Shan Tang Street

 I'm becoming a bus rider now.   When I first came to Suzhou, I moved around mostly by foot or by taxi.  This is not a bad way to get around, but it's often near impossible to find a taxi and you can only walk so far.  A while back, Theresa and I began trying out the bus lines.  Since there is no information available in English...at least that we can find...we've only been making short rides to destinations we know.  Suzhou has a gadzillion bus lines, which is why we've been mapping the bus stops ourselves.

 This slow and methodical method was working.  But recently, I had a big break through when I realized that Google Maps will show the bus stops if you zoom in close enough.  If you click on the little blue bus stop icons it will tell you all the buses which stop there and will also highlight all their routes.  So where before we had to go someplace first to take a picture of the bus stop, now all we have to do is find the location on Gooble maps, locate the closest bus stops, and click.

 So that long explanation of buses served a couple of purposes.  First, it advanced the plot line a little to let you know that we're getting a little braver and venturing further and further from home.  Second, I have nine pictures in the particular post and I need all the text I can to separate the photos.

So anyway, before I figured out the Google thing I decided I would take the 307 bus (which stops very near our apartment) to see where it goes to.  My map of the world ended at the Western edge of the Suzhou Industrial Park...but I new the bus went beyond that.  Terra Incognita and all that.  So one Saturday morning I just got on the bus and hunkered down for a long ride.

 As it turns out,the 307 is a magical bus route.  If I take it in one direction it will take me to work.  On this Saturday, taking it in the other direction, I found that it goes directly across the river into old Suzhou on GanJian Street, which is the main East-West route.  The first stop across the river is just a short walk to PingJiang road.  The second stop is just a short walk to the Drunken Chef, where we'd seen the Royal Wedding.   A couple of stops later it will drop you right in front of the pedestrian shopping area.

I didn't get off at any of those stops, though.  I stayed on the bus until it crossed over the river onto the West bank and turned North.  It dropped me off finally on the North-West corner of town near JinMen Gate.  JinMen Gate is the very top photo.  And actually, JinMen Gate is redundant because the word "Men"means gate.  "Jin" means gold.  So "JinMen" would be the Golden Gate...or something like that.

 Suzhou, you see, was a walled city back in the day.  JinMen was one of the heavily fortified gates by which non-violent folks could enter.  The other gates I know of are XuMen, PanMen, and FengMen.  The Internet suggests there are at least two more out there.   But that will be for another day. 

Just across the river from JinMen road you can follow ChangXu road Northward to the beginning of ShanTang Street.  ShanTang Street was built about 1200 years ago to provide a direct route from the city to the temple grounds at Tiger hill.  The street parallels a canal that also runs the same route of some 2 or 3 miles. Over time, the street became lined with houses and then crowded neighborhoods that thrived off the water and the travellers.  But 1200 years can weigh heavily.   So in the past few years, the city has pumped a bunch of cash into renovation of ShanTang Street and it's development as a modern tourist attraction.

The second photo shows the beginning of ShanTang Street, where the canal comes into the moat-river that surrounds the city of Suzhou.  This creates a little promontory that has been built up in with Disney-like reproductions of traditional Chinese buildings.   The third photo shows a temple that sits within this fake-but-accurate area.  From there, ShanTang street winds its way to the NorthWest as a narrow pedestrian street lined with tourist shops and street stands.

In addition to the normal stuff - silks, pearls, embroidery - there are quite a few stands selling small antiques.  Each stand seems to have the same or similar collection of little bronze Buddhas, old coins, opium pipes, and classic Chairman Mao paraphernalia.  The Mao stuff must sell well with foreigners because the vendors shouted after me "Look Chairman Mao! look Chairman Mao!"   Though the stuff looks old and authentic, the fact that each stand has similar stuff makes me think there is a factory up North churning out these antiques by the barge load.

In one of the stores selling rather nice watercolors the owner had a couple of caged birds.  One of them was a Myna bird, I think.   It could say "hello" (Ni Hao) and "welcome" (Huan Ying Guang Lin).  She offered to sell me the bird.   I wonder if there's a talking Myna bird factory too.

 After about a mile or so, the tourist traps begin to thin out and vendors seemed to be more concerned with local clientele than with the interlopers.  I suppose visitors don't normally want to stray that far from their tourist bus.  The Chairman Mao and faux-antique vendors are replaced with fruit sellers and vegetable stands and shoe repair stalls and such.   There are a lot fewer Western faces in the street too.

 If you take a turn onto the side streets it becomes even more......I'm not sure what the word is but perhaps authentic is the best choice.  This is a blue collar part of town and I suspect the average income is modest at best.  Everyone is out in the street for one of two reasons.  The neighborhood people are out trying to get some breeze and shade to escape the heat.  And the vendors are trying to make a little money anyway they can.   The vendor above is selling fresh chicken....very fresh chicken...to the afternoon shoppers.

 The stall in the photo above is selling dried beans.   I included this photo because the location is under a bridge.  If you look in the center-top you can see the concrete roof which supports the roadway above.   Underneath, the road noise is terrible and the ceilings drip with liquids unknown.   But there is evidently enough foot traffic to make it worthwhile for the vendors.  Also there is shade.  Capitalism, after all, requires consumers.  And in Suzhou in July, the consumers go where there is shade.