Well let me start off where I stopped last night. After I posted the blog we went out to this jazz/lounge club were you could pay 100RMB ($14.60) for unlimited drinks. I actually really liked the place because you could snag a table for free and just sit down and hang out and there was even a little place up at the front to dance. My only complaint was that there music choice was superb and it was a little loud to actually be able to hold a conversation. The club was odd in another since tho as well, there was a disproportionate number of hot girls there, almost all expats ranging in age from 17-24 (though I could be off). By no means is this a complaint but merely an observation.
I will say I felt really bad for Yerim who is this very sweet little Korean girl that came with us. She was pretty much swamped with male attention that I think made her feel a little uncomfortable. For my part in the equation (that knowing me I’m sure I played) I’m sorry, it sucks being likable doesn’t it? :^P Yes I know it’s awkward to talk about this, but I’ve never really cared and it’s important to me to record these kinds of things during my trip.
I also met a nice Saudi Arabian guy (who for the life of me I can’t remember his name, typical I know) who helped me find Hookah/Shisha tobacco but even with his help the cheapest I could find it was for like 180RMB for 250g. And just for a price comparison in the US the same amount would cost you about 68.5RMB. Price differences across countries is just strange, o well I guess that’s just capitalism.
Alright club story over and no I don’t remember the name of it but I’ll probably be back so I’ll tell you then.
Today the morning came pretty early because we had to catch the bus at 7:50 in order to get out to Suzhou (it's kind of pronounced Sue-Joe, if that helps). Other people were able to sleep but I kept Clement up by swapping stories about our college, family, etc. Luckily the bus ride was only about an hour and half.
Once we were there we were able to locate the local bus we needed to take to Tiger Hill. This was my first time riding one of the local buses in China and let me tell you it was quite a journey. Stop and go traffic when you’re standing up is like driving through your Physics 101 class. You throw in screaming Chinese trying to make their way from one place to another and you have an Experience.
The park itself was nice enough, kind of combining this old and tourism, like most places like that in the world. Though there were a few spots that you could find that were actually quite peaceful. For lunch we grabbed spaghetti of all things. And I bought some post cards!! O and I also got a custom made stamp… thing which I’ll probably use to start stamping the crap out of my homework, mail, etc. O by the way it’s made out of “jade,” much like the moon is made out of a cheese.
From there we took a taxi downtown and spent the rest of the day wondering the streets. Poor Clement go this crazy Chinese Warrior costume put on him and then found out that he had to pay for using it in a photo! At that point we played the dumb foreigner card, but we couldn’t escape without giving at least 10RMB, luckily we got some great photos and some of the Chinese also go pictures with Clement. I love the fact that we (not me in the instance but I’ve been part of a few other at different points in time) get to be a part of someone else’s memories through their photos.
We saw some nifty things, avoiding most of the main touristy stuff, we hung out by the canals and watched the boats go by and listened to the … “drivers” as they sang songs. We also found what seemed to be the local CP (Communist Party) HQ. We wanted to go in because it looked pretty spiffy but the guard said we weren’t allowed. At some point in the back of my mind I really wanted to dash in and just start taking pictures of everything which really would have freaked the whole building out (it’s well known that the CP does NOT like you taking pictures of their buildings or military bases). Somewhere at the front of my mind I thought better of it.
Here I also stumbled across a restaurant that has hookahs (I’m starting to think that restaurants are really one of the few places to actually buy it) but they wanted to charge me 100RMB for 50g, which is 500RMB for 250g!! I may have a vice but it seems price will be my anti-bad habit here.
Umm that’s pretty much it, the only other thing of note is that a nice Chinese girl helped us order our dinner, and we exchanged information with her because she actually lives in Shanghai, we’ll see if she actually contacts me. Having business cards is very handy here.
Alright now it’s like 22:21 and I’m super tired. Later everyone.
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