Our trip to the suburb of Suzhou (pronounced Sue Joe) started on Saturday morning 7am, at the train station and boarding with Alice. There are ten of us going, I am the only western teacher. Suzhou is west of Shanghai and about an hour on the bullet train. We are picked up by a driver in a nice large van and taken to the Blue Tassel International Private School. The principal cordially greets us and gives us a delightful tour of the K-12 school premises. A canal meanders through the grounds with an orchard and gardens for the children to enjoy. The dormitories are set up four per room. The art class rooms are wonderful. I walk into one art room, a young boy is practicing his Chinese calligraphy and I am amazed at his determination with such a large brush.
After our tour we have a wonderful seafood lunch at the fisherman’s wharf on one of the lakes in Suzhou. Large fish in platters were the main dishes, with shrimp, crabs, snails and a variety of other morsels for tasting. Wine in an urn was uncorked and poured for all. Little did we know it was 70% proof, tasted like ever clear with sugar and burned all the way down till we toasted each other. Much toasting is a Chinese custom! I began to toast with hot tea!
Next we drove around Suzhou looking at all the canals, homes and lovely landscape. Suzhou is compared to Venice, and considered the Venice of the Orient. We picked some tangerines and took pictures at a rest stop by the waters edge.
Then it was on to supper. I had not eaten much at the seafood luncheon, so the principal said he would take us to a more vegetarian place for supper. Off we went in the van following his suburban. Onto the freeway as our driver was trying to keep up with the principal going 140 kilometers. This was much too fast and I suggested seat belts. I believe this was the time I recall saying “oh, my god we are going to die!” I think Esther replied something about me going to my creator! We exited and drove for miles in the dark, came to a detour and made a right turn down a single lane road that wound through a village and back into the dark. We came to an abrupt stop behind a parked flat bed truck loaded with big white bags. Three men were standing next to the truck, maybe it was broke down. Who knows? At this point I don’t care for dinner and just want to go home. We had to get out of the van and wait till our driver could turn it around, because he might run off the road and into the levee and didn’t want us in the van. My colleagues were star gazing now, amazed they could see them in the night sky! Stars, you’ve got to be kidding? Back in the van back tracking to find the restaurant. The principal is determined to get us there “hell or high water!” He questions a stopped biker and she calls her friends who immediately show up and lead the way. We do actually find this wonderful resort for dinner where we had thirty dishes of food, including turtle soup, crispy goose feet, steamed chicken feet, thinly sliced liver and gizzards, duck bill soup, shrimp, black tofu, steamed pumpkin, and a variety of other tasty bowls of things I couldn’t name. I’m glad we arrived, no longer lost and defiantly vegetarian!
