Some books I've been reading.

I remember the first few weeks that I was in China I felt quite isolated - there was little that I could read. As an avid reader of magazines, newspapers and books I found there was nothing much in English for me to read.

The second time I went to Hangzhou that I was introduced to the Foreign Language Bookstore - and later in Shanghai I found a big bookshop there that had many books in English. How exciting. Each time I would buy another book.

The last few weeks of term I spent most of my time working on exam papers etc, so did little reading and was pleased to get to Shanghai and then Singapore to add to my collection of books.

I have decided to read a few books to help me understand more about the Chinese culture, and have read some great ones, which I will report on.

I'm not really good at "book reviews" as such - but here goes. Not in any particular order.

One book that I really enjoyed was a Memoir "The Thorn of Lion City" by Lucy Lum.

Lucy was born in Singapore in 1933, and this is the story of her extra ordinary life with a dictatorial grandmother, and the invasion of the Japanese during World War II.

I couldn't put the book down - it was a great read, and gave me a little more insight into Chinese culture, and the horrific life that people endured during the occupation by the Japanese. It was especially interesting for me, as I recognised some of the street names and places that Lucy wrote about.

What an excellent book! I recommend it.

"The Thorn of Lion City" by Lucy Lum. Published by Harper Perennial.

Leaving Shanghai

We left Shanghai on a Sunday morning - leaving the New Harbour Service Apartments very early in the morning by taxi to get to the airport. I was thrilled to see the new airport - as when I had arrived in Shanghai nearly five months earlier we landed at the old (almost derelict) airport.

The new airport was quite a sight - with vast windows overlooking the runway with some small farms on the other side. As well one could see a variety of watercraft in the sea beyond - making their way into or out of Shanghai.

I love Shanghai - though not the pollution that seemed to hang in the air like a dirty wet blanket during our time there - but happy to move on to our next destination.

We fly Singapore Airlines (recently voted the best airline in the world!), and were soon booked in, and ready for our visit to Singapore.

Accommodation in Shanghai

There are many hotels and holiday apartments to choose from in Shanghai - but as it is huge city, if you are planning to visit, you need to determine the location of where you want to stay. MM initially booked us into a hotel (it was good price) but it was near one of the airports - quite a distance from the centre of Shanghai. On reflection we were concerned about the cost of frequent taxi rides to get to the places we wanted to.

So we studied the maps again. Cost was an issue - our budget was mid range - and as we were staying for over a week, we wanted something of reasonable price.

In the end we booked in at New Harbour Service Apartments, 88 Yongshou Road, Shanghai. It was possible to walk from our accomodation to Nanjing Road. It was a good walk and we did it once, but as MM had knee problems we chose to taxi most of the time. (There is lots of roadworks which made the taxi rides longer and more expensive but it really was very economical).

On the days we booked tours our tour bus picked us up and returned us, so there was no problem there.

It was a stroke of genius (???) that we booked accomoation that featured Gerbera flowers - as we had been Gerbera growers. There were Gerberas in the foyer, in the restaurant, and on the menu, brochures etc.

Our apartment was great. We had two bedrooms - one we used for our luggage only, and the rest of the apartment was well appointed. I've actually mentioned this earlier.

The point of this post is to encourage would be travellers to look at a map (so easy now with Google) and just see where the accomodation is. I know it is not easy if you do not know the city - and I guess you can be prepared to move if it is not suitable.

The New Harbour Service Apartments was well appointed and I'd recommend it. The restaurant was good for breakfast - but probably not the best if you wanted a good evening meal. The food was good, and well priced - but they seemed to not have all that was on the menu.

They had a good Gym (which I of course avoided) but a wonderful heated indoor swimming pool.

We found the staff very helpful - and highly rate the service of the doorman. Always a taxi was found for us very quickly.

As an added bonus, there was a small supermarket opposite the Apartments - just a walk across the road - so we were able to buy snacks, beer and wine at supermarket prices, which was a bonus. We did not use the kitchen at all!

To find out more and book click here.

Zhouzhuang Water Village

One of the famous bridges

In the "gondola"

Boating


The narrow canal

Old buildings - showing their age.

Not far from Suzhou is Zhouzhuang - a very old water village. This was also part of our tour on this day to Suzhou, and the silk factory.

What a wonderful place - I do hope you enjoy the photographs. We walked along the pathway with the canals on one side and shops on the left hand side. There was so much to see and it was just so fascinating. I wish I could remember everything that was explained by our tour guide.

It certainly was an old town - which was easy to see from the buildings. On the canals were small boats, each with an enthusiastic boatman or boatwoman. We were treated to a tour of the town in one of these boats and we were told that if we handed our boatman/woman some money they would sing for us. It was rather fun.

So many tourists did so, so it was quite a musical event. The boats took us for a short tour around the village, which was most interesting and picturesque.

The Silk Factory - Suzhou

Mul Entrance to the restaurant at the Silk factory

Silk gown in Silk Museum

In the silk museum

In the silk factory


Cocoons on racks in the silk factory

Display of "silkworms"

Mulberry Leaves at the silk factory.

The tour to Suzhou was a long day - 10 hours to be exact. One of the highlights was visiting the silk factory there. Our first stop at the silk factory was the restaurant for a wonderful Chinese banquet lunch. It was rather odd that several of our group were vegetarians and they were ushered to another part of the restaurant and we non-vegetarians sat together.

After lunch we visited the factory itself. Just before the entrance was a stand of mulberry trees. The preferred food of silk worms.

Mulberry trees are fairly common here in Queensland - I don't know the history of these trees, but I do know that anyone who grows silk worms at home always knows where to find the precious leaves for their worms. One I remember is on the banks of the Brisbane River at Bulimba - I have not kept silk worms here, but feasted on the mulberry!

The display was awesome. Every detail of the growth of the silk worm was on display, and we were able to walk through the factory to see how the treasured silk thread is harvested from the cocoon. In one museum were wonderful silk clothes - some ancient garments with wonderful embroidery.

One awesome display was how they make silk quilts - and I hope I can upload the short movie for this site. It was amazing.

There was much to see. At the end of the tour through the factory, we wandered through the retail section which was amazing. It was similar to a huge department store with so many products manufactored from silk. The first area was where silk quilts, sheets, etc were on full display and there were some very beautiful products on display.

I wandered around - wishing I had more room in my suitcase and more money in my wallet!!!

I hope that one day I can return to the Silk Factory - although I am sure there are some closer to Shaoxing.

Photos from Suzhou

There are several famous gardens in Suzhou - we visited The Lingering Garden.

Touring Shanghai

One of the most important things to do when visiting a new city is to do a Day Tour. I've written earlier about our Day Tour of Shanghai which took us around the city to places like the Shanghai Museum, The Bund, Old Shanghai, Xintiandi, Nanjing St, the Pearl Markets, etc. It was a great day and we met a couple from New Zealand on their way to the UK.

That is one of the bonuses of this sort of tour - meeting other travellers.

What I like about such a tour is that one gets one's bearings. You can choose where to return to as there is only a short time at each venue.

Some of the places I had been to before, but learning more about them with a tour guide is most helpful.

There are many tour companies to choose from - and there is not much difference between the companies I suspect.

We were very happy with our tour company and tour guides - although on a couple of times they were late to pick us up. However, I think the traffice had a lot to do with it.

A city of some 21 million, with lots of road works does make for challenges for the tour companies.

We did on our own go back to Nanjing Road, Old China Town, Xintiandi and the Bund. More confidant because of our early tour.