AUGUST 9, 2007
Early last week, Randy received an email from our friend, Rich, who lives with his wife, Magali, in Suzhou. A chain of restaurant/taverns called the Blue Marlin was launching an offshoot of their business called Blue Marlin Tours by offering a weekend bus trip to Nanjing where, among other things, we'd be wined and dined by the Blue Marlin in Nanjing. Seemed like a pretty good deal to include visiting some historic sites, a bit of shopping, and a night in a four star hotel. We hadn't seen Rich and Magali since before our visit to the states, so we decided this would be a good thing to do with them.
The weekend commenced with a bang ... literally. It had been arranged that I would be driven by our driver, Da (we have long ago lost Shao to another company), to the plant where Lifeng, the plant manager, would give Randy and me a ride to Rich and Magali's apartment in Suzhou as Lifeng and his wife also live in Suzhou. Seemed like a swell plan, but the weather conspired to throw a wrench in our works.
About 3:30 Friday afternoon, the skies darkened, and distant thunder rolled. This rapidly deteriorated into something not-so-distant. Suddenly, the threat turned into a reality when the downpour began around 4:00. We're not talking your garden variety summer shower here. This was violent, crashing lightning and torrents of water unleashed in all it's fury. Randy and I had been instant messaging each other, and he informed me that Da would in all likelihood be running a little late. Didn't surprise me any. In a city where the crowds and traffic often move slowly on a good day, a bad day can bring things to a screeching halt in a hurry.
The pick-up time had been slated for 4:00, but a little after 5:00, Randy texted me that Da was downstairs waiting under our building's awning. I wasn't too worried about getting wet because all of the walkways to and from the apartment buildings in this complex are under cover, but I did have my hands full with a couple of weekender size suitcases. Of course, I'd overpacked (I always do), so whereas most folks probably would've gotten by with one, I had two to deal with.
Da put the bags in the back of the van, I jumped in, and we're off like a herd of turtles!! Pretty slow going in the downpour. We hadn't gone three blocks when the traffic halted completely. We were up to the chassis in water. People walking on the sidewalk on both sides were up to their knees in water, carrying their shoes in their hands. Scooters and bikes were being pushed by all but the most intrepid of pedestrians. The traffic lights had gone out, so it was indeed total gridlock for quite a while. I wondered briefly how much water was going to be leaking into the van at any moment as the downpour continued.
Not to be daunted, Da did some of the most creative driving I have probably witnessed to date. We drove on sidewalks and lanes meant only for bikes or pedestrians, blowing the horn and flashing the lights like crazy until we finally reached an elevated street that was somewhat dryer than the city streets (or at least it had better drainage)!! He was going to get me there come hell or high water ... well, at least high water!!
Randy kept texting me ... "Are you close? Do you see the Honda plant yet? Where are you?" I wasn't even sure I was headed in the right direction. In my best pigeon Chinese, I asked if our destination was far away. He answered me in his best pigeon English and I'm pretty sure that neither one of us understood each other at all. Finally we arrived at the plant, collected Randy (as Lifeng had long ago given up on us and taken off without his riders), and we set off for Suzhou.
I hadn't eaten all day, and some of you know that I get pretty cranky when I am hungry for longer than five minutes ... probably a low blood sugar thing (yes, you can call me the Princess .... Randy does). This evening was no exception. The van is equipped with a radar or camera detector so that the driver can be alerted before the automatic cameras which pepper the expressways can snap a photo of a vehicle in the flagrant act of speeding!! It sounds like the most irritating warning siren you can imagine followed by a female Chinese voice saying the same statement over and over (you'd think everyone would know by now what the little siren in the dashboard means, but apparently it is necessary to repeat this statement each time a camera is detected!). This thing kept going off every thirty seconds or so until I thought I would rip the thing out of the dashboard!! Not only does it not keep anyone from speeding, but it also offers the probability that everyone in a vehicle is going to have to be treated for whiplash as everyone is speeding and then slamming on the brakes in order to not be caught on camera!! REALLY irritating ... especially when you're hungry!!
Randy didn't notice until we were on the other side of Suzhou, that we'd missed our exit, and none of us was sure of our exact whereabouts at that particular moment. Let me tell you, you ain't been lost until you've been lost in China!!! Rich kept calling Randy and asking him what landmarks we could see. Nobody could make sense of anything. Da kept jumping out to ask directions, and off we'd go again. We were certainly NOT making any positive progress. Did I mention how cranky I was getting??? Finally Randy and I saw the restaurant street where we'd had dinner with Rich and Magali previously (remember the chicken head incident?) so we knew we were close. A couple more checks for directions by Da, and the next thing we knew, we'd pulled up in front of the Renaissance Hotel. "We're here!!" says Da (or the equivalent in Chinese). Randy and I looked at each other .... "Uh, NO. We're NOT!!" Da seemed to think that this was where we needed to be, and by then (8:30) I didn't much care, I just wanted to get out of that van and find something to eat. OK, I'm beyond cranky now, and have surely reached PISSED status at this point!!!
Randy considered throwing Da out of the van and taking a crack at driving himself (and I doubt that I would have stopped him). Luckily, at that moment, the phone rang again ... Rich. Rich and Magali had invited another couple for dinner, Cesar and Iliana. Cesar got on the phone and told Randy to sit tight. He'd come over with his scooter and guide us to the apartment building which wasn't too far away. Finally, a plan that just might work!! And indeed we arrived just prior to death by starvation ("Thanks to God!!" as Magali said) to a lovely Mexican BBQ prepared by Magali, Rich and Iliana.
Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, and we were all looking forward to our bus trip. This was Blue Marlin's first attempt at the launching of a tour business, so we were the "prototype" tour. There are two Blue Marlin locations in Suzhou. We were to meet at one of the locations for a departure of 9:00 Saturday morning to go to the other location to pick up the remainder of our tour members. There was some confusion about who was meeting where, so we were an hour delayed taking off. But eventually everyone was picked up. There were sixteen of us in all on a mini-bus type vehicle. Laura, who was our guide for most of the trip, was cute and perky, but a bit nervous as she'd never done this sort of thing previously. She punctuated everything she said with a nervous twitter that was probably more endearing than irritating (OK, maybe it would have been irritating if I'd been hungry, but Rich and Magali provided a wonderful pancakes and bacon breakfast, so no problem).
The itinerary of our trip included several points of historic interest, and a little shopping, as well as one night at the Central Hotel of Nanjing, with dinner and drinks at the Blue Marlin Nanjing Saturday evening. In spite of the fact that we'd departed over an hour late, we seemed to arrive in Nanjing fairly close to on time. There was some difficulty finding the hotel (are you seeing a pattern developing?) but with a few minor fits and starts, we did eventually arrive. We turned in our passports and received room keys in return. Everybody was ready to get cleaned up a bit before heading out on our adventures in Nanjing. We opened our room on the 8th floor to find that it had not been cleaned from the night before ... OK, no freshening up for now.
We got back to the bus to head to our first destination only to be informed that we were scrapping the first historical destination and going straight to the shopping area. Right about then, the skies opened up for another spectacular downpour. Good thing Magali had brought along extra umbrellas. We did our site seeing and shopping in the rain. It was a typical Chinese shopping area built around a Confucius temple which was closed for renovation. I didn't see anything in Nanjing to purchase that I haven't seen plenty of in Shanghai, but I did purchase a couple of bead bracelets as all the ones I purchased in Shanghai had been given to family on the holiday to the states. Randy did get some pretty good photos too. It seems there is always something interesting to photograph in China.
Our dinner at Blue Marlin was wonderful. BBQ meats, fish and vegetables, lovely salads, and anything we cared to drink all evening. Rich and Randy made good use of a pool table while Magali and I spent time getting to know our fellow travelers, some of whom were from the states. Around midnight, the owner of the Blue Marlin insisted upon getting us a bottle of champagne, and since it is considered rude to not accept the offer of a gift in China, we toasted our trip to Nanjing with a bit of bubbly.
Nanjing is a very pretty city and is very proud of the fact that they have more trees in their city than any other in China. I'm not sure of the variety ... looked to be some type of shag bark maple, but they were huge and beautiful, and provided the city with much needed shade for the hot summer days. While in Nanjing, Laura was relieved of duties for a bit by Jen who seemed much more comfortable in the spotlight than Laura. Jen was full of interesting information and tidbits, and chided those who arrived to the bus late with the threat that they must sing a song since they could not be punctual.
One of the more comical moments occurred when Jen was enlightening us about the construction of the Xioling Tomb which houses the remains of the emperor from the Ming Dynasty. Seems the best was none too good for the emperor and his wife even in the afterlife. The brick makers were made to put their names on every brick so that in the event of failure or deterioration of the bricks, they would promptly be executed. "And so the first quality control system of China was invented," proclaimed Jen proudly. Of course, someone from the back of the bus shouted, "So what happened since then?" Ah so ......
The Xioling Tomb was indeed one of the highlights of the trip. It was another hot day, but it was slightly overcast, so a bit more comfortable than usual. There are beautiful gardens and statuary surrounding the tomb and property, and we spent several hours taking in the breathtaking scenery and shooting photos. It seems the emperor was not only interested in fine quality, but was also extremely vain. We were shown several sketches made by artists of the emperor who had a reputation for being somewhat ugly in the face. Of course, the accurate renderings of the ugly emperor caused the emperor to call for the immediate execution of the artist. But the artist who portrayed the emperor as the handsome devil that he wasn't, was spared and indeed idolized as the fine artist that HE wasn't. Seems saving face was important even 600 years ago.
Originally, we'd been told that we were to visit the Purple Mountains of Nanjing. Somewhere along the way, it was decided that we'd visit a Jade Museum instead. We tried to quell our disappointment by deciding that the Jade Museum might indeed be very interesting, and surely it would be air conditioned, so upon the conclusion of our lunch on Sunday (again at Blue Marlin), we departed for the museum.
We were trooped into the museum and handed over to an English speaking tour guide for a rather brief look into a handful of rooms that showcased several types of jade objects. We were educated about the various types of jade (which can be assessed by not only their appearance, but by their "song" which can be heard by striking the object with something hard to make it "ring" ... the clearer and brighter the "song," the higher the quality of the jade).
We'd barely taken in this information when we were whisked into a gift shop full of very highly priced jade objects (everything from statuary to pendants, bangles, and other jewelry) where we were apparently expected to divest ourselves of all cash on hand. Talk about the hard sell!! There was still plenty of museum to see, and many of us expressed wanting to do just that. But we were told that the museum closed at 4:30, and we had to go out the back door of the store to get to our bus. They had literally locked the door back into the museum so that we could not return. It was rather blatant attempt at getting us to purchase items so that a commission could be obtained by our tour planners. Well, call us Americans "jaded" if you must (I hear you groaning), but we weren't so easily hoodwinked much to the chagrin of Jen who did her best to keep us occupied in the store long enough to think we were going to have to buy something just to be released!
Well, at least our trip was educational in more ways than one. It was lovely spending some time with Rich and Magali, and all the other folks that toured with us. We'll give Blue Marlin a pass on the problems this time as this was their first tour. And in spite of the issues, we were glad that we went to Nanjing and, for the most part, a good time was had by all.
The weekend commenced with a bang ... literally. It had been arranged that I would be driven by our driver, Da (we have long ago lost Shao to another company), to the plant where Lifeng, the plant manager, would give Randy and me a ride to Rich and Magali's apartment in Suzhou as Lifeng and his wife also live in Suzhou. Seemed like a swell plan, but the weather conspired to throw a wrench in our works.
About 3:30 Friday afternoon, the skies darkened, and distant thunder rolled. This rapidly deteriorated into something not-so-distant. Suddenly, the threat turned into a reality when the downpour began around 4:00. We're not talking your garden variety summer shower here. This was violent, crashing lightning and torrents of water unleashed in all it's fury. Randy and I had been instant messaging each other, and he informed me that Da would in all likelihood be running a little late. Didn't surprise me any. In a city where the crowds and traffic often move slowly on a good day, a bad day can bring things to a screeching halt in a hurry.
The pick-up time had been slated for 4:00, but a little after 5:00, Randy texted me that Da was downstairs waiting under our building's awning. I wasn't too worried about getting wet because all of the walkways to and from the apartment buildings in this complex are under cover, but I did have my hands full with a couple of weekender size suitcases. Of course, I'd overpacked (I always do), so whereas most folks probably would've gotten by with one, I had two to deal with.
Da put the bags in the back of the van, I jumped in, and we're off like a herd of turtles!! Pretty slow going in the downpour. We hadn't gone three blocks when the traffic halted completely. We were up to the chassis in water. People walking on the sidewalk on both sides were up to their knees in water, carrying their shoes in their hands. Scooters and bikes were being pushed by all but the most intrepid of pedestrians. The traffic lights had gone out, so it was indeed total gridlock for quite a while. I wondered briefly how much water was going to be leaking into the van at any moment as the downpour continued.
Not to be daunted, Da did some of the most creative driving I have probably witnessed to date. We drove on sidewalks and lanes meant only for bikes or pedestrians, blowing the horn and flashing the lights like crazy until we finally reached an elevated street that was somewhat dryer than the city streets (or at least it had better drainage)!! He was going to get me there come hell or high water ... well, at least high water!!
Randy kept texting me ... "Are you close? Do you see the Honda plant yet? Where are you?" I wasn't even sure I was headed in the right direction. In my best pigeon Chinese, I asked if our destination was far away. He answered me in his best pigeon English and I'm pretty sure that neither one of us understood each other at all. Finally we arrived at the plant, collected Randy (as Lifeng had long ago given up on us and taken off without his riders), and we set off for Suzhou.
I hadn't eaten all day, and some of you know that I get pretty cranky when I am hungry for longer than five minutes ... probably a low blood sugar thing (yes, you can call me the Princess .... Randy does). This evening was no exception. The van is equipped with a radar or camera detector so that the driver can be alerted before the automatic cameras which pepper the expressways can snap a photo of a vehicle in the flagrant act of speeding!! It sounds like the most irritating warning siren you can imagine followed by a female Chinese voice saying the same statement over and over (you'd think everyone would know by now what the little siren in the dashboard means, but apparently it is necessary to repeat this statement each time a camera is detected!). This thing kept going off every thirty seconds or so until I thought I would rip the thing out of the dashboard!! Not only does it not keep anyone from speeding, but it also offers the probability that everyone in a vehicle is going to have to be treated for whiplash as everyone is speeding and then slamming on the brakes in order to not be caught on camera!! REALLY irritating ... especially when you're hungry!!
Randy didn't notice until we were on the other side of Suzhou, that we'd missed our exit, and none of us was sure of our exact whereabouts at that particular moment. Let me tell you, you ain't been lost until you've been lost in China!!! Rich kept calling Randy and asking him what landmarks we could see. Nobody could make sense of anything. Da kept jumping out to ask directions, and off we'd go again. We were certainly NOT making any positive progress. Did I mention how cranky I was getting??? Finally Randy and I saw the restaurant street where we'd had dinner with Rich and Magali previously (remember the chicken head incident?) so we knew we were close. A couple more checks for directions by Da, and the next thing we knew, we'd pulled up in front of the Renaissance Hotel. "We're here!!" says Da (or the equivalent in Chinese). Randy and I looked at each other .... "Uh, NO. We're NOT!!" Da seemed to think that this was where we needed to be, and by then (8:30) I didn't much care, I just wanted to get out of that van and find something to eat. OK, I'm beyond cranky now, and have surely reached PISSED status at this point!!!
Randy considered throwing Da out of the van and taking a crack at driving himself (and I doubt that I would have stopped him). Luckily, at that moment, the phone rang again ... Rich. Rich and Magali had invited another couple for dinner, Cesar and Iliana. Cesar got on the phone and told Randy to sit tight. He'd come over with his scooter and guide us to the apartment building which wasn't too far away. Finally, a plan that just might work!! And indeed we arrived just prior to death by starvation ("Thanks to God!!" as Magali said) to a lovely Mexican BBQ prepared by Magali, Rich and Iliana.
Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, and we were all looking forward to our bus trip. This was Blue Marlin's first attempt at the launching of a tour business, so we were the "prototype" tour. There are two Blue Marlin locations in Suzhou. We were to meet at one of the locations for a departure of 9:00 Saturday morning to go to the other location to pick up the remainder of our tour members. There was some confusion about who was meeting where, so we were an hour delayed taking off. But eventually everyone was picked up. There were sixteen of us in all on a mini-bus type vehicle. Laura, who was our guide for most of the trip, was cute and perky, but a bit nervous as she'd never done this sort of thing previously. She punctuated everything she said with a nervous twitter that was probably more endearing than irritating (OK, maybe it would have been irritating if I'd been hungry, but Rich and Magali provided a wonderful pancakes and bacon breakfast, so no problem).
The itinerary of our trip included several points of historic interest, and a little shopping, as well as one night at the Central Hotel of Nanjing, with dinner and drinks at the Blue Marlin Nanjing Saturday evening. In spite of the fact that we'd departed over an hour late, we seemed to arrive in Nanjing fairly close to on time. There was some difficulty finding the hotel (are you seeing a pattern developing?) but with a few minor fits and starts, we did eventually arrive. We turned in our passports and received room keys in return. Everybody was ready to get cleaned up a bit before heading out on our adventures in Nanjing. We opened our room on the 8th floor to find that it had not been cleaned from the night before ... OK, no freshening up for now.
We got back to the bus to head to our first destination only to be informed that we were scrapping the first historical destination and going straight to the shopping area. Right about then, the skies opened up for another spectacular downpour. Good thing Magali had brought along extra umbrellas. We did our site seeing and shopping in the rain. It was a typical Chinese shopping area built around a Confucius temple which was closed for renovation. I didn't see anything in Nanjing to purchase that I haven't seen plenty of in Shanghai, but I did purchase a couple of bead bracelets as all the ones I purchased in Shanghai had been given to family on the holiday to the states. Randy did get some pretty good photos too. It seems there is always something interesting to photograph in China.
Our dinner at Blue Marlin was wonderful. BBQ meats, fish and vegetables, lovely salads, and anything we cared to drink all evening. Rich and Randy made good use of a pool table while Magali and I spent time getting to know our fellow travelers, some of whom were from the states. Around midnight, the owner of the Blue Marlin insisted upon getting us a bottle of champagne, and since it is considered rude to not accept the offer of a gift in China, we toasted our trip to Nanjing with a bit of bubbly.
Nanjing is a very pretty city and is very proud of the fact that they have more trees in their city than any other in China. I'm not sure of the variety ... looked to be some type of shag bark maple, but they were huge and beautiful, and provided the city with much needed shade for the hot summer days. While in Nanjing, Laura was relieved of duties for a bit by Jen who seemed much more comfortable in the spotlight than Laura. Jen was full of interesting information and tidbits, and chided those who arrived to the bus late with the threat that they must sing a song since they could not be punctual.
One of the more comical moments occurred when Jen was enlightening us about the construction of the Xioling Tomb which houses the remains of the emperor from the Ming Dynasty. Seems the best was none too good for the emperor and his wife even in the afterlife. The brick makers were made to put their names on every brick so that in the event of failure or deterioration of the bricks, they would promptly be executed. "And so the first quality control system of China was invented," proclaimed Jen proudly. Of course, someone from the back of the bus shouted, "So what happened since then?" Ah so ......
The Xioling Tomb was indeed one of the highlights of the trip. It was another hot day, but it was slightly overcast, so a bit more comfortable than usual. There are beautiful gardens and statuary surrounding the tomb and property, and we spent several hours taking in the breathtaking scenery and shooting photos. It seems the emperor was not only interested in fine quality, but was also extremely vain. We were shown several sketches made by artists of the emperor who had a reputation for being somewhat ugly in the face. Of course, the accurate renderings of the ugly emperor caused the emperor to call for the immediate execution of the artist. But the artist who portrayed the emperor as the handsome devil that he wasn't, was spared and indeed idolized as the fine artist that HE wasn't. Seems saving face was important even 600 years ago.
Originally, we'd been told that we were to visit the Purple Mountains of Nanjing. Somewhere along the way, it was decided that we'd visit a Jade Museum instead. We tried to quell our disappointment by deciding that the Jade Museum might indeed be very interesting, and surely it would be air conditioned, so upon the conclusion of our lunch on Sunday (again at Blue Marlin), we departed for the museum.
We were trooped into the museum and handed over to an English speaking tour guide for a rather brief look into a handful of rooms that showcased several types of jade objects. We were educated about the various types of jade (which can be assessed by not only their appearance, but by their "song" which can be heard by striking the object with something hard to make it "ring" ... the clearer and brighter the "song," the higher the quality of the jade).
We'd barely taken in this information when we were whisked into a gift shop full of very highly priced jade objects (everything from statuary to pendants, bangles, and other jewelry) where we were apparently expected to divest ourselves of all cash on hand. Talk about the hard sell!! There was still plenty of museum to see, and many of us expressed wanting to do just that. But we were told that the museum closed at 4:30, and we had to go out the back door of the store to get to our bus. They had literally locked the door back into the museum so that we could not return. It was rather blatant attempt at getting us to purchase items so that a commission could be obtained by our tour planners. Well, call us Americans "jaded" if you must (I hear you groaning), but we weren't so easily hoodwinked much to the chagrin of Jen who did her best to keep us occupied in the store long enough to think we were going to have to buy something just to be released!
Well, at least our trip was educational in more ways than one. It was lovely spending some time with Rich and Magali, and all the other folks that toured with us. We'll give Blue Marlin a pass on the problems this time as this was their first tour. And in spite of the issues, we were glad that we went to Nanjing and, for the most part, a good time was had by all.
posted by Roxanne Gillett at
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