[Vnbiz] What should I do in Suzhou?

[Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov]

This may be too late for your purpose this trip.
Lonely Planet (which used to be the backpacker's bible) has good, 
practical information in a highly portable format that is extremely useful 
to English/non-Chinese speakers navigating China on their own.  LP 
provides the basics on all aspects but only goes into details on 
logistics.  It needs to be supplemented by other high end guides if you 
wish to delve deeper into the culture, which you are unlikely to have 
much/enough time for.  It used to be that the LP cover carried openly in 
Shanghai was the traveler's tool to attract young Chinese students who 
were eager to practice English with a foreigner.  This worked particularly 
well at the English corner, and on Fudan University campus.  It's one of 
those win-win situation you look for in travelling.  And when it works out 
well it still feel like serendipity.
What conference were you attending, and is it annual?
Best,  HPP




"Viet Tran" <tranbangviet at gmail.com> 
Sent by: vnbiz-bounces at mail.saigon.com
12/05/2006 06:49 PM
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Re: [Vnbiz] What should I do in Suzhou?






[ Vietnam Business Forum ]

Thank a.Hong-Phong_Pho for interested information.

The hairy crab is excellent. I have tasted two yesterday dinner. It worth 
flying here to eat.

Suzhou has the old tale about beauty lady, fresh beef and hot wine. Except 
fresh beef and hot wine that I have planned to use this dinner, I can not 
find the remaining. I must say that they are much more worse than I 
imagined. Nowhere to find. Maybe I will try my luck in Shanghai later 
(this weekend). 

Today, after the conference, I hope I will have enough time to visit some 
gardens or walk in the old street. My problems is I can not understand 
Chinese while the English of some people here is just enough to tell me 
the direction and or the price of a good. It's really terrible if you 
stand in historical garden or place, which you have read many time about 
it, and love to be there. But when you actually be there, you even don't 
recognize. 

I just have an English book about Suzhou to read. I hope that I can map 
thing I know from Vietnamese book and tale before to the name and 
description in English. So I can guest and mapping things together :-)

Thanks again!

Regards,
Viet

On 12/6/06, Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov < Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov> 
wrote:
[ Vietnam Business Forum ] 




Part II 
I first visited in 1984.  Even then, many new buildings were going up 
around the old one.  The dress code was still much more socialist then. 
That's definitely no longer the case.  Along with the gaudy, there are 
some really stylish folks there.  Having read about the legendary beauty 
of the girl of Suzhow from Vietnamese literature, I inquired about it (so 
I can take pictures).  One old man in a noodle shop with a recently 
decapitated water buffalo head and meat out front (remember this was 1984) 
told me they all went to Shanghai.  This information, whether or not true, 
served me well on subsequent visit to Shanghai.  In the crushing of 
humanity that is this gargantuan metropolis, it's some time difficult to 
notice or focus on individuals.  But if you have the time to sit and 
people watch, you will find among the million a porcelain-skinned, 
ruby-lipped beauty equal to the legend.  If and when you do, pay her a 
compliment by asking her if she hails from Suzhou.  If she knows enough 
about her own culture to know where you are coming from, then it's 
definitely worthwhile to continue the conversation.  If the conversation 
can be continue among the gardens of Suzhou (only an hour by train almost 
every hour from Shanghai into the wee hours) you cannot ask for more.  You 
will have learn things about the place you'll never forget.  All this 
cannot be done in a day, so you should plan more trips to Shanghai.  It 
doesn't sound like you'll have enough time for Hangzhou this time. 
You can buy anything you have money for in Shanghai.  Good Chinese food is 
a good value.  This time of year, you can get the delicious seasonal hairy 
crab that come from a lake in the region.  There is a whole legend behind 
it.  You have to buy a pait at a time.  Expensive for the pair, but much 
cheaper and fresher than in Hong Kong.  A good value in Suzhow is the 
multicolor cultured freshwater pearls there.  The thicker the pearl 
deposit over the artificial core, the more valuable and expensive.  They 
are fairly inexpensive for bling bling and can be quite classy if properly 
designed. 
Enjoy your visit. 
Best,  HPP 

__________________ 


[ Vietnam Business Forum ]



The only way to see Suzhou (To^ Cha^u) is through your imagination with 
the help of books, and literature.  The City still has some of the things 
that it was famous for, the gardens and their classical designs.  You can 
still see it early in the morning or in the evening, if you will limit 
your peripheral vision and look only at a few things at a time.  Old 
Suzhou is surrounded by or buried under the trappings of modern 
development, much the same way Hanoi is.  The process started much earlier 
for Suzhow.  Those who remembers Hanoi in the early 90's and before may be 
disappointed that the place "ain't what it used to be". 
(More later...)  HPP 

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