On Sunday I went to Lingyenshan with a group of friends and when we all arrived at 9am the clouds were threatening to soak us, in fact at 6am the rain was on. I’ve been here many times before of course but not with such a large group. There were 4 couples with children and the youngest was 6, so I thought this would be a problem because it’s difficult in places……….not the kid the track I mean………..I don’t even know the kid and then again maybe he is a bit difficult. After about an hour the sun came out with a vengeance and so it was time to cover up. Some folk hadn’t even brought a hat which is just bloody stupid really. The walk is good, it has some difficult areas, it’s quite steep and then you have a chance to rest as you go back down hill. However there are a few parts where the loose stones make it like ice and you have to be really careful. A few ended up on their arse, including the adults, but thankfully I stayed on my feet.

I want one of these remote control cars, they are bloody marvelous

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It took us about 4 hours to do the walk and I’ll be honest I was getting a bit weary by the end of it, I was running out of fuel and I only had a very small lunch and breakfast and I was running on empty. But we all made it safely to the end and when I got home I stuffed me face, had a shower and hit the sack, I think I was sleeping before my head hit the pillow.

This morning I decided to go to Xishan as it is my new motto to explore more. After breakfast I went to the park and then after me shower I headed to Xishan. Its two hours away an unfortunately the bus driver was on the horn shouting at people most of the way. I’m not going to dwell on that, but they are fucking morons.

Xishan was quiet and today I really just wanted to go for a walk and a bit of a recce. I spotted many places selling fruit which I had no interest in. It’s the Pipa that I bought the other day and it really is over rated. The stone in the centre is so big that the amount of fruit you get is very small and the taste is, well for me, so so. A little sweet, a bit citrus. There were a few other things like the fish bladders being dried in the sun, not sure if you eat them or may or maybe they use them as condoms.

I spotted a café and popped in for a look. The coffee was expensive, 30 rmb, but the cup was nice and the coffee was very good. There were about 10 locals drinking tea and were a bit bemused by me I think. A young girl about 7 years old came in with a dog and she spoke with her mother and then she wandered over my way. The dog made a bee line for me and of course I had to say hello. Cookie was a very nice wee dog and he just wanted someone to pat his head and scratch him behind the ears, I can relate to that. The young girl spoke to me telling me that Cookie likes these beef strips and she gave them to me so that I could feed the dog. She just started speaking to me like an old friend and the rest of the room were quite taken by this; none of them could speak English. They brought me some tea over after I had finished my coffee and I even got a refill. A very pleasant half hour sitting there and not what I expected from such a small place. I told the Mother that her daughter’s English was very good and they also complemented me on my Chinese.

There was a loop road that I walked which was about 8 km’s and so I set off to see what I could find. I came across numerous restaurants selling the food they catch from Taihu (Lake Tai), none of it is of interest to me. I’ve eaten most of it before and I find it quite tasteless. I came across a temple on the lakeside. There is an old village that I went to years ago and will go to again, I just forgot where it was and today I did not really have the time or the inclination to go in. The pictures will let you see what my trip was like today and so I will go the noo and have another lazy night after such a long day walking in the sun.

I’d heard that the tram line had been extended from the Suzhou Amusement Park to within a kilometre of Taihu and so I decided today that I would check it out.

When I left home the clouds were abundant and so I wore clothes to suit, however after about two hours they cleared and the sun began to bite a little. It wasn’t too hot but the sun was strong.

It was a bit of an adventure because I had no idea where I would end up and I do like to explore. The tram is very good and I noticed that the driver seems to use gestures throughout the journey, but not the kind of gestures that I would use when driving. Mind you they were two finger gestures, but more the kind you would see if a priest was blessing someone rather than to tell someone you didn’t quite agree with what they had done or said. Before moving from the station he would use his right hand and point up to the left and then move his hand horizontally and then back again and the train would move. Sometimes he swept his hand above the main screen on the dash; mind you maybe he was just playing some kind of game to relieve the monotony of the job or maybe its witchcraft. On the way the tram’s bell would ring very loudly when we were going around a tight bend at an intersection and after a wee while I was getting ready to stick them somewhere. There’s always noise in China, you can’t just sit back and enjoy the view and relax in the bus or the tram for that matter. There is always a safety message or a notification of a destination and it seems continuous but I guess if this is what you have grown up with you are none the wiser.

We passed many places of interest and so over the coming weeks I shall do some more exploring of this area which is a good thing because I have been rather bored lately and so this will at least wet my appetite for a while. I’ll be out this way again on Sunday because I’m going for a walk with some of the students that I teach; they have invited me out for a hike at Lingyenshan.

At the terminus I emerged into a semi rural area, there was an old lady with a two seat electric taxi asking if I wanted a lift into town and I politely refused, maybe next time I said. I turned right and headed for the lake Taihu, which was less than 1 km from the shiny new train station. There was a small harbour, filthy and full of different boats. Some were house boats and others looked like small runabouts, but not anything that looked like a large fishing boat. The water was a lovely green colour and there were many old folk scooping up this green ooze, possibly algae and pouring it into buckets, not sure what they will use this for, but it was good to see them try to clean the lake a little. By this time the sun was beginning to bite and I wished that I had me bigger hat and long troos on. There didn’t seem anywhere else near here worth looking at, unless you were driving of course because I think it would be a lovely scenic relaxing drive as there was very little traffic. At the bus stop I looked to see where the bus was going to and it was due in 10 mins and so it seemed to go around the small peninsula and return to a point no more than 1 km from my current position, so on I went.

It was nice to sit on the bus as we drove around the lake, the driver even switched off the running commentary for the safety info, I like this driver. It looks like a great place to cycle, the roads are quiet and there is a dedicated bike path following the lake. I would live in a place like this if I could have a normal life in China and what I mean by that is; having my own house and car and the money to do so. There are so many places to live to make life more enjoyable but in my current situation this is just not possible to attain.

We arrived back in civilisation at the bus station. We have arrived at the Suzhou Embroidery Town, which I had been too many moons ago but had no ideas where it was exactly. I didn’t explore the town because it was getting a little late in the afternoon and it was time to head home but I will come back here again now that I know where it is.

The journey home was not bad. It took about 2 hours to get back and when I got back I was absolutely knackered. After some food and an hour of mindless TV I retired for the evening, my body feeling that I had run a marathon.

As I write this on the computer I am also trying to access some information from my Google drive on line and it looks like the Chinese firewall is being beefed up this week due to the 30^th anniversary of a party that took place in Beijing where as we know many people were killed. No one seems to know the real number, but they say it could run into thousands. A few people I have met here know about it but many others do not. It’s not a subject I bring up but when I get to know someone and the opportunity arises then sometimes I will ask the question. A good friend of mine who is a staunch supporter of the government told me that I was completely wrong about this and I was getting confused with a battle that took place many years earlier during the Mao years and so I let her tell me and thanked her for correcting me. Another friend was telling me the other day that one of her friends was at University at that time in Beijing and she saw nothing and she knows that this is just western propaganda. But I wonder if it really matters because many people here don’t really care what Mao did and they dismiss the deaths that took place to something that had to happen to get them to this point today where they can use the high speed trains and the convenience of the cashless society. Life is good now for many Chinese and so the price that was paid all those years ago is worth it and so we should not dwell on the past

I just had a thought, maybe the train driver is a Freemason…………..

A poem submitted to the Bremer Forum

I’m a Rat; I’m a Leo, what a great combination,

The strength of the Lion with Rat innovation,

Makes us invincible without even tryin’

We are modest, brilliant, generous and kind,

But taking us for granted will put you in a bind,

Our memories are long and we enjoy sweet revenge,

We can bide oor wheest fur weeks on end,

Return the compliment when you least expect it,

And then all of a sudden you will look so dejected,

Well we tried to warn you but you just widnae listen,

A face like fizz all screwed up and wizened,

The Rat and the Lion are sitting so smug,

Drinking a single malt from a big bloody jug,

Happy Birthday……Don’t forget it!

The sun has come out and the temperature has soared, today is 34 C which is a little unpleasant, although the humidity is not too bad. I went to Stone Lake on Wednesday to see my friend Rita who is always looking for new challenges in life and over the course of the last 6 months she has had many personal challenges to face. But it was good to see that she could still smile. The sun was shining as we sat in the cafe which overlooks the lake. It’s about 15 kms from home and so it’s usually two buses to get there. I was well covered up due to the clear blue skies and the hot sun but nonetheless I decided to walk back from Stone Lake instead of taking the bus.

I stopped for lunch and then began my stroll home. This is where I started my tracking app. I wandered through the old streets that make up the south of the city. Not too much development here yet but that might change some day soon. In China when you buy a house you do not own the land, you can only lease the land and apartment for 77 years and so this allows the government to come in and repossess the land or house and demolish it if they so desire and the occupants do not have a leg to stand on. So in many parts of China this ruling is obviously being used for development purposes. The property prices are staggering in China and they are increasing at a rapid rate, they are not afraid of the property bubble here. My apartment has been here for around 15 years or so and it is currently priced at around 60.000 RMB a square metre and they are saying that this will increase year on year. In fact 100.000 RMB does not seem too unrealistic by the end of next year. My apartment is 170 square metres.

I noticed that I seemed to be following the bus route as I zig zagged my way across the city, turn left and then right. I went down one street that had so many fruit shops and the fruit was way cheaper than my neighbourhood and so I bought two kilos of “Ugly Oranges” which are very tasty especially if you have them with yoghurt, raisins and almonds, even on their own they are tasty, but that added weight made the journey that bit more difficult. I didn’t think that 2Kg would make much difference, but in this heat it was. The sweat started to pour off me and the back of my shirt was soaked. I put my bag on my front and this swapping from my front to my back continued all the way home. As soon as I was too wet I changed to dry off me shirt and so on.

As I continued across town my phone beeps at me as I enter a new area. Your not only on Candid camera in China but you are also at the mercy of text messages. Everyday I receive many many messages and I usually pay no attention to them, one because they are in Chinese and secondly they are usually a message like this,

This of course is a very crude translation via the phone,

Sweep the black and evil, online gaming environment, keep the peace! Please participate, supervise and try, and truly fight the war of a in order to clear the evil. Suzhou Industrial Park sweep black anti-evil, telephone: Sweep office: 0512-65235212; Public security Bureau: 110; Jian ‘ an Committee: 123888 (“Umbrella” and corruption). “Office of the leading group for the special struggle to sweep black and evil in Suzhou Industrial Park

There is a bit of a crackdown in the city at the moment, the rumour going around is that the Boss is coming to Suzhou for a visit later in the year. A friend was telling me last week that it is no longer allowed for a female masseuse to give a male a massage and vice versa. apparently other things may happen or be expected. All the dodgy KTV bars or karaoke bars have also been cleaned up. No more going for a song and getting your leg over as you sing “I did it my way” All over the city there are red banners promoting operation “Clean the place up and kill Evil”. They hang on the front of factories and bridges and even on the fences of our complex. I don’t pay any attention because I can not read Chinese and so I was completely oblivious to what’s going on and so I was surprised when I heard. They are trying to crack down on organised crime, the gambling, prostitution and the loan sharks that prey on the poor. China has the same problems as many other countries but the way the deal with it is a little different. In the old part of town I’ve often seen the well-heeled gangster types driving the Black Range Rover with tinted windows. They dress in black to look good with the car, but I think it’s to make them look thinner because they are usually a little bit overweight, not fat bastards just overweight. The gold chain adorning the neck and the very large gold knuckle dusters are all part of the image. It could be any country really, they all seem to shop at the same store.

I made it home from Stone lake after walking for nearly 4 hours and I was very happy to be home. I could have gone further but I was glad to take the weight off and just sit on the couch and relax. After consuming an “Ugly Orange” my body started to complain a little and so I decided to go for an early night and listen to Radio 4 and to try to steer away from anything Brexit related.

I slept like a log and after breakfast thought to myself that I was having a day off from the park and so the very long lazy morning kicked in. I went out for lunch and then I had to go to class in the south of the city, quite close in fact to Stone lake. The metro is really quite cold now, they really cranked up the air conditioning. I waited on the platform at my usual spot because I need to change a few stations down the line and this door leaves me in front of the escalator. The train arrives and the door opens and I am greeted with the most overpowering smell of sweat, I stopped breathing it was so bad. Imagine a hundred pairs of sweaty socks, the sweat so liquid that it hangs in the air and condenses on you as you stay longer in the carriage, it was foul. I think there must have been someone in here that was extra smelly because even when the train is full it’s not like this.

I survived the metro and made it to my class. I got back out of the metro station around 8.30 that evening on my return home. The temperature is perfect. The park is full of people. Some are the old ladies doing their square dancing, maybe 200. There is a group of 4 old dears doing Tai Chi. A few more have their legs hanging over the top rail of the fence, a popular past time here. Dogs are being walked, some folk are jogging, some jogging with dogs. Lovers, friends, commuters and of course the Phone Zombies walking aimlessly faces all a glow because the phones are about 2 inches from their noses.

I exit the other side of the park, having taken the centre path through the small amphitheatre and over the wooden bridge towards the East Gate and then onto the fruit shop. I need more bananas, I have none at home. It’s after 9pm by the time I get home and I unwind a bit and then it’s time to retire but first I will upload some of the pictures I took when I visited the Silk Museum at the beginning of the week. It was OK, I wasn’t too interested in it if I’m honest but I had gone with a few folk and so I took a few snaps of the place. I think the entrance is quite spectacular where you will find the Silk Goddess presiding. The wall is a graphical history of silk. The best thing I saw here was this amazing giant loom and of course the entrance hall.

A quick addition, I think I’ve said before that Sissi runs an Airbnb house and so the guy staying this week is from India and works for the Bank of Scotland in Mumbai. I never knew we had a bank there.

I was lying in bed awake before the alarm clock went off this morning, well the radio 4 news to be exact. Big Ben rung out and then it was followed by the dulcet tones from the BBC. So much stupidity coming out of America at the moment, it’s a child having tantrums, but a very dangerous child, a spoilt brat that will do and say anything to get attention. If this Trump baby is not in the spotlight then it’s just not happy and of course his many cronies and leeches around him are taking advantage and using their influence to put the world on the brink of war and maybe they might just get some more orders for the companies that they are invested in. All the companies that feed the American war machine are on high alert with the prospect of fresh conflicts on virgin soil.

America will never change from its direction; I fear that this administration is going to do something really stupid. There are so many in power that help to feed the war machine and without conflict the American economy will go into decline. This selfish attitude, this greed that is inherent in their society will be the downfall of everything we know and to make matters worse their President doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. The righteous rule America and they are no different to any other Islamic fundamentalist organisation hell bent in destroying the infidel. They do not look in the mirror; they only listen to their god and fear mongers. So many things to rant about coming out of America but I don’t have the time or the inclination today…………..