We had a 630am wakeup call due to us needing to catch the train to Suzhou this morning. We left at 700am, grabbed coffee/breakfast and met Alicia and Sam at the train station.
I managed to step on some gum which wound up on my foot. NASTY. Also nasty? The number of chain smokers, smoking next to an air vent…
Did I mention this was on China’s newer bullet train???
During the trip, we hit 180km/h and were wonderfully serenaded by locals trying to sing Jay Chou songs, only to realize they didn’t remember the lyrics.
^This is Jay Chou. I wish I had a tape recorder.
This is what it sounded like:
Upon disembarking the train, we hung out for a bit on the platform.
Turns out that Alicia and Sam are into photography! Sam had taken GSCE courses on photo and Alicia is just creative. We decided to walk around the city and made our ways through some local streets.
I was able to find scavenger hunt item #3
The first stop was the Suzhou Silk Museum. They had actual silk worms and the exhibit outlined the entire process of how silk was made, harvested and woven. The looms were ridiculous. They said no photos in the room with the looms.
^so I took non-silk related photos…
Afterwards we found ourselves in front of a bao-ze vendor and we ended buying at least 20 bao-ze at 70-mao each.
After purchasing bags of bao-ze’s, we sat ourselves down in a shady park and slammed our faces til we ran out. We decided to work off the binge eating via climbing up the Ruiguang Pagoda.
^view from the top.
Graffiti littered the walls of the pagoda:
There were temples and gardens in the complex as well:
^also at this site, kittens & folks making out. HAWT.
I liked the bricks:
Afterwards, we started exploring the town on our way to the Suzhou Museum (which was designed by I.M. Pei).
Suzhou is a great place if you like doors:
^hipsters would LOVE that vintage bike…
When we got to the museum, we were informed that only water was allowed in (we had to drink or ditch our “colored drinks”)… I.M. Pei grew up in Suzhou so the museum project was extremely important to him. I liked his work, and loved the fact that the place was free and had A/C.
^looking up in the lobby
Apparently, I.M. Pei is a fan of transformers…
We liked the stairwell. The trim on the glass was a seamless piece of polished steel. We thought it was extruded, but it was too long. We later found weld marks on certain areas…
Couples took turns on Velociraptor watch:
Alicia and Sam had been doing a series of cartwheel pictures, so we all took part.
^locals stared. we did not care.
We tried to exit the museum but found that it was part of a larger complex… which took us through many other buildings and rooms… we got lost for a good half-hour…
Sam declared beer-o-clock after we escaped the museum (apparently this is what the English do), and we found a convenience store that had “Texas Grilled BBQ Flavor” chips!
^UK flavored drinks + TX flavored chips = best allied combo ever
We then strolled around town until Alicia and Sam had to catch their train back. Suzhou is littered with doors, graffiti and couples getting wedding photos done…
^sharpies > spraypaint
The train ride back was uneventful and we endured the mass exodus to the metro station to meet Alicia and Sam for dinner.
We ate at a Taiwanese restaurant and ordered 5x dishes and 3x desserts (peanut bing, sweet potato and taro bing, and almond jello). The towering treats were amazing and in our haste to consume them, I forgot to take a photo…
^but I got one of the aftermath!
We decided to call it a a night.