The Weekend in Suzhou and Nanjing

I finally have a chance to take a few minutes and update you all on my travels. Over this past weekend we had the opportunity to travel to the Ancient city of Suzhou, and the former Chinese capital - Nanjing. It was a busy weekend filled with a lot, but it was an awesome experience. We were able to visit most of the "big" places to visit in both cities. We also ended up spending a lot of time on the bus. Four hours to Suzhou, two hours from Suzhou to Nanjing, and then another four hours from Nanjing back to Hangzhou. A lot of bus time, but it was well worth it.

The first place that we stopped in Suzhou was the Hangshang Buddhist Temple. (The posted picture is the central building in the complex, and the statue is just inside the ground level of the pictured building). The temple, and the whole complex was beautiful, and gave a taste of old Chinese architecture and society. We also had the chance to visit "The Humble Administrators Garden", and then go on a boat ride through the city via the canal.

When we all ate dinner together I succumbed to the challenge of being the one to eat the chicken's feet out of the chicken's feet soup. I had done so once before when I was in Australia, so it wasn't too difficult to try it again. I didn't think it was too bad when I was in Australia, and I rather liked the one I had here - I think it's the "look" that scares people away. I thought I'd include a little video for you all of the event :)!

After dinner we spent the evening at the night market in Suzhou - exploring the shops, and playing a few Chinese arcade games! I am with a great group of fellow students in this program, and it's almost ridiculous how much a lot of us have in common with each other, hence several of us ended up spending a lot of time in the bookstore, we couldn't resist the easy access to all of the Chinese classics. That statement shows my nerdy side coming out, but it was still a definite highlight of the trip!

The next day we got up early and headed to Nanjing to see the sights there. We went to a couple different tombs of past emperors that were in an absolutely amazing nature preserve. The trees, grass, and all of the foliage in China is incredible. It might for quite the scenic experience as you can get a perspective of from the picture.

From there we headed to the Art and history museum in Nanjing which houses dozens of amazing artifacts. They have a jade exhibit without Jade jewelry from several thousand years ago to the present, several calligraphy scrolls, traditional silk robes, incredible carvings, and even a China display - which I guess here in China would simply be called a "dish" display! I decided to include a picture of one of the carvings as well, because it was absolutely fascinating. It was hand carved around 500 A.D., and the detail in the carving is incomparable to anything I have ever seen before - definitely amazing!

We made a brief stop at another garden, and then made a final stop at what, for me, was the highlight of the weekend - 夫子庙 (Fuzi Miao) Which, in English, is the Confucius Temple. It was incredible. Confucius is obviously an individual that has had a huge impact on the world, and a definite impact on China. To view his actual temple and school building was incredible. There was a huge statue of him, as well as eight of his most famous students. The detail that within and without the temple was amazing, and it was an experience that I won't soon forget. Unfortunately I'll have to forego posting any pictures of it at the current time. My camera battery died before we got to the Confucius Temple. One of my friends took tons of pictures for me though - I just haven't had the opportunity to download them yet. So there will be more on that in my next post!

From 夫子庙 we headed to the hotel in Nanjing for the night. It was a very nice hotel, but it was somewhat discomforting to receive the 11:00pm phone call asking if I wanted a "massage". There was a culture shock moment for me :)! Other than that the weekend trip was awesome. We got up Sunday morning, made the trip back here to Hangzhou, and then actually had the rest of the day to use Sunday as it should be - a day of rest!

Starting Sunday night the rain started coming down, and it's now Tuesday night at about 10:30pm, and the rain hasn't stopped...period. It is currently the rainy season here in Hangzhou, and, well, so far it is living up to what you might expect of a rainy season! I had to walk over to pick up my clothes from the launderer this afternoon (about a fifteen minute walk away), and I was beginning to wonder when flood conditions come into play - but apparently this is just normal. There's a few inches of running water along many of the streets and paths, but everything still continues as normal. Just wear your flip-flops or rain boots, and your okay! I do have to say, though, that I did break down an buy the first umbrella that I have ever owned in my life, and I think it'll be put to use!

One interesting cultural note to point out is the umbrellas. As you'd obviously expect, pretty much everyone is carrying one out in the rain right now - but on the sunny days (at least I think there's a sun out there somewhere through the smog :)) all the women still carry their umbrellas. It's a little bit different than America, where everyone is trying to get a tan and get darker. Here all of the women shade themselves from the sun in order to maintain a lighter complexion - a little bit like the American women of the mid 1800s. - Just an interesting little side note.

I think that is all for now. I best head to bed here shortly so that I can get up early and prepare for my test tomorrow. A few more days of class this week, and this coming weekend I'll actually have an opportunity to explore Hangzhou a little bit. I live right here in the middle of the city, and haven't yet had the opportunity of seeing much of it...

Till next time -

Best,

Brody