We have the week off from work and school for Chinese National Day. Although we have been here for over six weeks, we had only done local sightseeing. Yesterday we took our first real outing. We hired a local driver and he took us out to Taihu. the "hu" means lake, and Taihu, which is west of Suzhou, is one of the largest freshwater lakes in China. The following satellite image shows the location.
Taihu is the large lake at center left. The river is the Yangtze. There are four large cities visible in the image. Shanghai east at the far right. Suzhou is just east of the lake. Wuxi is at the northern edge of the lake. Changzhou is northwest of the lake at the corner of the image. The large island is Xi shan, or West Hill. The end of the large peninsula is Dong shan, or East Hill. We went to Xi shan, which is linked to the mainland by a series of causeways. It includes some nice resorts, and a pleasant little town that is obviously off the beaten path for foreign tourists (I didn't see a single westerner all day).
The following images are from that morning.
A cave we visited. It was kind of fun, but not especially spectacular. There are some additional caves west of the lake that are said to be much cooler (one has a waterfall, and in another you traverse an underground lake by ferry). Initially, I planned for yesterday's outing to go to those caves, but it proved to be too much of a logistical challenge, so I will work on it for another time.
John in a little pocket of rock off of the trail. Just outside of the picture to the right are the Chinese girls who thought this scene was very, very funny.
Lee and Allyne near the summit of the hill over the cave.
The second level within the pagoda. I think the guy here wanted to sell me my fortune.
A view from the summit.
Two views of the lake from another area of the island. The sky was very clear for the first half of this week, but the usual haze was back. Still, it was all very pleasant, it just doesn't photograph as well.
Two more images from the same general area. I should have kept track of the names of all these places.
Lunch. An interesting experience. Our driver recommended this little place. In the cities, most restaurants have picture menus to help out the foreigners. Here, the lady just took me out back to show me what they could cook for us. Everything was local, and most was right out of the lake. I chose a fish, a chicken, and I pointed to various vegetables. I specifically did not point to the little freshwater shrimp, but we got them anyway. Just because I pointed didn't mean I knew what they were going to do to them, so as each dish came out, we had no idea what it would actually be.
All in all, we had way too much food, but I've learned that ordering way too much food is a cultural characteristic here. Everything was good, even the scrambled eggs with little eel-like critters mixed in. The only thing I didn't like at all were the little shrimp. It isn't that they are staring back, it is that they were too much work for too little reward. The chicken was cooked in an oily broth, with only the innards missing. Everything else, including head and feet, were there with it.
Don't worry, if you come visit us, we won't feed you this way. Tomorrow I will post on the afternoon portion of this outing.
Taihu is the large lake at center left. The river is the Yangtze. There are four large cities visible in the image. Shanghai east at the far right. Suzhou is just east of the lake. Wuxi is at the northern edge of the lake. Changzhou is northwest of the lake at the corner of the image. The large island is Xi shan, or West Hill. The end of the large peninsula is Dong shan, or East Hill. We went to Xi shan, which is linked to the mainland by a series of causeways. It includes some nice resorts, and a pleasant little town that is obviously off the beaten path for foreign tourists (I didn't see a single westerner all day).
The following images are from that morning.
A cave we visited. It was kind of fun, but not especially spectacular. There are some additional caves west of the lake that are said to be much cooler (one has a waterfall, and in another you traverse an underground lake by ferry). Initially, I planned for yesterday's outing to go to those caves, but it proved to be too much of a logistical challenge, so I will work on it for another time.
John in a little pocket of rock off of the trail. Just outside of the picture to the right are the Chinese girls who thought this scene was very, very funny.
Lee and Allyne near the summit of the hill over the cave.
The second level within the pagoda. I think the guy here wanted to sell me my fortune.
A view from the summit.
Two views of the lake from another area of the island. The sky was very clear for the first half of this week, but the usual haze was back. Still, it was all very pleasant, it just doesn't photograph as well.
Two more images from the same general area. I should have kept track of the names of all these places.
Lunch. An interesting experience. Our driver recommended this little place. In the cities, most restaurants have picture menus to help out the foreigners. Here, the lady just took me out back to show me what they could cook for us. Everything was local, and most was right out of the lake. I chose a fish, a chicken, and I pointed to various vegetables. I specifically did not point to the little freshwater shrimp, but we got them anyway. Just because I pointed didn't mean I knew what they were going to do to them, so as each dish came out, we had no idea what it would actually be.
All in all, we had way too much food, but I've learned that ordering way too much food is a cultural characteristic here. Everything was good, even the scrambled eggs with little eel-like critters mixed in. The only thing I didn't like at all were the little shrimp. It isn't that they are staring back, it is that they were too much work for too little reward. The chicken was cooked in an oily broth, with only the innards missing. Everything else, including head and feet, were there with it.
Don't worry, if you come visit us, we won't feed you this way. Tomorrow I will post on the afternoon portion of this outing.
1 comment:
HOLY underground lake with a ferry?!?!?!?! *starts putting money away for a plane ticket*
Thanks for the satellite photo with info - it was cool to see how everything is laid out.
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