Suzhou creek

There is a man made canal that was dredged and runs between Beijing and Shanghai. It runs through Suzhou and was used to ferry people and goods on the water. There are numerous little waterways that run from the main canal and Suzhou creek is one of them. People from time immemorial has lived along the water but lately the old houses has been replaced by newer buildings. Old Suzhou is beautiful and romantic. New Suzhou has lost most if not all of its old romantic charm. There are other smaller villages where the old Grand canal atmosphere still lives but not in Suzhou. Suzhou is now a thoroughly modern city. We did manage to ride in some old wooden boats, the interior of which is old and charming.

Streets of Suzhou

 This are 'chung', rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, usually filled with meat or other condiments and steamed.

While my party was visiting the myriad of Chinese garden and pagodas, I opted to dawdle along the back streets of Suzhou. To me, real life is much more interesting. I saw men playing Chinese chess. We don't see people hanging out playing board games in Los Angeles. If one is out of work, they usually stay out of sight or else every one is gainfully employed and working hard at their job. If we have a job, we are always filled with holy fear that we would lose it if we should only stop and chat for one moment. I'm a boss and I don't like to see my staff, chatting about anything other than about work. Everywhere in the world that I've visited, I see huge swaths of people, just whiling the time away in tea stalls, some are playing board games and it is totally acceptable. I work in a homeless area of Los Angeles and there are huge swaths of men and women, hanging out and chatting and whiling the time away. Such is life, to each his own.

Breaktime

The poor man's meat, the humble egg, it is called that in Egypt. Real meat is expensive, so the Egyptians eat a lot of eggs. I heard the prices of chicken has gone up considerably in Iran. In China, tea eggs are sold at every corner. Here, while, my party is visiting the gardens and the rooms, I'm in a corner munching on tea eggs.

The Chinese writes with the ink brush and paints with it too. Popular subjects are the plum blossom, the Chrysanthemum flower, the Lotus blossom and the peony. Here is a set of Chinese paintings that was hung on the walls of the 'humble administration' home.

Suzhou

 Here is the home of a 'humble administrator.' It is a social norm in Chinese society to have false modesty. You could be having this sumptuous feast and still say, 'there's nothing to eat but a few simple things'. Or you can live in a palace and still say, 'your humble home.' This place is a palace. In fact, past emperors of China have stayed here, some have reportedly gotten lost in the place. It is huge and the rooms just go and on.

 It is famous for its rockery garden. I didn't care for it. I was raised in an English Colony. I am what is referred as an 'overseas Chinese.' Any Chinese born outside of China is an 'overseas Chinese.' There is a Chinese word for people like me. So when I'm in China, when I tell them that I'm an 'overseas Chinese,' they understand my ineptness at the Chinese language. Still they look at me in a funny way. Sophie and Zac, both speak, read and write Mandarin. I only speak some survival Mandarin. So when anything is explained in Mandarin, they have to explain it in English to me. The locals can't understand why this Chinese person (me) doesn't understand Mandarin.

 Former emperors of China.

Suzhou had the reputation of being romantic and beautiful. Women from Suzhou are supposed to be the most beautiful. I don't really care for an organised tour but when we arrived at the train station, we were being inundated by tour operators and Sophie thought it was a good idea. So I tagged along. In fact I didn't enter a lot of the places we were taken to. Suzhou was a huge disappointment. It was so built up that the charm of the old Suzhou was eradicated. I was disappointed.

Shanghai, our hostel

It's an old building converted into a hostel. It still retains some of its architectural features. It was cheap too and has an incredible location, within walking distance to the bund. That was the whole idea, to stay close to the bund, walk there, see it. We were so short of time that we couldn't even return to the bund for a second look.

Lanzhou airport

Sophie took this picture just to remind ourselves of the places we could go to from Lanzhou. We will be back this way because there are still a lot of places to see around Lanzhou. We've only scratched the surface. It wasn't my first choice but in the end I needed to be in a Tibetan area and Lanzhou won over Anhui province. Anhui province is a very poor province which means old China is still there. I have wanted to be in Tibet but this part of the Tibetan plateau just whetted my appetite for more. In fact if one looks at old maps, this part is included in as part of Tibet. The 14th Dalai Lama calls this part as being 'Tibet.' He was born in Qinghai province not far from Lanzhou, near Kunbun monastery, which I will try to get to next trip. The history is complicated but fascinating. It's beyond the scope of this posting.

The East is red

I guess its an exhibit to celebrate the role that Lanzhou played during the Cultural Revolution. Everyone is smiling in these pictures but it wasn't such a happy time. it was a misguided venture that caused massive suffering and starvation and all kinds of misery. At the final analysis, some Communist party officials were used as scape goats and either was expelled or killed. The Red army tore through the countryside and threw millions into prison and were tortured. Temples were desecrated and robbed. Monks and nuns did not escape the brunt of their brutality. Later farms were collectivised leading to decline in output and to massive starvation. One only need to pick up any history book to read the condemnation of those failed policies. They did admit that there were mistakes, found a few scapegoats and executed them. Today China allows a certain amount of capitalistic reforms but the politics is still in the hands of the Communist party. The government is still a Communist government. The East is still red!

Lanzhou museum

 These are old painted tiles, absolutely gorgeous.

 An ancient bronze statue. Back in the days the Chinese were already making beautiful bronze sculptures while the Europeans were living in caves.

 Of course these is the "hexi' corridor of the Silk road and remains of its existence are plentiful in and around Lanzhou.

 Ancient sutras on ancient paper. Didn't the Chinese invent paper?

 A copy of a mural from the nearby DunHuang caves. We were in DunHuang last year. Amazing place.

A model of how people were restoring the murals in DunHuang.
The Chinese people have the mistaken notion that museums are for school children. One does visit a museum as an adult. We talked with our taxi driver about going to the Lanzhou museum. We told him it was free to enter. Our driver in Urumqi last year said the same thing, 'museums are for the scholl children.' How sad. It is just like Americans who think that reading of books belong to High School. One does not need to be educated anymore after High School and that learning is over. How sad. One gets ideas from books. There must be a few books on faith and religion, personal finances, investing, retirement, travel, art, cooking, politics, the list could get longer. How can learning ever stop?

Lanzhou

Lanzhou is just another busy Chinese city. It has a sizable Muslim (Hui) population. The Hui are Chinese but practises the Islamic religion. These are the descendants of the Silk road. They have Chinese names and speak Mandarin. They are not to be mistaken with the Uighers. There are 55 official minorities in China and they have 'special' privileges. While there is nothing in Lanzhou itself, it is an important hub from which to explore  the interesting places around it. This will not be my only visit to Lanzhou. I have plans to return to visit the many other places over the next few years.

Do you want a chuba?

In the early days the Tibetans only own one chuba, usually of animal skin and lined with animal fleece. They wear it till it falls apart. It keeps them warm in those frigid winter temperatures and in summer they let one sleeve off their shoulder. If it gets really really hot they could have both sleeves off, the men become bare chested and the women bare breasted. There are old photographs in books that show this trend. However in modern times, they can easily get a summer chuba, made of lighter fabric and trimmed with all kinds of decorative trims. The shops in Xiahe has no shortage of fabrics, trims and other paraphernalia for dressing the authentic Tibetan way. I noticed these shops are usually owned by the Hui (Muslim) minority.

The wheel of rebirth

A very important symbol in Buddhism, in fact, it is the center of their belief. They are here on earth to do good deeds to win enough merit to achieve nirwana. If nirwana is not achieved, they will come back to this life in one form or another and the cycle goes on until nirwana is finally achieved. The wheel identifies good and bad behaviour. There is always a wheel of rebirth on the outside of every Tibetan Buddhist temple. It is also called 'bhavacakra.'

Nomad restaurant

 Yak fried noodles

Momos (yak dumplings) and thikpu (noodles) was what we ate our last night in Xiahe. As one author puts it, 'the Tibetans are not known for their cuisine." Indeed, because of the high altitude and water doesn't even boil, it's hard to cook anything. That morning at breakfast, it was impossible to get a second cup of coffee. They can't get the water to boil and they simply ignored our request for a second cup of coffee. Most Tibetans eat roasted barley which they call 'tsampa.' Barley is the only crop that can grow in those altitudes and they roast it and grind it into a flour. So all they need to do is to mix it with yak butter or put it into their yak butter tea and eat it as a gruel. No cooking is required since the barley has been roasted. The Tibetans are now scattered all over the world and the Himalayas that someone asked, 'who is a Tibetan? The reply, 'the tsampa eaters.'

Head pieces

Some Tibetans are farmers and eek out a living from the very little arable land in the Tibetan plateau. The rest are nomadic herders that drive their herds to the lonely grasslands. These nomads live in black tent made from yak hair and each family are miles and miles away from others. A few times a year they get together for some religious festivals, their new year is called 'losar'. In summer they may have singing, dancing and horse riding festivals on the grasslands. The whole population will come out and parade in their finery, their traditional raiment which is very ornate and fantastic. They would wear necklaces of huge coral beads, costumes that are whimsically trimmed and these ornamental pieces for their hair. Seeing them, you can tell, those objects on them must weigh a ton or close to it.