Morning: SuZhou 苏州
As you all have heard, there are two things that are famous in Suzhou. First, it will have to be silk cos Suzhou is the biggest silk supplier in China and alot of departmental stores in Singapore will come to Suzhou to source for supplies. The second one will have to be Suzhou Beauties. Have you heard of 唐伯虎点秋香 (the one acted by Stephen Chow)? 秋香 is from Suzhou and so is 刘嘉玲, Carina Lau. Later, as you read, you will get to see the two famous things in Suzhou.
Suzhou Silk Factory
This is a place where hard-selling technique is used on Singaporeans. According to what the tour guide said, silk is good for our body because it emits some kind of smell or dunno what which will help us sleep better. This is also why every household in Suzhou must have a set of silk blanket, mattress cover and pillows. As typical kiasu Singaporeans, once they heard that the China govt provides 30% 'subsidy" to every set of silk products sold, everyone just snatch whatever they see. You will be shocked to see that you don'y buy items off the racks but instead, they put it on the floor. If you want, you use a marker and write your name down.
To see is to believe, they really convince us on the advantages of silk products. They even tell you stuff like how hotels in Shanghai are changing to silk mattress covers for all delegates who are attending the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Well apparently I am now using the pillow and it's quite comfortable. And you know one part of silk processing is to soak the cocoons in the water right so that silk will be easy to retrieve later right? The factory ladies who were doing that have been soaking her hands in the water all morning and you will be surprised to see that her fingers were not wrinkled at all!
Pics were not allowed for the silk factory. However, we were later ushered into a room for silk fashion show. I was ecstatic and hoping that I can really get to witness the long-mentioned Suzhou Beauties.......and then down came No 1....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
wow (fat and pork-marked)
WOW!!!
No 1 (from left): See, bra straps exposed!
No 2: Just woke up and didn't have a good night sleep
No 3: Normal
No 4: MODEL????
No 5: MODEL???
No 6: A student earning extra bucks
My brother was so disappointed! All those stories of Suzhou beauties that he read from novels were gone... His dream was dashed and in a fit of anger and disgust, he asked the tour guide what happened to the beauties.
The tour guide "Xiao Chun" said," In Suzhou, we have beauties of different grades. The 1st grade beauties have gone out of Suzhou, be actresses or models. 2nd grade beauties have married. 3rd grade beauties are farming. 4th grade beauties are what you see!" WAHAHAHAHA!!! Humorous rite!
Suzhou Heritage Musuem
This place showcases some of the ancient relics from alot of dynasties. Contemporary and relaxed...
Me and the ancient 龙袍
Afternoon-Night: Nanjing 南京
To be honest, I kind of like Nanjing. Though the tour guide kept telling us that it is a very solemn and gray city, I do have to admit that I am intrigued by its rich history. Its history started way before the Ming Dynasty to the Nanjing Massacre. I am so entertained by the stories mentioned throughout the road trip. I guessed I am the only one who was listening to the tourguide while the rest were "zzzzing". Haha..
Along the way as we entered the city, we saw the walls 城墙 that are left behind from Ming dynasty...
Spectacular cos this 城墙 surroumds the entire city and it helped to block off the Japanese invasion during WW2.
Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall
Anyway, the Nanjing Massacre Museum is the one that really left me with deep impression. This musuem is actually built over one of the largest evacuation site in Nanjing when hundreds of thousands of chinese were believed to be killed by the Japanese during the occupation.
I believed what I saw cos you really get to see the skeletons buried deep in the ground. Very sad yet at the same time this leaves the Nanjing people with deep hatred for the Japanese. Thus, you won't find Japanese in this city.
We can't take pictures in the Memorial Hall out of respect. However, I feel very uncomfortable when I saw layers of bones not being excavated yet. So, I can picture what they meant by bodies buried over bodies. Some of the bones were found with long nails in their hip bones. Very sad sight but I guessed this museum serves to remind us that wars should not be repeated at all.
夫子庙街
Enough of the sad parts. More pictures will be shown of the night scene at Nanjing. Though Nanjing is a solemn place, you will be surprised to see how pretty the night scene is. Plenty of neon lights and beautiful ancient bridges and houses. It's like pasar malam and this place is famous for pirated dvds! Damn cheap la and you can get full set of HK dramas for less than S$10!
I look pissed cos i am holding back my pee and you know how cold weather made it worst! hahaha... the toilet was flooded with tourists and it was very smelly. worst than those deserted toilets!
Spectacular cos this 城墙 surroumds the entire city and it helped to block off the Japanese invasion during WW2.
No comments:
Post a Comment