SuZhou - boy

This was our first town en route to Beijing and it's barely outside Shanghai, but it was quiet and extremely pleasant to walk around in. From our curt hoteliers in Shanghai we went to pleasant friendly service with a smile. From streets inundated with out of towners we went to peaceful walks by the canals. But there was a price to pay; and that was buying train tickets short notice so close to a busy Expo city with only basic Chinese language skills.

 

More complications arise because China's ticketing system only allows tickets to be bought from the point of departure and changing trains also seems to complicate the issue since even a recommended train booking agency tied themselves in knots with our request. Outside of Shanghai the ticketing areas are either outside or in huge rundown buildings and contain 30-60 tellers all with a permanent queue of never less than 50 people (yes, actually queuing, well apart from ... anyway). Add to this, a sprinkling of extremely impatient and angry clerks who throw change and tickets at their customers (with us they just throw their hands up and scream a lot and we move to the next teller) and you have the most disorganised part of China Rail. Everything else is fine; they are comfortable and most importantly, on time. If you only ever travel on off peak direct trains, from point A to point B, then chances are you'll never see an issue, though you will be shouted at.

 

We explored a number of walled ancient parks from whatever dynasty whose theme was pools and sculpted rocks on stone path next to small amounts of plants and grass that are for viewing not sitting. In olden days the park's ambiance allowed reflection and contemplation, these days it allows dozens of guides to bellow historical facts through a megaphone at the same time as every other guide. Most unharmonious.

 

The one park that opened at night was a pleasant experience for its lack of bellowing guides and people in general but since the edict of 'no silence' must be upheld at all times, Chinese opera artists were brought in to screech and twang in various parts of the park, but also to play haunting flute melodies across the pool.

 

The canal town Tongli nearby was very pretty. I expect it looks amazing when there are no crowds. Is that possible I wonder? The main reason for choosing this touristy canal town over other touristy canal towns was the Sex Culture Museum. It's actually a park with a small museum which charges extra so there's practically no one in it. So very calm and peaceful (and interesting). Some information may be suspect (as unbelievable as that sounds in Chinese museums) but I suspect the uncontroversial facts are correct. Some points are blatantly untrue such as their claim that homosexuals have never been discriminated against in the history of China; a brief Google on the subject reveals that only ten years ago central government regarded homosexuality as a mental disease, though good for them for not blocking websites that contain contradictory information in some museums at least.