of Suzhou, Hangzhou and nightmarish train stations
am now slacking in Hangzhou before my evening 13 hr overnight train that will take me all the way back to Beijing... i am starting to get burnt out; aching muscles and sore feet, plus uncomfortably hot and humid weather makes travelling really somewhat unpleasant. and i've decided that i've had ENOUGH of train stations in China... it is really a pain to have to wade through swarms of people to get to your destination each time...well. but this is China; what did i expect? =P i've also started wondering if Chinese really enjoy peddling their wares... was pretty amused/amazed to see railway staff peddling gadgets on some trains! from 'special' socks to toys and weird gimmicky gadgets, complete with detailed live demonstrations (for toys and gadgets)... i mean food/ magazine carts were ok, but "officially"selling random toys on trains was just weird.
Suzhou's gardens were really picturesque; but there's really little else to do beside touring the gardens. the whole place is pretty small and somewhat touristy too. but some gardens can be really beautiful. at some point i just sat at stone benches/on bridges to admire all that was around me. would have been very peaceful without the tonnes of ppl touring the gardens at the same time. the effort owners spent into designing their gardens was amazing. gardens were really meticulously planned. eg. to view a certain scenery, u can only stand at this particular spot; anywhere else you wun see the complete picture... who on earth has the time to do such things these days...
came to Hangzhou mainly for the famed Xi1 Hu2 (West Lake) and it's also very pretty... esp if you go at the right times. it's not immediately breathtaking, but it's nice to just stroll by the lake and take in the view at different points of the walk. Ting and I decided to catch the sunrise and escape the heat; so woke up at an unearthly hour this morning. by 515am we were by the lake and i was surprised that there were already many old folks strolling around, doing their morning exercises, hanging around etc....also partially felt like i was reliving my pri/sec sch Chinese textbooks, what with attractions like Yue Fei's temple/tomb, Wu Song's tomb (all fake and reconstructed one though, and apparently Sima Guang's house or something but that i didnt see) and the famed Lei2 Feng1 Ta3 from Bai2 She2 Zhuan4...
hmm anyway hav to stop now. glad i'm going home on Tuesday.. think i've had enough of China in sucky weather for now =P