Saturday morning was warm, humid and overcast which was better than the forecast because rain was on the agenda. I was told to meet everyone at Xinghai Square metro station which is only a short walk from my flat. Today was another junket trip to have a look at a potential tourist destination near Suzhou. It was mostly foreigners that had been invited because we are the target audience. I sat with Stu who came from Pinner just outside London, which is where my good friends Roseanne and Michael live. You won’t be able to buy much in Pinner for under half a million pounds and so I think from the way he spoke his family are very wealthy but he told me that they think that he should make his own way in the world rather than be given the wealth, which is an unusual but refreshing attitude.
We boarded a small fishing boat and headed out to the island, which at the moment I can not remember its name, but I’m sure it doesn’t really matter. On the first of September the fishing season begins at Taihu, the fisherman are only allowed to fish legally for 6 months of the year to protect the fish stocks. The lake is vast and today it looked particularly atmospheric due to the low cloud and the overcast conditions and to be honest it was perfect for going out on the boat, although the humidity was through the roof.
Our boat trip lasted about 40 min and we puttered out at a leisurely pace and the distant island soon became a reality and the two older women on board got to work with the bamboo poles to bring us safely along side the other boat that was already docked. Click Here
These old women were fit and they had very good muscle definition on their arms. of course it is very clear that I have made a faux pas when recording this video………………
They soon had us tied up and be disembarked and wandered or should I say rushed along the path, we barely got the chance to look at the old buildings and scenery as we made our way to the ultimate destination which was the BnB that we had all been brought to see. It was in the heart of the village about a 20 min walk from the dock along a very narrow path. The place was very small, although very tastefully decked out. No WiFi but they will give you 3 meals a day if you stay and all for the measly sum of 80 quid which I think is way too expensive and so did many of the other folk in the group. The 3 meals a day would consist of mostly vegetable or fish, and fish is not something that I enjoy here. I know we would have to get the boat out to the island but 80 quid is really overpriced.
This couple were quite bemused when the gaggle of foreigners strolled by, I’m sure it’s not what they expected on a Saturday morning. This is the kind of thing that I really enjoy about China, you just never know what to expect and this is real village life, not something just staged for the tourist. It’s very refreshing to see but it also brings its own awkward moments when someone in the party says to the local in English, “Is it OK to take your picture? click……… some folk here don’t even speak Mandarin never mind English.
I would have liked to have wandered around the island for a few hours to discover what else may lie beyond but unfortunately it was all too short a visit and we were soon heading back to the boat to have lunch.
I did not enjoy lunch at all, it was all fish dishes apart from cucumber and pumpkin and some rather tasteless dumplings and so I was absolutely starving and you know the worst thing about these kind of trips is that they keep bringing more and more food even when we have all stopped eating, they waste so much food and they would never consider getting a doggy bag to eat the next day.
The boat trip back to the mainland was smooth and the sun even began to show its face, but just for a second. It’s been an enjoyable afternoon and just before we head home we are going to visit a 2000 year old tree in one of the local gardens.
It’s really quite spectacular and very unusual and so difficult to imagine that it is 2000 years old but it certainly looks like it has had a hard time.