Fuddland

Just over a week after arrived I was treated to my first day off work, and took the opportunity to see something of Sūzhōu (苏州) other than my flat, my workplace or the supermarket. I’d been given a handy tourists’ map of the city, with streetnames in Chinese characters and Pinyin, and so I set off along one of the major roads connecting my block of flats to the city centre — clearly marked as being the area surrounded by a large moat.

Half an hour or so later, I was approaching the east side of the moat, when a pretty young woman wearing not very much brought a smile to my face by waving at me from her rather run-down shop front and cooing, “Hello!” She then started beckoning me, and I almost stopped to find out what she wanted when she was joined by two equally scantily-clad friends, also waving, and suddenly there were three or four similarly-undressed woman waving and yoo-hooing from both buildings either side of my first friend. Either my hair was looking particularly curly that morning or, yes, I had discovered a series of brothels on the edge of the city. I returned a friendly wave and carried on walking.

I soon reached the moat — something of a misnomer as, in places, it more closely resembles a very wide, gently-flowing river — and walked north towards one of the main bridges into the city centre, and spent the next two or so hours walking along the main streets; getting my bearings; making a few mental notes of restaurants I liked the look of. I didn’t make an effort to go anywhere in particular, since I’ll be around for a while, but eventually I found myself walking along one of the more Westernised streets, full of Australian and Irish bars offering enticing pints of Guinness and plates of chips at pretty extortionate prices. [I really don’t want to be one of those people who lives in a foreign country but seeks out slices of home all the time, so I’m glad for the high prices, they’ll keep temptation from the door.]

The major roads in and around the city are nicely divided-up between cars and two-wheeled vehicles — nothing like the after-thought cycle-lanes you see in the UK: these are wide pathways with solid barriers between them and the other traffic. Whether it’s a chicken-and-egg situation or not, I’m not sure, but the cycle-lanes are well used; pushbikes, electric bikes, scooters and rickshaws all zip along them in either direction on both sides of the street, with a large number of people riding pillion. [Er, I mean, many of the bikes have an extra person riding on the back, not that each bike has hundreds of people balancing in a precarious human pyramid.] I’m considering getting myself a set of wheels come payday.

I turned down a sidestreet and was about to check my map for the quickest way home when I noticed the entrance to one of the city’s renowned gardens, so I paid the entrance fee and spent over an hour wandering it’s maze-like paths, the noise of the city so effectively cut out that I almost forgot where I was, before calling it a day and heading home [again waving to those friendly ladies as I passed].

The following is an entry which follows on from the above:

1. Canglang Ting [Fuddland]. Excerpt: As I said, after a couple of hours of walking around the main streets of Suzhou in the rapidly-increasing heat, I was about to head back home when I noticed the entrance to one of the city's renowned private gardens,...

#1

Anglofille | 2006 / 06 / 13 – 18:32

Those poor women were probably sold into prostitution by their families! How sad. While you’re in Suzhou, you should make it your mission to help them. Teach them how to read, help them find better employment, empower them. By the time you leave, they could be headed to university. It’s the least you can do!

#2

David | 2006 / 06 / 14 – 09:31

Re #1: I dunno, sounds like a lot of work. Can’t I just buy them some flowers or a new dress or something?

#3

Anglofille | 2006 / 06 / 14 – 17:55

No, I cannot allow that. You must stick to the original plan that I painstakingly outlined for you. [See #1]

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