China part 8

Next, we visited Xitang, an ancient village in the Zhejiang Province. The town is crossed by nine rivers and is inhabited by families who have lived there their entire lives.

We all paid to get in, and then later on realized that there’s a back way entry where we wouldn’t have had to pay. The money made from tourists’ entry fees is split among all the families in the village. That alone is nearly enough for them to live year round. Their other money comes from either running a small business in front of their home, or even running a hostel service in their home. This would be great for a person or two who are traveling and want a taste of the culture. It is so impossibly cheap to live in these hostels. Just 15 yuan per night ($2) and that includes bedding, internet, tv, and showers. For an extra 8 yuan, you get a fully home cooked meal (8 dishes, 1 soup). The great thing about staying here is that at night, when the tourists are all gone, is when the town is the most beautiful. People go out in their boats, drink, play cards, chat, and even row up to see a live performance.


Some lotus plants were growing in this corner. This side was blocked off from the rest of the rivers.

Water used to be the main channel for trade, transportation – pretty much everything.



There are little steps everywhere that lead down to the water for washing clothes and other potential uses for the resource.


Here you can see an older lady washing clothes.


Besides clothes, towels, and blankets, salted meat is also hung up to wind-dry. It’s one of the “specialty” foods of the area. You can pretty much get a small plate of it at any eatery here as an appetizer. I personally wouldn’t order it, but it’s not bad.






Delicious lotus leaf wraps a la dim sum

More dried meat… there’s fish, duck, chicken, pork, goose, etc

A fairly young girl running this shop selling little small miscellaneous botique items

I love how weathered these houses look

More fresh wraps still steaming hot

Restaurant on a boat



Making some flour candy things

Rubberband guns

A bar…

Stinky tofu is everywhere here! Personally not a fan…

Me showing off my lotus leaf wrap. It’s not made with rice like the kind you get at dim sum. These were made from corn flour. (mom eating stinky tofu in the background)

The restaurant that we ended up eating at. Looked like one of the nicer places on the outside. Turned out to be my worst meal in China by far. In a poor setting like this, it’s best to eat fresh street food made for passerbys than go to a restaurant with slow business who might have food sitting around longer.



Sea sponge thingamajigs too


View from our dining room




Psycho Tom Cruise ate here too

These flower cake things were delicious. Kind of tastes like soap and smells like faint perfume, but tastes delicious!

White cut chicken and river snails. Snail is one of those things that I refuse to try no matter who tries to convince me otherwise.

A coulple then came in to offer to sing to us and play music while we ate. We obliged for $20.




A lot of motorcycles have built in gloves to fend off the cold. Many of the personal bikes here have small electric motors.

Cooking something with tree to provide a unique taste/smell.

Fish hung up for wind drying

Woodcutter


We then left for Hangzhou. It was quite a drive and it rained the entire way there.

This shitty hotel had glass doors for the bathroom, what a terrible design!

At night, we ate with my mom’s old pal. This meal was amazing. Hard to recall what we had now, but it was indeed amazing.




That’s it for now… too tired to continue!

China part 7

Part 7 comes directly after viewing the property from the last post. I decided to split it up because that one was pretty picture intensive (well, all of them are actually), but also because too many pictures takes too long to load.

Suzhou is famous and known globally for their silk production. Shops line the city selling anything from blankets to scarves. You have to be careful though, because a lot of the shit is fake, even if it’s just as good. For example, you could find a “silk scarf” that is 0% silk but looks and feels 100% identical to the real thing. A lot of these are sold as real but only a local or someone in the know (I’m in the know now, details laters) could tell the difference. The other thing is price. A square scarf is listed at 35 yuan but a local can get it for as cheap as 10 yuan. You just gotta know your shit and not be afraid to lowball.

Engrish…

Of course, me being me; I saw a great business opportunity here. I won’t reveal too much publicly, but I think silk scarves and lingerie could sell well here. Definitely something that I am looking into pursuing.

So I took some pictures…




This car looks funny -_-

We then visited a gallery designed by famous architect I.M Pei. Of course with my parents being in the art field, some of the places we visit are geared more towards them, especially with their sculptor-friend guiding us.





This is a pillow. Hard pillows were used during the hot summer days. Not sure who’s head is tough enough to endure that though. Not mine, for sure.

This is a pretty gnarly looking elephant tusk. The art itself is simply stunning but something about it creeps me out.

Fan art… hehe

This is what emperors wore.




Overall, the gallery was okay. I’m not a big fan of art galleries at all, having tagged along to way too many as a child.

After a short drive, I found myself at yet another old Song dynasty “house”. Didn’t snap too many pictures at this one. The most amazing thing to me is how old the stuff is, and how accessible it is. In America, if anything is more than 100 years old, it’s velvet-roped off and considered an antique.



A short walk later, we visited our last one…

Walking through stuff like this never gets boring

Place selling silk blankets

More engrish

…and the place with my horribly underexposed images


These rocks are so odd, some of them look like people


A fake boat

Didn’t snap too many pics there either…

We decided to grab some lunch


We went to a noodle place that was alright. Something light and quick since we had been eating crazy gluttonous meals non-stop. I had noodles with lamb.

We visited the famous Tiger Hill. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Hill,_Suzhou)

Although I was pretty tired and reluctant to take too many pictures, this is one of the prettiest places on Earth that I have been to. It’s natural beauty and varied “settings” are simply breathtaking. The air seems so fresh, and with rain beating down that day, everything else just seemed so irrelevant.





We were offered rides too














Thousand people rock?




Double well


This thing leans nearly as much as the leaning tower of Pisa (which came afterwards).

There was instant longing for a wider lens.







Mother nature tried really hard when she built this place.



This place had a teahouse too. Surprise! We decided to take a break here. Dry up a bit, enjoy some really special green tea. I personally preferred this tea to the $1500/lb tea we had the day before. This green tea is grown on Tiger Hill.


With some dried fruits…

Filling up water

Walked back to the car…

Spotted a riced out Mazda6 too…

We had a nice dinner that night and went to bed early. We were going to Hangzhou early the next day…

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China part 6

Finally got around to part 6… been so incredibly busy the past few days that I’m now 5 days behind!

Really wish I had a 5D MKII and a better lens to capture all this stuff, especially the night shots where ISO3200 + f/3.5 = FAIL!

I believe I am now writing about Tuesday, February 2nd where we are still in Suzhou in the canals running through Lake Tai. You can see how old the buildings look in this town.


We bought tickets to visit the old “house” of a high-up government official from the Song dynasty. The Zhejiang province was the capital during this time period. Places like this are over a millennium old and are architectural masterpieces.

Every little detail in the garden is strategically thought out and brilliantly placed to create something that is like a private park.











The place is LARGE and there are rooms for everything like this “listening to the sound of rain pavilion”
Personally, I’m a fan of rain and I think a room like this would be great for working or relaxation. Too bad a room like this in LA couldn’t exist. This part of China is very tropical and wet so rain is very consistent throughout the year.

The interesting floor designs are as such that you can walk barefoot and get a massage at the same time.














Conference room…

This place has been used for to shoot many movies… there were also artists there drawing with a crowd gathered around admiring their work.

Me…



Old school locks
















China part 5

We headed from that “home” to Dongshan (literal translation: east mountain?) to visit a thousand year old temple. We bought and lit some incense and then headed over to have some $1500/lb green tea.

On the way there…









The prayer area. Taking pictures of the bhudda is strictly forbidden (even in museums) in respect. I’m not religious or anything so I had no personal moral issues capturing it’s light.





Lighting incense and candles :)



*Just about describes how I feel about the whole thing, but it’s still kinda cool, heh

We then decided to have some of the world’s best green tea.

Mom sitting in a chair that’s been sat in by many famous people.

There’s a lot of intricate details about this tea. You need to put the water in first and then the tea leaves, which drop immediately to the bottom. They are grown on the mountain itself, hand picked (only the top 2 leaves) and hand rolled. The water never boiling hot, it’s spring water from the the same mountain and kept at a temperature of 70-80C.

We also had a plate of Gingko nuts. These things taste pretty weird, very expensive too. Dunno what’s so special about them.

Also had dried mountain plums which were salted.


We then headed out to the modernized and newly developed area of Suzhou. It’s like an Irvine Spectrum except nobody’s there yet. Quite amazing how only 15 miles or so separate the rural farms and basically the city center. Completely opposites as far as scenery goes, but equally as beautiful. My only regret is not bringing a better lens…

On the way there…








Water surrounded both sides of the empty road. It was a really scenic drive.







The place is so deserted! They’ve basically prepared for the future when more people start to come over.

Some shops are still under construction while others are open for business, though there is hardly any foot traffic during this part of the year.


Nevertheless, it is still very pretty here.









We decided to head to another part of the city where people actually went to! At night, the place comes to life with lights everywhere.





This is where we ate for dinner, again, excellent seats!

The food was delicious too. Here’s one of their specialties… corn juice. You can see the 5 appetizers, we probably had about 15-20 dishes in total.



There was a part boat out on the lake.

This is all INSIDE the restaurant.

Here, you can see how they make the corn juice… just cut the kernels off, add syrup and water, and blend!

After this, my dad’s friend’s son took us out to see another part of the cities – the older portion right on the canals.

It was SO beautiful here, with the canal’s reflection of all the lights providing a mystical feel. A very relaxed atmosphere… perfect for doing your “after-dinner walk”


You can see how their doorsteps lead right down to the lake. Years ago, before this place modernized a bit, the lake was a huge resource. It was used for travel, trade, used to wash their clothes, and provide water to drink.








Here’s a little boat coming down the canal. Aside from the private tours, the people of the area like to go inside their boats at night and watch tv, play card games, drink, etc.


On the other side of the houses are shops.

We went late at night so some shops were closing down. If you notice, they have doors, but also board up the outside because that’s what they used to do. It ensures that the “town” doesn’t lose their traditional look and feel.




A shop selling pearls…



After that, we went for some tea and snacks. They really do love their tea here…

Of course it was next to the water…



Occasionally, a boat would go by. I thought this area had a wonderful ambiance. We need something like this in LA!

Afterwards, we headed home. It was a great day.

We’re caught up to Monday night now. Have all of today (Tuesday) to upload and write about. :)

Out.

China part 4

After lunch, we decided to explore more of the city.


The fog was so heavy that we couldn’t even see the tops of the buildings.














After this, we decided to take the new Shanghai subway (modeled after the Japanese system) to the outlet malls. It was a really long street/strip that was so crowded, I can’t even think about it because it drives me crazy.







This jade was SUPER expensive!

There are ads for the Shanghai expo all over the place


My mom and her friend are short… check out that old lady on the right!



“Hey guys, I drive an SZS6503B7″

It was time to head back to the hotel…

We discovered this muslim run place near our hotel. They were serving some bread stuff and BBQ lamb kabobs.

These guys were freaks… in a bad way, treating customers as if they were owed something.

Still… it was extremely delicious

My dad’s birthday is on the 4th so he got some cake.

The view from our open elevator

We were going to visit my grandpa’s brother. He’s 90! I remember he visited us in LA about 10 years ago. He traveled something like 1800+ days in 10 years and was in extremely high spirits with lots of energy. I guess in the past few years, his legs have weakened, he requires self shots for diabetes, and his hearing ability has also drastically declined. Kind of sad that the body fails before the brain, but such is life.

Here we’re all chatting in their bedroom. They can’t go far from the house for fear of something going wrong, so they’re in the bedroom most of the day.


At the restaurant…

He had forgotten his shot, so he rushed back home to quickly administer it. (The restaurant was within walking distance)

The food came on… and we began eating when he came back


some DELICIOUS fish!

“shrimp on the rocks”

Overall the dinner was very appetizing. After dinner, it was raining so we walked them back, said good-bye, and taxied back to the hotel.

The next morning (Monday), we checked out early and took a bullet train to Suzhou. Had some more of those pork bun things for breakfast before we left. :)

Some shots at the train station…



Our second class seats were pretty nice, wish we could get these on the long ass airplane rides haha.


The train went over 200 km/h at some points… not as fast as I was expecting.


Finally we got to Suzhou and took a taxi to the hotel.


We checked out the hotel quickly before my dad’s friend picked met us and picked us up.

These rooms were nicer than the Shanghai ones and they were only about $30 USD per room per night. In Vegas, each room would’ve cost nearly $200. My dad and I get a room and my sister and mom get one.


We headed out in my dad’s friend’s car to explore Suzhou. He’s a really great host, really personable, great stories, etc. We first went to the countryside (rural areas in china are called nong-chun). These are mainly all poor farming families… but this is the BEAUTIFUL side of china.

Many of them open the doors of their own homes and welcome in travelers for super cheap… under 20 yuan per night (less than $3 USD) and that includes hotel-like accommodations, fully cooked 8 dish, 1 soup meal, and more.







Here’s the “restaurant” that we decided to eat at. It’s actually just run by a family so they essentially serve home-cooked meals except we get to order from a menu. It was a decently sized place but we were the only group there eating. This time of the year, and this economy means things are pretty slow.

The place was right next to the Taihu Lake (one of the largest lakes in china http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Taihu)

See those tangerines in the basket? We bought 4 full bags of those and it was 20 yuan (just under $3), very delicious too!

We got the best seat in the house! Literally eating right next to the lake!







We had one helluva meal for $30. Some of the best cooked fish I’ve ever had. The fish only exists in that lake and cannot be raised by man. It is illegal to fish during the summer months since that is growing season. Perfect timing for us!

Time to leave the area and head over to the next.

We went to visit an architect’s wet dream; housing that belonged to the uber rich of many years ago. (It’s now a private exhibit). This place was only a couple miles away from where we ate. Amazing that from the rural countryside to the super modern part of Suzhou is only separated by about 15 miles. (More on that later)



The stuff we saw here is traditional Suzhou architecture. This part is also preserved by the Gov’t. For good reason too, there is SO MUCH FLAVOR and it just oozes of style!



One of the trademarks are black walls…

Check out the floor design





The bedroom…

The smaller white flower petals have white porcelain (from broken bowls and dishes)… creative way to utilize waste

Oddly shaped ROCK

Imagine if you could have a courtyard styled like this!




Roof tiles


Chess room

The secret treasure floor

(stairway to get up there)


The secret hiding room

Kitchen
well…

Chopping board

Mom re-enacting

After that, we continued onto… (next post)