Two days in Suzhou
Spoiling oneself in China is incredibly cheap and more often than not very rewarding.
First off is the food. Breakfast in a diner costs 2 yuan (more or less the same in SEK). This could give you a bowl of hundun soup, delicious dumplings in a seafood broth, the only potential party poopers being seaweed and tiny dry white shrimp (shell and all), if that's not your thing. I'm OK with the former but close my eyes while slurping the shrimp.
Then there's baozi, big and soft wheat buns stuffed with meat, vegetables or sweet bean paste (or, knowing Chinese cuisine, pretty much anything that can be harvested, killed, dragged kicking and screaming out of the river or found underneath a rock). The crab incarnation is especially mouth watering.
Another breakfast option to consider is a kind of sesame pastry only found in Nantong, baked over open flame and stuffed with a dough that's part sweet, part salty.
To avoid sounding like a food critic writing a China special for Newsweek or something, here's a list of some unexpected dishes that have popped up on the table during lunch or dinner:
Bean curd with duck eggs:
Squid with eggplant:
I was completely oblivious to the world of hair massage before coming to China, but has since then come into contact with it on three separate occasions. It's a service offered by hair salons and consisting of a hair wash, upper body massage focusing on the scalp, maybe finished off with general grooming. The guy in Suzhou even spent considerable amount of time cleaning my ears. Best of all, he did it for free since that night's Cantonese restaurant had vouchers lying around on the counter.
An hour's worth of foot massage (at a place specializing in such treatments, of course) costs from 30 yuan for more or less an hour's work. This includes foot bath in some kind of herbal broth, a quick general massage, followed by more attention than has ever been spent on my feet before. Cool, but also a little bit surreal watching a man rubbing your toes for several minutes in a row.
Besides being touched by men and eating all kinds of crazy animals there's also been time for a two day trip to the city of Suzhou, a place trying to market itself as the Venice of the east. Apart from canals there are quite a lot of gardens worth visiting. I went to the most famous, the Humble Administrator's Garden founded in 1509. The place was very impressive, but the heat made walking around somewhat of a chore. The whole of Suzhou is run over by tourists both Chinese and western, which was made all the more apparent when visiting the major scenic spots. I doubt the humble administrator imagined tour guides speaking Italian, French and Spanish when he first designed his garden.
Day two was mostly spent at Tiger Hill, the "No.1 Scenic Spot of Suzhou" if the numerous signs all around town are to be believed. The bus ride there cost 1 yuan per person, and that included the pleasure of hanging out at these quite cool bus stops:
The hill is said to have a history of some 2500 years with numerous tie ins to folklore. This particular rock is called Pillow Rock, but unfortunately it failed to live up to its name.
The main crowd pleaser of Tiger Hill is its leaning pagoda. It's about 46 metres high, was built in 959 AD and supposedly leans at a greater angle than the Tower of Pisa. The signs therefore proudly proclaimed it "China's number one leaning tower".
Daoist temple in Suzhou:
Suzhou waterways:
All in all the Suzhou trip was pretty nice but marred somewhat by the countless tourist trapss kept in business by Americans who haven't learned the valuable words "bu yao" (don't want). Unfortunately that's not enough to keep the most eager salesmen away - I was almost kidnapped by a guy who wanted me to buy his Lolexes.
Keep you updated - if I don't end up being shanghaied...
First off is the food. Breakfast in a diner costs 2 yuan (more or less the same in SEK). This could give you a bowl of hundun soup, delicious dumplings in a seafood broth, the only potential party poopers being seaweed and tiny dry white shrimp (shell and all), if that's not your thing. I'm OK with the former but close my eyes while slurping the shrimp.
Then there's baozi, big and soft wheat buns stuffed with meat, vegetables or sweet bean paste (or, knowing Chinese cuisine, pretty much anything that can be harvested, killed, dragged kicking and screaming out of the river or found underneath a rock). The crab incarnation is especially mouth watering.
Another breakfast option to consider is a kind of sesame pastry only found in Nantong, baked over open flame and stuffed with a dough that's part sweet, part salty.
To avoid sounding like a food critic writing a China special for Newsweek or something, here's a list of some unexpected dishes that have popped up on the table during lunch or dinner:
- jellyfish
- live shrimp in alcohol
- bull frog
- jellied fish skin
- duck wings, chins and blood pudding (I have yet to taste the tongues)
- pigeon thighs
- cow stomach
- rabbit legs
Bean curd with duck eggs:
Squid with eggplant:
I was completely oblivious to the world of hair massage before coming to China, but has since then come into contact with it on three separate occasions. It's a service offered by hair salons and consisting of a hair wash, upper body massage focusing on the scalp, maybe finished off with general grooming. The guy in Suzhou even spent considerable amount of time cleaning my ears. Best of all, he did it for free since that night's Cantonese restaurant had vouchers lying around on the counter.
An hour's worth of foot massage (at a place specializing in such treatments, of course) costs from 30 yuan for more or less an hour's work. This includes foot bath in some kind of herbal broth, a quick general massage, followed by more attention than has ever been spent on my feet before. Cool, but also a little bit surreal watching a man rubbing your toes for several minutes in a row.
Besides being touched by men and eating all kinds of crazy animals there's also been time for a two day trip to the city of Suzhou, a place trying to market itself as the Venice of the east. Apart from canals there are quite a lot of gardens worth visiting. I went to the most famous, the Humble Administrator's Garden founded in 1509. The place was very impressive, but the heat made walking around somewhat of a chore. The whole of Suzhou is run over by tourists both Chinese and western, which was made all the more apparent when visiting the major scenic spots. I doubt the humble administrator imagined tour guides speaking Italian, French and Spanish when he first designed his garden.
Day two was mostly spent at Tiger Hill, the "No.1 Scenic Spot of Suzhou" if the numerous signs all around town are to be believed. The bus ride there cost 1 yuan per person, and that included the pleasure of hanging out at these quite cool bus stops:
The hill is said to have a history of some 2500 years with numerous tie ins to folklore. This particular rock is called Pillow Rock, but unfortunately it failed to live up to its name.
The main crowd pleaser of Tiger Hill is its leaning pagoda. It's about 46 metres high, was built in 959 AD and supposedly leans at a greater angle than the Tower of Pisa. The signs therefore proudly proclaimed it "China's number one leaning tower".
Daoist temple in Suzhou:
Suzhou waterways:
All in all the Suzhou trip was pretty nice but marred somewhat by the countless tourist trapss kept in business by Americans who haven't learned the valuable words "bu yao" (don't want). Unfortunately that's not enough to keep the most eager salesmen away - I was almost kidnapped by a guy who wanted me to buy his Lolexes.
Keep you updated - if I don't end up being shanghaied...
posted by Erik at
18:06
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