Field trip! Heidi still had class in the morning, then we
ran a few errands before we had to meet the tour guide and bus. It was an 1.5
hour bus ride to Wuzhen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuzhen).
I was going to say that it’s similar to Upper Canada Village because of all the
references to “historical scenic town” but it’s an original town which had a
population of 60,000 and still has a population of 12,000. It was also
home to a “Renowned modern Chinese revolutionary writer” and his house is now a
museum within the town. We started in the East Scenic Zone which has the
original houses and a variety of houses set up to demonstrate how people lived
and different workshops such as silk dying. I have a feeling that we only saw
the tip of the iceberg and I also missed out on a lot of the guide’s
explanations. For instance there were a lot of intricate wood carvings that
must have told a story and just now I was reading that the bridges were built
to “evoke the full moon”. After the guide walked us through a section, we had
some time to explore on our own and Heidi and discovered these delicious
berries/grapes. We think they are called “Mei”. Then, when we were waiting at
the gathering point we befriended two girls. They were playing in the square
waiting for their mother to call them for dinner. We learned that they are from
northern China and their parents came south to work in Wuzhen (this part the
guide translated for us). On our own, we managed to find out that they were 6
and 7, we exchanged names (which got lots of giggles) and to tell them that we
were from America (Meiguo). They told us a lot more but that was all that we
could understand.
After dinner in the east area we took the bus to the west
scenic zone. Apparently the thing to do is visit the west at night. The guide
kept saying that Wuzhen is like a tv - the East is black and white and the West
is colour. The west area also has newer buildings, shops and restaurants and
was a complete different feeling than the East. It was also crazy busy. I lost
track of the guide in no time but found Heidi and a few others and we just
toured on our own –which of course involved finding coffee and ice cream!
Eventually it was time to meet the group at the bus and head
to the hotel. And what a hotel it was! Very fancy. It was nice to have a great
shower and sleep in a comfy bed.
We were due at the caterpillar factory at 9:20 which is in a
town called Suzhou and was a 1.5 hour drive away so we were all up early. The
caterpillar tour was very interesting – no cameras allowed though. We first had
a talk about the history of Caterpillar in China and business practices before
having a tour of the assembly area. Knowing how large a Caterpillar truck can
be, you can just imagine the scale of the assembly area. It was interesting see
all the processes and the setup but also seeing these parts evolve into a full
blown tractor. They said that they assemble around 10 a day and each one gets
fully tested on site.
After the tour we got to eat lunch in the cafeteria which
was an experience on its own. I picked up a tray and white chopsticks and got
yelled at (in Chinese) that I had to take the black chopsticks, I had already
touched the white ones so left them on my tray but that was wrong as well and
had to return them. Further down the line I chose a dish of tomato and egg and
it was conveyed to me that I had to exchange it for another one. No idea what
the difference was. Same with the rice, I grabbed a bowl of rice but apparently
it was the wrong bowl and I had to return it and take a different one. I found
it all rather stressful and was happy to take my tray and go sit down to eat.
After lunch we drove to the tourist area of Suzhou. I should
mention that it takes a lot of courage and patience to by a bus driver in
China. The roads just aren’t made for these large vehicles and there is so much
construction that he often had to weave his way through roads with pockets of
construction holes just to find out that the usual entrance is closed. I don’t
know how many u-turns he managed to pull – it was very impressive. Getting into
the parking lot at Suzhou was a whole other adventure because of all the other
tour buses. We ended up creating a gridlock with no one wanting to back
up. Eventually someone gave in and it all got sorted but again it’s all
done in tight spaces and the pedestrian and scooter traffic doesn’t stop it
just weaves in and out in between the buses seemingly oblivious to the fact
that the bus is trying to move forward. Traffic in China is its own mystery,
you have to learn to go with the flow and not follow the traffic rules. You
can’t hesitate, any sign of hesitation and you’re screwed. But I digress, back
to Suzhou.
Our first stop was “The Humble Administrator’s Garden,
dating to 1513, contains zigzag bridges over connected pools and islands.” It
has quite the history but I will let anyone who is interested read it directly
from the source
It was indeed a very beautiful garden with lots to see
including some amazing embroidery and a huge section with Bonsai. After our
allotted time we were impressed that we had all the students gathered on time
but then we had to exit the park. Just outside the gates of the park was a
gauntlet of tourist shops. The students love the trinkets and bargaining. It
took another half hour to find everyone again. We then took the bus to the
shopping district and let the students run free to shop and bargain to their
hearts content. Then it was dinner and the three hour bus ride back to
Hangzhou. All in all I think it was a very successful first excursion!
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