Shanghai-Suzhou: Day 2

The Soong sisters are very famous in China because their husbands are China's most significant political figures in the 20th century.

• Soong Ai-ling: The eldest and the one who "loved money," was married to the richest man and finance minister of China; H.H. Kung
• Soong Ching-ling: The one who "loved China," was married to the Father of Modern China and first President of the Republic of China; Sun Yat-sen
• Soong May-ling: Youngest and the one who "loved power," was married to the leader of the Kuomintang, Generalissimo of the Chinese armies, and later President' Chiang Kai-shek

This morning after breakfast, we visited the grave of "Soong Ching-ling" - the mother of China.

Her parents were also buried here along side with her. And although the Soong sisters are famous, powerful and wealthy... they produced no descendants. It was believed that the bombing of their parents' graves in the earlier days (due to some political reasons) destroyed their otherwise good feng shui.

From there, we took a 3-hour journey by bus to "Suzhou". The funny but fascinating thing bout Mandarin is that, some words can have multiple meanings and everything under the sun can be made into rhymes. Take the following for instance:

• Beijing "kan Chen Tou" (fortes)
• Xi'an "kan Fern Tou" (graves)
• Gui Lin "kan Shan Tou" (mountains)
• Shanghai "kan Ren Tou" (humans)
• Nanjing "kan Se Tou" (rocks)
• Wuxi "kern Gu Tou" (bones)
• Hangzhou "kan Yar Tou" (teas)

So what's there in "Suzhou"? "Suzhou kan Chiao Tou" (bridges). There are plenty of bridges here as within the city, it is not uncommon to find that streets and rivers go side by side, while water and land routes run in parallel". Historically Suzhou is a remarkable place which is rich in outstanding talents and natural resources and the city is often praised as "the earthly heaven" for its fully developed traditional culture and its scenic gardens. There is a saying that compares Suzhou and Hangzhou with Heaven. "Sang You Tian Tang, Xia You Su Hang" translated as "In heaven there is paradise. On earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou". (Su = Suzhou, Hang = Hangzhou). Our first stop of the day was to the "Lake of Jinji" (Jinji Hu).

The entire place was peaceful, serene and relaxing except for a bunch of psychotic fellas who crammed themselves into a telephone booth...

From there, we proceeded to the "Classical Gardens of Suzhou". Here we visited a mansion... which was of course damn huge, damn nice and damn luxurious (by olden days' standard) with a scenic view, nice garden, beautiful rock garden and nice bridges for photo taking.

The best part was... when we left the mansion, we had to take a boat ride out... Again... it is surrounded by water... (sui). The old lady who rowed out boat even entertained us a few songs...

After that we proceeded to the "Guan Chien Jie" - another happening shopping streets that sell a variety of apparels, imitation goods, food and snacks etc etc. We tried the KFC here... and was pleasantly surprised to find it nicer than the ones in KL. The chicken was somewhat juicier, more tender and saltier. :)

That night, we walked to a cyber cafe located opposite our hotel. The rates are damn cheap... RMB1 per hour (RM0.50). Here there are smoking section and none smoking ones. We sat at the smoking ones which was of course dirtier but not just with ashes but with "kuaci" shells everywhere... hehehe...

And ohhh... beer is very cheap too... RMB3 (RM1.50) for a big bottle (but not branded one la... some unknown Chinese brand)...