve our itinerary and make changes on very short notice. In Hangzhou, e.g., he called on a Friday morning to suggest canceling an outdoor water show for that evening because of rainy weather concerns and rebooking the next day. Which we did. And the next day we thought we would have poor seats because of this last-minute change, but I saw our guide bypass the ticket office and go through another door to pick up our tickets for the show. Although we didn’t pay for the most expensive tickets, we still had excellent seats. In Shanghai we went to the Shanghai Circus, and we were led by our guide, who seemed to know everybody in the theater, to an excellent area also. This would not be possible with large guided tours. Our guides and drivers would come on time, and they knew the way around. And with a small bus, it is easier to find that elusive parking place.

Their guides were usually free-lance operators, but Sam knows who to choose from the cream of the crop. There was Autumn, who was such a caring person that one evening she stayed around until 10:00 p.m., when she could have left at 8:00 p.m. to go home (a one-hour journey), while knowing that the next day she had to be back at 9:00 a.m. at our hotel. Because it was raining so hard she wanted to be sure we would be able to find our bus safely in the dark and in pelting rain after the end of the performance at 10 pm. She came with extra umbrellas! There was Cindy who could only be with us for one day because of other commitments. And then Barbara, who worked with us for four days, very personal, almost motherly. All were knowledgeable, communicated well, and were very nice, personable, and very helpful. Barbara actually volunteered to be our guide one extra day on very short notice, because I had problems with the guide for that day. Then there was David, young, urbane, and quite sophisticated. He was one of the most knowledgeable guides we ever had, knowing the answer to all questions we had. And they were correct too, when I checked them later at home. But I did feel he was a little bit too commercial, maybe too professional and less personal. He will be a good manager, though.

One interesting thing I learned about writing these travel journals is that there is always the occasional guide who really did not know his/her stuff and was just making things up. I find this out, too late of course, when I double check the information. Sam’s guide were, in general, truthful, and some of them actually do know a lot.

On the other hand, the prices of China Private Tours are a bit on the expensive side, with the occasional guide who would stick with trying to maintain the rule of an 8-hour day. But most guides and drivers do not mind giving us a free extra hour or two (and sometimes considerably more) of service, which we greatly appreciated. And for what we received, the price we paid China Private Tours was well worth it.

b: The Tunnel under the HuangPu River.
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Once you are on the Bund, you could take a tram going under the HuangPu. The tunnel was constructed for building supplies to the Pearl TV Tower as underwater traffic was faster and has now been converted into a tourist attraction.

right: The little glass-enclosed trams running through the tunnel under the HuangPu River.

For a 50 RMB fee (about US$8) you can ride this tram through the dark tunnel, which is illuminated with burst of differently colored light strobes. There is something which is supposed to be music and something which is supposed to be funny. It is neither.

left: The tunnel is lighted with strobes in differently changing colors.

The distance is about 1.5 km and the ride is over in a few minutes. It is an unmitigated overpriced tourist trap, but it is a shortcut from the Bund to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower on the other side of the water. And surprisingly, even though a tram would come by every few minutes, there are always a lot of passengers waiting to participate in this “adventure”.

c: The Oriental Pearl TV Tower

This TV Tower is a landmark of Shanghai, requiring all tourists to dutifully troop there to look at the predictable views from the “Space Capsule” sightseeing floor at 351 m elevation. The tower itself is 468 meter high, partly because of a very tall antenna mounted at the top to increase the official height of the structure. The building was at one time the tallest building in China. Not any more. What is impressive during our visit is how clear the views were. The panorama is not quite crystal clear for miles in the distance; but the views are at least not hazy because of heavy smog.

right: A view from the tower. In the middle of the river is a large private yacht. Yes, there are now many billionaires in China. But then, at about 6 RMB to a US$, it is easier to become a billionaire there than in the USA.

Somewhat lower, at 259 m elevation is another observation floor; this one where along the floor to the outside perimeter is transparent glass, so you feel as if you are suspended in space. It also scares a lot of people from walking there.

left: View of the ground some 259 m below as seen through the glass floor.

d: Xiaolongbao Buns

Xiaolongbao has recently come into de rigeur as something you have to taste, even though the recipe has been around for some time. It is a steamed dumpling, especially associated with Shanghai and Wuxi, which contains the solid filling combined with a fragrant broth inside. It is traditionally filled with pork, but there are now many filling variations available, such as crab, vegetarian fillings and other gastronomic variations depending on the chef. These buns are traditionally served with a vinegar sauce adorned with slivers of ginger, and usually consumed with a clear soup on the side. These buns have a secret recipe and need to be folded meticulously; it is time-consuming to produce.

For the uninitiated, it is not uncommon to spill the juice that first time. As you bite in the dumpling, the high-temperature broth can unexpectedly scald your tongue, and so you will spit everything out on your pristine shirt and on those of your neighbors. They will then hopefully give you advice on what to do. You have to carefully remove the dumpling out of the basket with your chopsticks by grabbing it in the middle, dipping it in the vinegar sauce and place it on the ceramic spoon. Carefully nibble a piece of the top of the dumpling, blow and wait a second or two to be sure it is not too hot, and slurp the wonderfully tasty broth and then look content.

In Shanghai there are of course many places where you can savor this delicacy, some good and some not very good, some expensive and some reasonably priced. You can see the good ones by the long queues in front of restaurant well before and during lunch time. However, if the queue consists mostly of foreign tourists, you may reconsider, because these are big groups and the tour operator chose this place because it can handle crowds rapidly. Sometimes this is at the expense of quality; the average foreign tourist wouldn’t know the difference anyway. They all taste good.

right: A standard xaolongbao lunch; a basket with broth-laden dumplings with crabmeat, vinegar-ginger dipping sauce, and a clear soup with fish balls on the side.

Autumn, our guide, took us to a small, local restaurant in the suburb, which could probably only seat some 40 guests along straight tables. Their xiaolongbao was amazingly good. And inexpensive to boot.

A basket of a dozen was priced at 18 RMB or around US$3 and the copious lunch for us 7, including drinks, was around US$30. If I find the address I will include this here later.

e: The Old City (Lão Chéngxiãng)

ABOVE: IN THE OLD CITY OF SHANGHAI.

Above is a picture of part of the Old City. On the left is another.

left: Inside the Old Town of Shanghai. The Temple of the City God is on the right.

This is the traditional urban core of the Shanghai, and for decades this is the seat of the Chinese authorities of the city. There used to be a city wall, built in 1554 during the Ming Dynasty, but it was demolished in the 1912. It is now a combination of ancient winding streets, where tourists amble around enjoying the array of restaurants, teahouses, little shops selling a variety of snacks as well as handicrafts. It is a favorite tourist destination, but we actually saw very few foreigners; most of the visitors are still Chinese. The array and choices in the little food stalls are amazing.

right: This small food stall on the street sells xiaolongbaos and other delicacies.

The oldest teahouse of Shanghai is located there, as well as the Temple of the City God. There are a number of modern high-rise apartments in this area, but in 2006 the Shanghai Municipal Government made the whole area of the Old City a protected Historical Cultural Area and a nice tourist destination.

left: This food stall sells skewered meats and slabs of deep-fried tofu. Look also at the roasted quails in the middle of the counter.

f: Tianzifang

right: A small street in the Tianzifang enclave.

This is an arts and crafts enclave. In 2006 it was slated for demolition for redevelopment purposes, but because of fierce opposition, the area was spared and developed into cozy little lanes with interesting and small creative businesses. There are now cafes, bars, restaurants, art galleries, design houses and studios, even though it still has a strong residential appeal. TripAdvisor ranked this as no 2 among 487 attractions in Shanghai. Somewhere there is a plaque naming this area the 2006 China’s Best Creative Industry Park.

This is a great place just to amble and look around.

left: A display of a small fashion boutique.

A place which generates a lot of gawkers but apparently not too many patrons is a small restaurant, website m-toilet.com, where their theme is the use of toilet-inspired furniture, such as urinals, toilets, and other stuff, maybe to remind the visitor that this is where all food will eventually end.

right: The Toilet Cafe, a place with scatological emphasis. Urinals hang on the wall as decoration. Seats are shaped like toilet seats, and the serving bowls are miniature toilet bowls. But I don’t believe they try to imitate the odors of a real toilet

SmartShanghai.com reports that this place is so “insanely” popular that they've resorted to stationing a doorman out front and require patrons to book ahead to get a reservation. Guests sit on chairs designed like toilet seats. The ice cream is served in a bowl shaped like a wash basin and has imaginative brown curls in the shape of turd, reported the website

But it seems that all that emphasis on the private function of human digestion is not necessarily conducive to be enjoying the food. Maybe that was the reason we saw very few patrons there, even though it was lunch time. Or maybe they were hiding in an upstairs dining room, so the gawkers wouldn’t take pictures with them in it. And SmartShanghai is not smart, they are just paid minions to hype the place.

g: Confucius Temple.

The Shanghai Confucius Temple, located on Wenmiao Road, is an ancient architectural complex originally built between 1368 and 1398, built to pay homage to that great sage, thinker, and philosopher. There are quite a number of well-preserved buildings in the complex, as well as the beautiful Sky and Cloud Reflection pond. In ancient times this complex also housed the highest learning institute in Shanghai.

The temple is surprising large and there were very few other visitors. It is a respite from the hustle and bustle of the other areas we visited. A student from the adjacent Confucius seminary was there to act as our guide for the premises, which was very much larger than we anticipated just from the view at the entrance. We gave her 40 RMB at the end of the tour.

above: Dacheng Hall, the main building of the Confucius Temple.

The main building of the Temple is Dacheng Hall which you see in front of you as you enter the temple grounds. In front of the temple is a statue of the sage with a sword tucked into his waistband. To the right is a huge bell, the Dacheng Bell, weighing some 1500 kg. It is said that the sound of this bell is loud and clear and that when the bell is sounded the reverberations will last for almost three minutes.

In the area on the left in front of the temple, a monk sells incense sticks and other religious stuff and helps you with the composition of messages written on red paper to the sage. These are then affixed to those two racks on either side of the entrance where you can see the red messages hanging. I am not sure when he comes by and gives you his reply.

left: Statue of seated Confucius in the Dacheng Hall. One of his students is missing.

Going into the hall, there is a golden seated statue of Confucius, presumably flanked by the statues of his two most outstanding students, Yan Hui and Zeng Shen. But when we were there, one of these two students was missing. Was he on vacation? Or has he moved into a display case of some foreign museum?

right: This is the first courtyard with the Panchi pond and Jiexiao Hall and Minguin Hall.

The hall on the right houses a tourist shop. Beware of this place. You can get carried away because they put pressure on you and they imply this is for a good cause. So you will end up with some jade figurine dust-catchers at well-above-market prices.

left: skewered BBQ’d food for the stomach.

Just outside the temple is this booth selling a variety skewered BBQ meats to support the body after having received sustenance for the soul earlier in the Temple. Here at least there is no pressure, except for the fragrant, enticing smell of the food.

h: Dongtai Road Antiques Flea market.

This is a fun place to browse for “antiques” and to haggle for special finds in the many little open air stalls next to each other. In reality, the stuff is mostly fake and typical flea market merchandise. Many stalls have the same items as in the other stalls, so they must get them from the same supplier.

right: One of the streets in the Dongtai Road Antiques Flea Market.

left: Treasures for sale in the Antique Market.

There are statues, porcelain jars and bowls, fake jewelry, miniature pornographic screens, old coins, plates, statuettes, teapots, old furniture, bric-a-bracs, old calendars, and junk. There are three or four pedestrian-only streets here, but you will still see an occasional motorbike going through.

II: Shanghai-2

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 13:34:35 -0700

i: The Shanghai Circus World

In the Shanghai Acrobatic Dome, this company performs an incredible collection of stunts, balance, skill, strength, dexterity, and flair. It is a combination of classical world-class Chinese acrobatic arts and modern multimedia technology performed in the classical round piste of a circus. The show lasts a little more than an hour and we were treated to an entertaining and breathtaking display. There is quite a range of prices for the seats, but actually you have a good view wherever you are seated. As advised by our guide, we just get the medium-priced seats; they were more than adequate. I do suspect our guide, who knew a lot of the staff in the theater, placed us in a more expensive section.

left: These were 5 women bent backwards with their heads almost touching their buttocks and they were stacked on top of each other.

There were also these 12 women piled on top of each other riding one bicycle. Or this group of acrobats jumping through various hoops at different elevations simultaneously.

And at one time there was this acrobat jumping down from a platform some 50 feet in the air on one end of a seesaw, catapulting a tiny lady acrobat sitting on the other end of the seesaw up in the air and into a small chair hanging somewhere in midair.

You may have seen these motorcycle riders riding inside a metal mesh globe in other acrobatic shows. The globe does not look much larger than 20 feet inside diameter. In the final there were seven motorcycles riding simultaneously round and round and past each other inside this very confined space.

Amazing

right: This man juggles this heavy 20” diameter porcelain jar, which he throws upwards and he catches it on his head and then balances it there further.

Chinese acrobats are arguably the best in the world and there are other venues where you can see them perform.

When we came back in Shanghai some 6 months later, we visited the Shanghai Theatre in Nanjing Xi Lu. There were fewer heart-stopping acts than in the Shanghai Circus World, but it was still quite entertaining.

left: at the top of this wobbly pyramid on the two feet of a strong man, two acrobats were displaying their gymnastic abilities.

j: The Shanghai Museum.

We have been to the Shanghai Museum several times in the last 2 decades, but this visit was rather disappointing. Several sections were closed for repair or renewal and we did not see any “wow” items on display this time.

right: The display of tribal costumes on the 4th floor is always very colorful and interesting.

They do have a very nice display of Jingdezhen pottery, of top world-class quality. These artisans achieved their highest level of achievement during the Qianlong reign.

left: Examples of exquisite Jengdezhen porcelain.

They were able to make porcelain products imitating other materials of construction, such as gold, silver, stone, wood, jade and bronze. I refer to our previous visit for more information.

right: This is a marvelous Tibetan vase with a Fencai design of the eight auspicious classical symbols. The background in green ground Jingdezhen ware from the reign of the emperor Qianlong (AD 1736 - 1795)

left The nice interior of the Shanghai museum, seen from the top. It is actually a relatively small museum with four floors and an atrium space in the middle. Entrance is free.

k: Xianyang Park.

We had a different guide this morning, Laura. We piled into two taxis to get to this park in the morning to watch people doing their morning t’ai chi exercises and to admire the water calligraphers do their work. But unfortunately it was a very chilly morning and there were just a few t’ai chi practitioners.

left: A lonely practitioner doing his t’ai chi exercises in Xianyang park.

Just around the corner there was music and ballroom dancing so we joined in the fun. As for the water calligraphers, these are people who use a sculpted mop and water-bucket to write beautiful calligraphy on the dry stone squares with water and a bit of soap; unfortunately they were not there either. This is wonderful work to admire; ephemeral art which disappears after the water evaporates. Ars longa, vita brevis was not written for them.

We walked further to get some hot pancakes to try from the eating stalls a bit further away, but did not finish some of the other stuff.

l: Lunch in Capital Land building

right: Lunch in the “Gourmet Noodle House”. Like all restaurants in China, there are pictures of the dishes on their menu. So you look and point to it for the waitress.

We had a great lunch in the “Gourmet Noodle House” on the ground floor of the somewhat upscale Capital Land mall, close to the Museum. But I couldn’t get a business card from them. They simply didn’t have them. It was a very good noodle lunch; well prepared and a lot of variety to choose from. Also very reasonably priced.

g: The Nanjing Road South pedestrian street

left: This is a busy “pedestrian only” mall with large, recognizable named department stores flanking both sides, including a huge building for Apple. In this store a man who had just bought the most expensive Apple watch was overheard saying: “This thing is really not that expensive; I pay that much every time I fly to the US and back. “

For those people preferring to traverse the 1 km or so long street in relative comfort, there are little motorized trains which you can board for about US$1 per person. There are many of these buses around, so you don’t really have to wait.

h: Huge Discount Mall

As the antithesis of the expensive stores on Nanjing Road, we here have a mall, where the stores sell clothing, electronic stuff, shoes, souvenirs, foodstuffs, fashion ripoffs and lots of other stuff at huge discounts. There are a number of these malls in Shanghai and it is a wonderful place to practice your bargaining skills. You just cannot appear to be a very eager buyer.

right: Inside the discount mall.

The stuff you get there is very inexpensive but the buyer does have to beware what you get. It is a great place to get stuff, though.

I have not been able to get the address of this place. A member of our party bought some 10 nice leather-looking brandname shopping bags for around US$5 each. The real stuff would have cost maybe US$ 500 or more each. Well, this was of course a faux-leather-copy article, but it does make great fun gifts. Another picked up some nice “brand name” sport shirts for a few dollars each. They look good and felt good. Nobody would be the wiser.

III: Suzhou

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 11:36:48 -0700

“In heaven there is paradise, on earth there are Hangzhou and Suzhou."

This is an ancient saying praising the beauty and prosperity of these two towns. But if you live in Suzhou, you quote: "In heaven there is paradise, on earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou" to be sure you get the order right.

Then another saying is that the ultimate gift in life would be:

to be born in Suzhou
to live in Hangzhou
to eat in Guangzhou
to die in Liuzhou

Suzhou was famous for its beautiful women, Hangzhou is very pleasant, green, and delightful, Guangzhou with its Cantonese cuisine is unrivaled in this world, and in Liuzhou they make the best coffins from their unsurpassed quality pine trees.

Suzhou, formerly romanized as Soochow, is a major city in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. It is second largest city in the province after its capital Nanjing. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the shores of Taihu Lake. Suzhou has a population of 4.3 million in its city proper, and a total resident population (as of 2013) of 10.6 million in its administrative area.

Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou has over 2,500 years of history. It is the cradle of the Wu culture, and it is one of the oldest towns in the Yangtze Basin. By the Spring and Autumn period of the Zhou (770 - 476 BC), a local tribes named the Gou Wu was recorded as living in the area which would become the modern city of Suzhou. This is where my ancestors came from and we still have the same surname.

For the tourists the main reason to visit Suzhou is to visit their famous gardens. We visited The Master-of-Nets Garden, the Liu Lingering Garden, the Humble Administrator Garden and the Couple’s Garden Retreat. They are covered in another chapter in this blog, called “Water Towns and Gardens in China”. Click here to get there.

The Suzhou Marriott

From our hotel in Shanghai to the Suzhou Marriott was a 2-3 hours drive over the expressway. The Suzhou Marriott was in the Gusu district and was very modernly appointed. The bathroom had a free-standing bathtub as well as a roomy shower-stall. It was parallel to the sleeping area and had two entrances. It probably had been designed by a recent architectural graduate, innovative but not too practical. There were few hooks to hang your clothing and/or your laundry. The service was otherwise very good and I sometimes wonder how they were able to have so much staff in the bars and restaurants downstairs, just standing around waiting for customers to drop by.

It didn’t look at first that there were any eating places around. The concierge of course helpfully suggested that the hotel has several good restaurants. I presume he was instructed by management to say that. But Liam, young and energetic, cased the area on foot and found some good places to eat for us after all.

The No. 1 Silk Factory.

Suzhou is a city with a long history of silk production and culture. Tourists are generally taken to this No.1 Silk Factory in Suzhou, founded in 1926 as a state-owned factory. The tour starts with a museum depicting the history of silk. it is then followed by a tour of the workplace, and then to their huge store-shopping display.
Silk from Suzhou has gained worldwide reputation from as early as the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279 AD). During the rule of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1573-1620), Suzhou was already surrounded by mulberry fields and was a prosperous silk producing area.
The silkworm creates its cocoon out of a single silk thread that is continuous for approximately 3,600 feet. The process to make skeins from the cocoons is especially important. The workers operate machines that spin the silk filaments into skeins. One cocoon is attached to each spindle. This is why the filament of each cocoon must be unbroken.

left: A boat transporting silkworm cocoons from the farm to the factory

right: Mechanically unrolling the silk thread from the cocoon. Usually 4 threads are recovered at the same time and twisted together to make a stronger silk thread.
And even though this is a Government enterprise, you can and are expected to haggle over the price of the items you are interested in. This time the company was pushing their silk quilts. They are light as feather, very warm, and can be folded in a small package for transport. They can also ship overseas.

c: Tiger Hill
A famous Song Dynasty poet, Su Shi said, 'It is a lifelong pity if having visited Suzhou you did not visit Tiger Hill.'

Taking these words to heart, Tiger Hill (虎丘) Hŭ qiū is now a popular tourist destination and is known for its natural beauty as well as its historical sites. The hill is so named because it is said to look like a crouching tiger. According to historical records, Fuchai, emperor of the Wu State during the Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 476 BC) buried his father Helu there. He was killed in 496 BC during the war against the Yue. Legend states that a white tiger appeared on the hill for three days to guard the tomb following the burial of the Wu King Helü. The location of the tomb is known but it has not been excavated because it is part of the foundation of the seven stories Tiger Hill pagoda.

The hill is 120 feet high. You can walk up the hill or take an elephant tourist train up.

left: This pagoda stands on the summit of the hill and is the pagoda of neighboring Yunyan Temple.
This is the oldest stone pagoda in Suzhou and is also called China’s Leaning Tower, as it leans about 6 degrees to the northwest. The seven-story octahedron was built during the Northern Song Dynasty (959-961 AD) in the style of the timber pagodas built during the earlier Tang dynasty. Its height is 48 meters.

right: King He Lu was a zealous collector of rare swords and it is said that he tested them upon this stone. The crevice thus made in the rock is the only evidence of the existence of these swords, as it is believed that they were buried beneath the Sword Pool as funerary objects.

Another mystery that surrounds the tomb is the whereabouts of the remains of the 1,000 workers who built the tomb and who were put to death upon completion of their task.

To read more about king Helu and his son, king Fuchai, click here, where you will learn about one of the 4 ancient beauties of China, of love and betrayal.

left: The altar in the back of the Yunyan temple shows a smiling Goddess of Mercy and her attendants.

d: The Suzhou Museum.

The Suzhou Museum (蘇州博物館) Sūzhōu Bówùguǎn, is a museum of ancient Chinese arts, paintings, calligraphy and handmade crafts. It was designed by the well-known architect I.M. Pei and inaugurated in 2006. He was born in this city. The emphasis of the collection is on the later dynasties, with works of masters of the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties.

The museum, melding classical Chinese architecture with modern design concepts, is serene in its outlook, with a large pool in the back. It has a display area of 2,200 square meters, which is not very large and is situated adjacent to the much larger Humble Administrator’s Garden. Since this museum is situated in Suzhou, the hub of the Wu kingdom (one of the three kingdoms in the Period of the Three Kingdoms, 220 - 280 AD) of ancient times, their basic exhibition covers many Wu treasures, such as Wu pagodas, paintings, and calligraphy.

You can get current information about the offerings of the museum from their website, available in Chinese or English, but it is very slow and takes a lot of bandwidth.

right: l to r.: Fish-roe green olive-shaped zun, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period (1663-1721); Kidney-bean red Tai Bai zun, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period (1663-1721); Snowflake blue pomegranate shaped zun with wavy spreading mouth. Qing Dynasty, Yongzhang period (1723-1736)

left: Ivory ornament with dragon design. Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795 AD)

e: Panmen Ancient City Gate

Pan or Panmen Gate (盤門; pánmén) is a historical landmark located on the south-west corner of the Main or encircling canal of the town, which is also part of the Grand Canal. Originally built during the Warring States period in the state of Wu, historians estimate it to be around 2,500 years old. It is now part of the Pan Gate Scenic Area.
There are three landmarks in the Pan Gate Area. These are (a) the Ruiguang Pagoda, which is situated at the entrance of the park, (b) the Wu Gate Bridge, and (c) the PanMen Gate itself.
The Panmen Gate is the only entrance of the ancient city wall built around 514 AD that surrounded and protected Suzhou. It is a combination land and water gate. There is a guillotine sluice on the water gate which is lowered from the stone platform of the gate above with a winch, so entrance can be closed and opened at any time. The city wall is 300 m long and 5 meters high.

The Ruiguang pagoda, the earliest pagoda in Suzhou and built in 247 AD.
This seven floor octagonal pagoda is 53.6 meters high, constructed of brick with wooden platforms. The Pagoda has simple Buddhist carvings at its base. It is said that the pagoda was built by Sun Quan, a famous king who established the Wu Kingdom in the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280) around 247 AD to show his respect to his mother.

In the ensuing years, the pagoda was badly damaged. In 1186 AD, the thirteenth year of the Chunxi reign of the Song Dynasty, a Zen master organized the citizens to renovate the pagoda. A white ox joined the work; he labored day and night, and died as soon as the project was completed.

left: This modern sculpture of the white ox has been financed by the Suzhou Municipality to praise the devotion of this ox. The sculpture is next to the pagoda

The Wu bridge below was at that time the entrance to this gate. The bridge crosses the moat, which is also part of the Grand Canal, an ingenious transport network for its thriving silk industry. In the ramparts there are hence two entrances next each other, the water entrance and the regular land entrance.

right: The Wu bridge as seen from the city ramparts.
The Wu bridge was, at that time, the tallest bridge in Suzhou

Below is the Panmen City Gate, claimed to be the best well-preserved water and land gate in the world.

left: This is the watergate built through the ramparts.

On the platform of the ramparts above the gate are two sets of winches to drop 2 parallel metal sluices sliding through grooves in the walls to close off the opening. The enemy caught between the two gates can then be finished off at leisure. To the right, on the other side of the wall, is the entrance for the land gate.

right: And this the inside of the land gate with its watchtower above. Here too, this area is walled with another exit gate. Enemy soldiers getting through the gate come out into another walled area where they can then be killed if needed.

The original Pan Gate was built in the 11th year of the reign of Zhizheng (1333-1370 AD) in the end of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).The thriving city of Suzhou was well worth her extensive defense system.

f: Evening Cruise on the Ancient Grand Canal.

These cruises start from the Ancient Canal Port on Panxu Road at dusk. Passengers are squeezed into motorized, covered barges holding about 100 passengers. Each cruise lasts about 80 minutes. There is a surprisingly large interest in these cruises, as buses come in continuously to unload huge groups of homegrown tourists. The earlier cruises, just after dusk, always seem to sell out. The fare is not inexpensive, but they do give discounts to senior citizens. And looking at the lighted landscape from inside a warm boat is also quite pleasing. The cruise goes all the way to Shantang Street before coming back.

left: This attractive young lady was the tour commentator, singer, pipa player, entertainer, saleslady of tourists items they had on board, etc. She was talking, singing, joking, or playing the pipa almost continuously for a full 60 minutes. Am I glad, I am not married to her.

From the response of the audience, she was giving an entertaining commentary, which we regretfully, barely understood, because it was all in Chinese. She did cover “funny” terms and pronunciations people in Suzhou use when speaking the language. No wonder we have trouble understanding most of what she said.

right: Many of the buildings and structures along the tour itinerary are lighted in various colors.

left: Here, close to Shantang Street, the cruise turns around

g: Shantang Street

Shantang Street, 山塘街, Shāntáng Jiē, an ancient riverside pedestrian road, more than 1100 years old, runs from the Changmen Gate (the west gate of the ancient city) in downtown, winds northwest on the northern bank of the Shantang River, and ends at scenic Tiger Hill. It is 2.2 miles (seven li) long, hence the other name used: ‘Seven-Li Shantang’.

In 825, Bai Juyi, a renowned Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) poet, became the governor of Suzhou, where he inaugurated the Shantang River canal project, which was linked to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. A road ran on the north bank. The Shantang block became a busy transport and commercial hub and was called. ‘the First Street in Suzhou’ . Most of the tourist activities are concentrated in Old Shantang Street, about 360 meters long, one block parallel to the canal. Here are many guild halls, attesting to the importance of bygone eras. The scenery and architecture are still in traditional style.

Shantang Street now is a gemutliches tourist area, with great traditional architecture, eating places, tea houses, tourist shops and stalls, an outdoor opera building, bric-a-brac stores, and just people milling around.

left: Changmen gate, the western entrance to the Shantang Street area.

right: With so many rickshaws waiting patiently behind each other, you know you have just entered a tourist area. The entrance to Old Shantang Street is to the left of the furthest rickshaw.

left: The canal runs a block parallel to the left of Old Shantang Street.

In the distance is the
dainty Tonggui Bridge

right: The Tonggui Bridge

There are eight side bridges on the riverbanks and seven bridges spanning the canal. The most famous is Tonggui Bridge, a single arch stone bridge. It is 21 yards (19 meters) long in its river crossing and 2.5 yards (2.3 meters) wide. Looking like a half moon, the aperture of the bridge and its shadow in the water form a perfect circle. The bridge is not unique, but it is the most photographed.

left: A store selling bric-a-brac, where Liam loaded up on some jade bowls. Adjacent to this store is a little food stall with a little pet bird in a cage.

right: It can be somewhat discouraging trying to keep the street clean.

left: In contrast there was this nattily dressed couple adorning the tourist landscape. She does show a lot of leg, so she may be a performer in the opera.

right: Old gnarled Chinese mushrooms in one of the stalls selling produce. I am sure they are medicinal, just from their fierce looks.

left. Before an open courtyard, these two singers were performing a Chinese opera for free.

right: And if you are still young at heart, you look into this nickelodeon for a small fee. The operator provides the voices of the actors and also supplies the background music by banging on the drum and cymbals in front of him. It looks like he has a great time.

h: Chinese Tea House.

The Chinese tea house is a place to go for some serious tea drinking and to watch and listen to special entertainment. It is not a place for a casual cup of cheap green tea. Here we shared two pots of a black and a green tea for RMB 180, the price is discounted because the proprietor realized we were just some lost, thirsty foreigners. And of course we had to disappoint the performers who had been waiting all day for a gig.

left: A tea house in Shantang Street. To the left in the back is the stage where you can engage performers to sing for you.

IV: Hangzhou

Mon, 16 Mar 2015 19:14:22 -0700

Hangzhou has always been a very livable city as described in the introduction to Suzhou. Except between early June and early September, when it is almost unbearably humid. It is a very green city, with some 60% covered with trees. The city was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty from 1127 until the Mongol invasion of 1276. The city's population is estimated to have been as high as one million in those days, making it the largest city in the world at the time. Even Marco Polo claimed to have passed through, calling it beyond dispute “the finest and the noblest in the world.”

a: West Lake

There are many bodies of water named West Lake in China, but the one in Hangzhou is the best, according to a Chinese saying. West Lake in Hangzhou has influenced poets and painters throughout for its natural beauty. It has also been among the most important sources of inspiration for Chinese garden designers. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011, described as having "influenced garden design in the rest of China as well as Japan and Korea over the centuries" and reflecting "an idealized fusion between humans and nature".

West Lake is located in the middle of the city so traffic is always very bad. Getting from one attraction to another takes a lot of time. This is exacerbated by the prohibition to dig an underground tunnel below the lake, so there are no subway stations nearby. If you need to be in the West Lake area, you have to take surface transportation around it.

It was foggy, when we arrived, which did not allow for many clear pictures, but it looks dreamy. There were lots of visitors, as it always is the case, since West Lake is one of the premier tourist attraction in the nation. It was also rather cold. We walked on the Su Causeway and boarded one of those decorated tourist barges and dutifully motored to the places of interest, but nobody seemed to be overly interested. I suppose there is something called information overload.

left: View of West Lake in the mist with the Leifeng pagoda on top of the hill on the lesser Hangzhou Island. The White Snake Lady was at one time said to be imprisoned here. In the left of the picture is the roof of the structure on a tourist barge.

right and below: Views of the West Lake taken from close to
Mr. Guo’s Village

.

b: The Legend of the White Snake.

The ancient legend of the White Snake, or the White Snake Lady has existed in oral tradition for some time before any known written compilation. It now is still told in many variations and is regularly presented in one form or another in Chinese operas, films, and TV series. I am covering this story here because it is intimately associated with the city of Hangzhou.

At one time there was a White Snake, who accidentally consumed some immortality pills, which made her immortal for 500 years. One day she saw a beggar with a green snake, which he was going to kill for its gall. The White Snake Lady bought the Green snake and saved its life. The Green Snake was grateful and now regarded the White Snake as her elder sister. The White Snake called herself Bai Suzhen and the green snake was called Xiaoqing.

One day, during the Qingming Festival, the two of them transformed themselves into two young women to enjoy West Lake. They were on the Broken Bridge (The Broken Bridge is not broken, but is a well-known small pedestrian bridge on the West Lake) where they met Xuxian, a young man working as an apprentice in a pharmacy. It had started to rain and Xuxian gallantly offered his umbrella to the ladies. As they began to know each other better, Bai Suzhen fell in love with Xuxian and she asked Xiaoqing to ask Xuxian whether he would want to marry her. He initially declined because his small salary as apprentice would not allow him to have a wife. But then Bai Suzhen assuaged his fears and they eventually married. They moved to Zhenjiang, where they opened a very successful medicine shop.

In the lake was also a terrapin (tortoise) spirit, who did not get the immortality pills and was therefore very jealous of the White Snake. By long practice in the Taoist magic arts, he too was finally able to transform himself into a man. He chose to be a Buddhist monk, called Fahai, and he vowed to break up the marriage. He approached Xuxian and told him that during the upcoming Duanwu Festival, his wife should drink realgar wine, a wine associated with that festival. Bai Suzhen knew the power of that wine, but because her husband insisted, she thought she could just drink one small cup without any problems. She drinks the wine and reveals her true form as a large white snake. Xu Xian dies of shock after seeing that his wife is not human. The two snake ladies travel to Mt Emei, one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China, where they braved danger to steal a magical herb that restored Xuxian to life.

After coming back to life, Xuxian still maintains his love for Bai Suzhen despite knowing her true identity. Fahai tries to separate them again by capturing Xuxian and imprisoning him in Jinshan Temple (金山寺), which is another pagoda on West Lake. Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing together fought Fahai to rescue Xuxian. Bai uses her powers to flood the temple, drowning many innocent people in the process. However, her powers are limited because she was already pregnant with Xuxian's child, so she failed to save her husband. But Xuxian later managed to escape from Jinshan Temple and was reunited with his wife in Hangzhou, where Bai Suzhen gives birth to their son, Xu Mengjiao. But Fahai manages to track them down, defeats Bai Suzhen in battle and imprisons her in Leifeng pagoda. That is the pagoda in West Lake described above.
Twenty years later, Xu Mengjiao earns the zhuangyuan (top scholar) degree in the imperial examinations and returns home in glory to visit his parents. His filial piety and his accomplishment as being the top scholar in the country moved the gods in Heaven to help him. Xiaoqing, who escaped when Bai Suzhen was captured by Fahai, now goes to Jinshan Temple to confront Fahai and, by dint of the powers of the gods, finally defeats him. Bai Suzhen is freed from Leifeng Pagoda and is reunited with her husband and son, while Fahai flees and hides inside the stomach of a crab. There is a saying that a crab's internal fat is orange because it resembles the color of Fahai's monk’s robes. Happy ending.

c: Impression Performance on West Lake

This is a open-air multimedia evening presentation on an arm of the West Lake as the natural stage, maybe 1000’ wide and 500’ deep. In this grandiose setting, platforms and walkways were built over sections of the lake with the top surfaces just an inch or so under the water level. Performers walking on these platforms create the illusion of walking on water. There is also a huge building mounted on a platform which can be motored around as part of the stage.

We had tickets for this show for Friday evening, but the weather forecast that morning was uncertain, so we changed our tickets to the show for the next day. We still had good seats and the show, which lasted for about an hour, was very impressive. It was just as well it didn’t last any longer, because we were getting chilled to the bone, even though we were warmly dressed. It was a memorable performance. The seats are all in the open air, even the most expensive seats on the second floor in a floating pavilion.

The show is designed for a mixed audience, so the Chinese spoken was minimal, and only at the beginning. During the show, there was music and the story can be followed just from the program and what is displayed.

right: The platforms were raised to be above water during day rehearsals. In the background is a bridge on the Su Causeway

.

left: In the evenings the performers appear to walk on the water surface as they wave their large white sails and splashing water all around. I estimate the number of performers seen here to be more than 120.

right: A metal arm, maybe 20 meters long appeared out of the water attached to two long tubular poles, both illuminated in different colors and both misting water through holes in the tubing. You can see the two principals in this love story walking on this narrow strip of land.

left: This huge barge with a two-story building moves into the foreground when the story calls for it.

c: Lingyin Temple

Lingyin Temple 靈隐寺, Língyǐn Sì is a Buddhist temple of the Chan sect located north-west of Hangzhou. The name is commonly translated as “The Temple of the Soul's Retreat.” It is one of the largest and wealthiest Buddhist Temples in China. Close to this temple is the Zhejiang Buddhist College, the top school for aspiring Buddhist monks.

The monastery was founded in 328 AD during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 - 340 AD) by the monk Hui Li, who came from India. At its peak under the kingdoms of Wu and Yue (907-978), the temple boasted nine multi-storied buildings, 18 pavilions, 72 halls and more than 1300 dormitory rooms. The complex housed more than 3000 monks. Many of the rich Buddhist carvings in the Feilai Feng grottos and surrounding mountains also date from this era.

Feilai Feng, also called the “flying peaks” are located in front; still some way from the temple. It is made of limestone, and it looks different from the surrounding mountains. Legend has it that these peak originally came from India. A large number of carvings dot the surface of the peak, many of which have been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

More would have been destroyed by the Red Guards, mostly very impressionable high school kids egged on by the infamous gang of Four. But a group of university students felt that this ancient heritage should be held for posterity and came there to guard the temple complex. There was a lot of shouting between the two parties, but neither wanted to budge. The wife of Chairman Mao ordered the Red Guards to decide, but luckily Chairman Mao himself intervened.

right: These damaged carvings show the monk Tripitaka on his Journey to the West to pick the Buddhist scriptures. He was seated on the horse in the middle. In front of him was his faithful companion, the Monkey King.

left: The Laughing Buddha, in the picture, is one of the most famous carved statues in the area. Rubbing the belly of this Buddha will make your financial wishes come true.

right: And this is Lingyin Temple proper.

In this courtyard you can burn your incense sticks and pray to the Gods or to the Buddha.

In the main hall of this temple is one of the largest sitting statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha. It is 24 meter high, made from concrete and wood, and then painted with gold paint. The hall itself is 33 meters high.

left: Entrance gate to the Zhejiang Buddhist College, the top school for aspiring Buddhist monks.

The school is located about half a mile from the Temple. The curriculum at this top college requires 12 years of assiduous study. To attain a high ranking in the Buddhist hierarchy, it is almost a necessity to be a graduate of this school.

d: Qinghefang Ancient Street.

This street is very close to West Lake, It has flourished since ancient times. During the Southern Song Dynasty (1127 - 1279), Qinghefang had already a lot of shops, restaurants and teahouses. It was the center of politics, culture and commerce in the city. Most of the buildings here are now of more recent origin and are from the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Ching (1644 - 1911) dynasties, with a preponderance of late-Ching dynasty structures. Many of the stores here are more than a century old.

One of the interesting buildings is that of the Baohetang Pharmacy. It is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine shop but it has a history going back one thousand years. It is in this pharmacy that Xuxian (see b: “Legend of the White Snake” above) was an apprentice, when he met the White Snake Lady and fell in love with her. There is even a statue of Xuxian in front of the pharmacy.

It is currently a “pedestrian only” shopping street where visitors come to do some shopping or to just to look around. This venue has a large parking lot, and also nice clean toilets; both very useful attributes for a tourist area.

left: Qinghefang Ancient Street at dusk.

right: Another view of the street. It is a slightly more upscale shopping experience.

left: And on one corner is this group sculpture of people doing their daily tasks.

e: Bamboo-lined path at Yunqi.

“Yunqi” means “lingering clouds”, because it is said that some colored clouds floated over from Color Clouds Hill and then lingered there. It is a beautiful and serene bamboo forest, peaceful, and away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The green color of the bamboo gives it a different feeling.

right: The bamboo forest lining the walking path.

Due to time constraints we did not go much further into the forest, so we missed the wooden bridge walkway, the little stone bridge, the “Mind Purifying Pond” and the Yunqi Teahouse in the middle of the bamboo forest. We’ll have to go there one more time in the future.

f: Dragon Well Tea (Longjing Tea)

Longjing tea, 龍井茶; lóngjǐng chá, also called by its literally translated name Dragon Well tea, is a variety of pan-roasted green tea from the area of Longjing village near Hangzhou.

The tea can be very expensive, and the price depends on the varieties, of which there are many. Longjing is divided into six grades: Superior and then 1 down to 5. For best infusion results, use water at 75-80 ℃.

To get a good indicator of quality, one should look at the infused leaves. High quality Longjing teas produce tender, whole leaves that are uniform in appearance. Lower quality varieties may vary in color from bluish to deep green after steeping. Before infusion, higher quality Longjing teas have a very tight, flat shape and a light green color.

Experienced drinkers may be able to tell if Longjing is authentic by taste and smell. The aroma and flavors of the fake Longjing teas are not as complex, or long-lasting as the authentic tea. This is important because of the high prices that Longjing teas command; most of the “Longjing teas” on the market are actually produced elsewhere, such as Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Guangdong.

Drinking tea is an art here, and the prices they charge sound exorbitantly expensive. I suppose the uninitiated Chinese tourist would say the same thing in France when choosing the wines to drink. If you live in Longjing, Dragon Well tea is the best Chinese green tea in the universe. When Queen Elizabeth visited China in 1986, the brilliant PR person in this area arranged to offer a package of this tea to her, thereby establishing for all posterity the superiority of the product.

left: Longjing tea leaves are roasted early in processing (after picking) to stop the natural oxidation process. During this “firing” process, the leaves are brushed around on a heated pan with the bare hand to ensure the correct temperature.

The actions of the enzymes are stopped by this "firing" (heating in pans) process or by steaming the leaves before they completely dry out. As is the case with other green teas (and white teas), Longjing tea leaves experience minimal oxidation.

right: Tea plantation in the Longjing hills

When steeped, the tea produces a yellow-green color. The tea contains healthy stuff like vitamin C and amino acids and, like most of the finer Chinese green teas, has one of the highest concentrations of catechins among teas.

left: Many tourist buses come here for a day tour of the Dragon Well tea villages, leading to clogged roads and long times on the road. This picture was taken from the top of the restaurant, where we stopped for lunch.

right: Women picking tea. They only pluck the top leaves from the tea bushes and put them in the basket they carry with them.

We stopped at a “Government” tea information center where they give a presentation on the many benefits of this tea. The tea will remove toxins, excess iodine, fats and fatty products from your system, prevent cancer, and make you slender, beautiful, attractive, and virile, especially if you buy the higher priced teas in their collection. I bought a pound of their Grade 1 tea for 300 RMB/lb, which is US$50. When I drank some of this tea at home, it was a wonderful tasting beverage. But then, I am not really a tea connoisseur. Then I noticed a few twigs between the infused leaves. For a top product this should not be.

Looking at my notes of our last visit, I now remember that we were here before. It was in 1995, together with Khoon and Hiang; Wie Siong and Mimi were also there. I also remember that both Khoon and Wie Siong each bought a pound of their most expensive tea, both of them asking for confirmation that they were getting the best.

Maybe a year later we were visiting Tai Tian (Tai Tian is Khoon’s second son, who is a cardiologist from Stanford) and Khoon proudly took the tea he had taken along. Ying Ying, Tai Tian’s wife, made the tea, looked at it and said: “Dad, you have been cheated”. She just happened to be an expert in Chinese tea because of her professional background. The highest quality tea should consist only of one leaf+two buds, or two leafs and one bud and harvested before April 5, the first spring crop. An experienced tea collector can only harvest about 1/2 kg of this high-quality tea per day and 4 kgs of tea leaves are required to make one kg of the finished product. There should obviously be no twigs in the blend.

Yes, we were cheated again. We’ll never learn. But, then, the tea offered to QE would probably cost ten times as much, if not more. And for the price we paid for our tea, it was a reasonably good deal. Just don’t claim it is the best green tea to a tea connoisseur.

g: The Courtyard Hangzhou Wulin

The Courtyard Hangzhou Wulin, located on 28 Hushu Road in the Gongshu District, is nicely situated in the middle of town. Our rooms were located in the right wing of a large, U-shaped building. The other side is the more upscale and more lavishly apportioned Marriott Hotel. Even though it was simpler, it was more than adequate and the rooms were nice. The room Wi-Fi worked well. And the staff was unfailingly courteous and helpful.

Interestingly, the bathroom, shower, and bedroom were placed next to each other with glass walls in between. If you are not a romantic, you can pull down a courtesy screen between the bedroom and the other two rooms. Our room faced the other leg of the U, so it is possible to look into the rooms there and vv. So it is also possible for somebody in the Marriott across to see right into our bathroom if our curtains are not drawn.

There is a main shopping street as well as a large indoor market about a 10-15 minute walk away. There is also a good choice of restaurants around. A good and interesting restaurant is Faigo hotpot, where everybody gets to have his/her own small hotpot with your own choice of sauce. We had an excellent meal for US$55 for the six of us.

left: Hot Pot meal at the Faigo Hotpot

But only one of the waiters spoke some English. The place is in a shopping mall about a 10 minutes walk away, and the best way is to ask the concierge where it is. If he doesn’t know, ask him to call 0571-8729-1130.

And just two minutes outside the hotel is a hole-in-the-wall, where you can get a full meal for US$3 to 4 and which the local Health Department has rated as barely passing the prevalent sanitary standards. Some of us ate there one evening and were still alive and well the next day.

V: Beijing

Sun, 15 Mar 2015 16:15:58 -0700

a: High-speed train Shanghai - Beijing

The China high-speed railway system connects all major cities in China by train. It is over 10,000 km long, making it the largest high-speed train network in the world. The three main hubs for high-speed train travel in China are Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou with more HSR lines constantly under development. These trains are very modern; construction started in 2008 and the system started service in June 2011. China’s high-speed trains are designed to run at speeds of 380 km/hr. but actual maximum speed is 300 km/h to reduce operating cost.

And so we decided to take the bullet train from Shanghai to Beijing and chose the VIP Business class. We could have taken the train from Hangzhou to Beijing, but we had originally already a car with driver to transport us from the Courtyard Marriott Hangzhou to Shanghai Hongqiao station.

left: This is the huge overwhelming Hongqiao railway station you come into.

As we were wandering aimlessly trying to figure out where to go and what to do, a young woman with a luggage cart accosted us and told us she would take care of us. We had some 12 pieces of luggage for which she charged RMB 200, maybe because we had the expensive VIP Business Class tickets. For this we had to go to a central cashier and we had a receipt. This is to make things official.

She then took us to the special VIP enclosure, with lots of easy fauteuils and sofas, and where water, soft drinks, tea and snacks were free. At exactly 20 minutes before departure, the luggage woman came back and guided us to the train. As VIPs we had priority boarding and she actually loaded all our luggage in the correct compartments. Life as a VIP has its advantages. You easily get used to it.

right: Train G134 to Beijing. This was actually a “slow” fast train, because she stopped at more stations, while others speeded past us.

There are three classes of service; 2nd class, with three and two seating across; 1st class, with two and two seating, and VIP Business Class, with two and one seating. You have to carry your own luggage in the train, and in the 2nd and 1st class seats there is only space in the overhead bins for luggage. There is probably an area in the back of the train where you can deposit larger suitcases. The Business Class section is more spacious, but then the fare is 3 times that of the 2nd class fare. In this class there were only 5 seats per wagon compartment in the train we were in, each of which can recline completely horizontally. These 5 seats take as much space as around 20 seats in 2nd class, so there is a lot of space for several suitcases per passenger.

left: In the VIP Business Class of the bullet train.

In this class of travel you can get complimentary water, tea, or juice served, They also give snacks.

In addition, they will serve you a simple boxed meal for dinner, extra blankets, and slippers, (and maybe other stuff we don’t know about), but sometimes you have to ask for this service from the very bored-looking train attendants to get what you want.

In Beijing we had arranged with the Hulu Hotel to send us a van to pick the 6 of us up for RMB 500. Rather pricey, but convenient enough. Except that the driver parked in the confusing garage and only spoke Chinese. I gave my phone to the porter and by some magic he managed to get us together.

b: The Hulu Hotel.

We decided to get a small hotel in one of the hutongs, in the older parts of Beijing, with still narrow streets and old buildings, and where you can get closer to the population than when staying at a large Western-style hotel. The Hulu Hotel was actually a very nice place in a good area; definitely not like a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Just 100 meters away is the outlet of the Hutong street at a major traffic artery, but the hotel itself is like a serene and tranquil island in a busy sea, seemingly effectively shielded from the hustle and bustle of the city.

We were looking forward to our stay because the hotel was very well rated by both TripAdvisor and by Booking.com. But when we entered our room, we were very disappointed. Room South-3, at 3.8 meters by 3.0 meters, (bathroom was 3.8 by 1.4 meters) was probably adequate as a single room, but there were two of us and we would be staying there for 7 consecutive nights. Just to get the second suitcase away, we had to move the cupboard and stash the suitcase in the small space next to the bed, which made it very inconvenient just to get into bed. But after some prodding, after three nights in these cramped quarters, we were moved to another standard room; Room West-2 was quite adequate and comfortable for a double room. The hotel has 5 standard rooms and 4 larger rooms. We had been assigned the smallest of the standard rooms earlier, even though we had already booked 5 months earlier.

On the roof of the main building is a nice shady terrace, where you can relax on comfortable chairs and benches and have a drink from their bar. Breakfast was also very good, where you can choose from a selection of Chinese and Western dishes, although at one time I had to wait an hour because of a mixup by the serving staff.

The standard width of a street in the hutong is 7 paces, according to the ancient rules, and with the residents taking one side of the street for parking; there is not much space left. Taxis will sometimes refuse to drive into the hutong, so you do have to walk a bit. But the staff of the hotel will gladly come and help you with your luggage.

The hotel also offers a pickup with a small bus from the train station, which we decided to take, since there were six of us. On hindsight that may have not been a good idea, because the driver only spoke Chinese and he had parked his bus in the public station garage. He kept calling me on my cell phone, getting increasingly agitated since I was unable to explain to him where we were and I was unable to understand where he was. We found a porter for a luggage and he managed to get us together. Next time maybe it is better to take a taxi.

right: An entrance to an upscale residence in the hutongs.

The threshold is fairly high; the height of the threshold is an indication of the importance of the homeowner. The two round wheels on either side of the entrance are symbols of drums, indicating that the person is from the military. To the left behind each red plumed lantern you can (barely) see two round rods sticking out of the top frame of the door. This signifies that the man is of pretty high ranking. Five rods are reserved for the emperor.

left: This eating place serves an excellent Beijing duck for little money. Their official address is 159 hutoncai, Lishi Hutong.

When we reserved the Hulu hotel, we made sure to find eating place close by. No problem. At last count, there are some 40,000 eating places in Beijing. The hotel was about 50 yards into the hutong from the main road and in between were already two small restaurants. You can always find eating places in China; in some neighborhoods more than others.

And two short streets away, in Lishi Hutong, there many more small restaurants, including this one, which served a marvelous, complete Beijing Duck dinner for 168 RMB (about $27) including all the trimmings and plenty for 3 persons.

right: Beijing duck dinner. The round balls are fresh, crunchy baked rolls. On the right, partly hidden, a plate of thin pancakes. Crispy duck skin is scattered around the duck’s body.

c: The Lama Temple

The Yonghe Temple, 雍和宮, Yōng hé gōng, is also known as the Palace of Peace and Harmony. It is also known as the "Yonghe Lamasery", or simply as the "Lama Temple". Formerly the imperial palace of Prince Yong of the Qing dynasty, the buildings have been converted into a Tibetan monastery.

left: Entrance gate to the Temple.

The building and the artwork of the temple is a combination of Han Chinese and Tibetan styles.

The layout is similar to other Tibetan temples. There are five halls separated by courtyards. In the halls are statues of Buddha.

In the first building of the complex, the “Hall of the Heavenly Kings” there is a huge white sandalwood statue of the Maitreya Buddha, 18 meters above ground level and another 8 meters below ground level.

The “Hall of Harmony and Peace” is the main building of the temple. It houses the three bronze statues of the Buddha in the lifespan of the Universe. The Buddha of the Present, Gautama Buddha, is in the center. This statue is flanked on the right by the Buddha of the Past, Kasyapa Matanga; the Buddha of the Future, Maitreya Buddha is on the left. Along the sides of the hall are the statues of 18 Arhats, perfect people who have attained Nirvana. A mural in the hall shows the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.

right: The style of the buildings is opulent.

The whole setup of the temple is a paean to the brotherhood of the Chinese, the Tibetans and the Mongols. I don’t know whether the Tibetans and the Mongols would agree.

left: Signs everywhere are shown in four scripts, from left to right: Manchu script, Tibetan script, Chinese script, and Mongolian script.

d: Nanluoguxiang

This a well-preserved street in an ancient part of Beijing, with traditional Chinese architecture, but now a very popular pedestrian street lined with old houses most of them converted into small shops selling tourist stuff like T-shirts, take-out food and snacks, bars, restaurants, and anything which would entice the passing tourist to part with some money. This area is ranked no. 2 on TripAdvisor among 284 attractions in Beijing and is said to be good retail therapy, if you need one.

right: Yes, there are a lot of people walking this street. (It was the long holiday weekend)

What is surprising is that almost all the people walking the street were Chinese, young, happy, and well-off.

We did have lunch in a restaurant on that street which, as befitting an eating place in a touristy area, had a long waiting line, indifferent service, barely edible food, and high prices. Well, tourists usually don’t come back to eat in the same restaurant anyway. Neither will we.

e: Beihai Park

Beihai Park was an imperial garden and now a public park located to the northwest of the Forbidden City. First built in the 11th century, the place has been open to the public as a park since 1925. It has an area of more than 69 hectares (171 acres), with a lake that covers more than half of the entire park. At the center of the park is an island called Jade Flower Island (琼华岛, Qiónghuádǎo),

right: We rented a battery-powered motor boat to putter around on the lake. It was 80 RMB/hr, but we quit after 40 minutes because it was getting too cold from the chilly wind that swept across the water.

left: The Jade Flower Island with the white Dagoba on top. The round boat in the foreground moves by pedal power supplied by cooperation of human legs.

right: There is a variety of vessels for hire. This one comes with the row-master.

top: This is a portion of the 9-dragon screen in Beihai Park. The other two in China are in the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City. Note that the dragons have 5 claws, signifying they are imperial dragons. Otherwise, they would only be shown with 4 claws .

above: And this is the nine-dragon screen wall with all 9 dragons. Dragons take a lot of space.