My first visa run is apon me and as usual I factor in a fuck up factor for time and luckily I did. I went to terminal 2 because I’m flying to an international destination, but guess what Hong Kong is domestic. Once more I have forgotten but I’m sure the last time I flew I didn’t come through here. Anyway a quick detour and I have arrived at my gate in plenty of time. Although for a minute when I was at passport control I thought I was going to have a problem because she took such a long time looking at my passport, but then I just realised that she’s checking out where I’ve been and maybe a little jealous.

I guess Taiwan,Macau and Hong Kong is a bit like European travel in the fact you still need all your bits of paper to get on the plane, but it’s not domestic of course.

I’m hoping to pick up a new phone in Hong Kong because if I buy one on mainland China it will come with all the free crap Chinese software that allows so much advertising to randomly appear and it will also come with firmware that does not allow you to get to Google Play and it also will not allow you to install a VPN for example and so I’m hoping I can find a new phone before my old one finally gives up the ghost.

I thought I’d be looking for a new computer too but thankfully I think I’ve solved that little problem.

And now I’m at my gate waiting to board and all is well. The weather in Hong Kong is hot and humid, but what’s new about that?

I’ll meet with Grace tomorrow and she’ll hopefully take me to another new place, maybe the beach not sure. Last time I saw her was in Edinburgh last February when it was a tad colder. I’m looking forward to catching up and she’ll hopefully get me a good price on that phone.

Each night across the country many middle aged women and a few men get out for a ho down on the park. One of the biggest I’ve seen is in the nearby Central Park next to our apartment.

There are also many many people out and about doing their own thing.

Now if you saw a group of folk brandishing swords you would be off in the opposite direction, but this is a common sight every day in the park.

Yesterday I went in search of a street tailor that could take up a new pair of jeans for me and so I headed to an old part of Suzhou where I often go for lunch and to buy from the local market. I asked one lady and she said that her machine was unable to sew that material but she told me of a place nearby.

The lane to the South Gate of Suzhou University is narrow and busy and this is where you will find small street stalls selling food and also my tailor. A middle aged woman sitting amongst piles of clothes and with an old sewing machine in front of her which wouldn’t have looked out of place in the 60’s.

There was a queue of students when I arrived. I asked her if she could take up my jeans and she said yes and quickly measured them and then told me to come back at 6pm and so off I went.

I returned at 5.30 and realised I hadn’t asked how much and so I was trying to come up with an amount. Maybe 20 rmb or 30rmb , I had no idea.

My jeans were lying in the chair ready for me. I asked for the bill and she said “6 rmb” I said “that’s too cheap I’m going to give you 10rmb” she said “no need” but I did anyway and she was very grateful. Behind me I could hear the other stall owners asking her what happened and they were laughing. 10 rmb is also very cheap but I often wonder how some people can survive when they charge so little.

Last weekend I went to Dongshan for the first time since I have returned to Suzhou. I have missed this place and this time I went with Sissi and her friends, they had a car and so it was way more convenient getting there. None of them had been there before and so it was the foreigner leading the locals which was rather amusing. On the way to the village we pass many Loquat fruit trees and some other berries which I’m not sure of the name. There are cameras here and there are also many people working tending the plants and trees, but this doesn’t stop the Chinese from trying to get free fruit. Maybe I’m too old these days but I tend to respect these areas. We are allowed to walk through these very productive orchards and it will only take a few people having this kind of behaviour to bring the whole thing to a halt. Don’t get me wrong I’m not holier than thou in my old age but I pick the time and place with a bit more thought.

The main 24 step climb was a breeze and so I guess the training every morning must be doing something.

I never get sick of this place, however being the weekend there are a lot more people around than I’m used too. It’s just not the same.

When we arrived at the village the first thing on the agenda was lunch but as usual I had brought a few big Baozhi (big dumplings) which I like as I’m not a fan of the lake food on offer. I find most of this food quite tasteless and I don’t understand why it’s so popular. It’s like oysters, if they are so good then why have Oysters Kirkpatrick. You don’t taste the oysters because the other flavours are too strong and yet a wee oyster has died for no reason as far as I can see.

I will go to Dongshan soon but I’ll go during the week. I want to get a good bike so that I can try cycling around this place because it looks like quite a challenge.

My young friend Kang Meng invited me to her university today to have a look at the art from the students graduation. There were many different styles and I must admit I really enjoyed it because it was refreshing and new.

This last picture was my favourite.

We had lunch in Pingjiang Lu, which is the main tourist street in the old city which lets us see an example of how the old Suzhou really looked. I’ve walked up here many times and have seen them pick the rubbish out from the water using nets. They use small boats with electric engines so that they can go about their business quietly. It’s a very pretty street and a main attraction. Today however I was surprised to see that for almost the complete length of the business area, the water has been drained. It looks like they are shoring up the banks and the building running alongside the river, maybe even under pinning the buildings. You can see many of the old timbers sticking up but they are not attached to anything anymore. In places acro props are seen holding up the foundations of buildings that have been undermined by the river.

The rubbish lying on the river bed is abundant and the river bed has a thick black sludge that smells divine. There are dams built at each end of course and at each crossroads of the river and large pumps are constantly pumping water from the river bed. The water table here is very close to the surface and so they need to keep the pumps going or it will just flood.

There using a high pressure hose to “clean” the sludge and filth away from the sides of the walls. One guy has both arms in the water and sifting the river bed looking for god knows what, bare handed and black up to the elbows. I was pleased to see however that he had his safety helmet on.

You would think that they would have given him a pair of gloves, but I guess you can’t really feel your way but I can’t image sticking my hands into the bottom of this riverbed.

Further along there are a couple of JCB’s filling big bags which will be lifted out by another JCB that was sitting up top. It’s quite the spectacle and I’m sure it will be a long time before this kind of thing happens again. I found it really interesting to see the foundations of the buildings which of course normally are under a meter or so of water, but I look forward to seeing it back to its former glory.

And this is what it looks like when the water is back covering up a multitude of sins

It’s a necessity to have headphones in China so that you can block out all the fuckin noises that folk make while eating. Their gums are flapping about when quite honestly there is absolutely no need for it. You can eat most foods in China without all this fuckin disgusting accompaniment.

I joined a small group of expats and locals to explore the 1200 year old street named Shantang Street

Shantang Street

If you click on this link it will take you to a short video on the event.

The rain was on and the skies were grey but we decided to head off to have a look at an old town near Suzhou.

I went with my house mate Sissi and we had a good day wandering around this old town.

After a few visits to these places you begin to recognise the layouts of the houses and the streets but the art that was on show here today was very different and quite stunning too. I particularly liked the 4 pictures of the women dressed in traditional clothes.

It’s so fucking hot and humid today, not a good sign for the coming months ahead.