After the tea picking and lunch, the EAS excursion included a stop at a nearby place to view a Ming Dynasty era home. Well, not only was it one home but it was a village of Ming and Qing (pronounced Ching) dynasty homes. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon when we arrived after leaving from Suzhou around 8:15 am. So it had already been a long day and most of the group was tired but we pressed on and went into the village to take a stroll and get some photos and also hear a little bit about the village along the way. I know I was tired and therefore I didn’t take the photos in the normal manner in which I snap a picture of an information stand and then take photos around the area so I can label the photos correctly. So my photos are kind of out there without a lot of explanation….I think we would’ve been better served to make a full day out of the village but that’s how it goes when you try to jam everything into one day. There really isn’t much to tell about the area except for a few observations.
The first one is that while we were walking on the streets, there was a smell in the air. After a while you noticed that you are walking on a street of thick stone “planks” that was elevated over something. It turns out that this was essentially a walkway over the open sewer system for the village. How lovely... guess what I did when I got home? I’ll take “What I did when I got home” for $400 Alex. What is washed my sneakers? That is correct, it’s your board, choose your category.
The second is that in many of these historic places, you need a guide to explain what you are seeing. I walked away from the group and walked a bit on my own and found the Back Garden area of the Prime Minister’s home but I missed out on some important information being told by our guide. Many villages were made with secret passageways (tunnels) and the homes were laid out to confuse any intruders (which is why you can get turned around and lost easily in these places, it’s not just me not wanting to ask directions). The roof tiles were coated with a green glaze to ensure they could withstand fire and if water was thrown on the roof, it would run down and douse any fire on the ground around the home. This village had an interesting history (besides the Ming/Qing dynasty stuff), during the Japanese occupation the villagers escaped from the Japanese by using the tunnels to leave the village without the Japanese knowing anyone was there. When the Japanese arrived, the village was deserted. Many of the older homes survived the Cultural Revolution by claiming to be a school for the masses and not as a historic site. Many of the stone carvings on the outer walls were damaged by hammer and chisel to deface them as was the directive of the revolution. Things linked to the past or artifacts, paintings, sculptures, etc. were damaged or destroyed during that time period. Many of the educated people in the country were sent to the fields to perform manual labor to prevent any possible dissent from the voice of power and students were used to enforce the will of the leaders. Things have changed in China but it’s a shame that much of their past was abandoned or destroyed. Now they are trying to reclaim the past and embrace it but in many cases you can see the differences between what was and what is. They don’t dust off many of the replica items to try and give the impression of age but it really doesn’t fool anyone (except perhaps me). Many of the temples are lacking the original pieces and replicas have been made to replace those items but you can see the difference in the craftsmanship, materials and detail work.
Dinosaur Park
On Sunday, the company celebrated a safety milestone for the Suzhou facility, one year without a recordable incident. Many associates traveled to Changzhou to visit the Dinosaur Park in this city. We traveled about 90 minutes by bus from the plant to see the park. Once we arrived, we were on our own to explore and see the sights inside the park. It was a combination amusement park, park and museum, it’s called China’s Jurassic Park. You can see from the pictures (you did look at the photos right?) that there were dinosaur replicas everywhere and it will be a good place to take the family. We took in a bird show and walked the park but did none of the rides since the lines for the rides were very, very long even from early in the morning. It was a nice park but it was getting warm and after Saturday, it didn’t take long to wear down.
Changzhou is less “Westernized” and therefore most everything was in Chinese. We walked through the museum but the only things that were in English were the names of the creatures and most of the time those were in Latin. So I was “confusedicus manisus” throughout the museum. It was interesting but a little more difficult to understand. Inside the museum there were signs posted all over indicating No Photos, obviously the Chinese didn’t understand the sign but I did. They were taking photos all over the place and the employees at the museum just watched. I still didn’t take any pictures just to be sure. It was the same outside throughout the park. Signs everywhere to stay off the grass but the Chinese would just walk across the grass to stand next to one of the dinosaurs for a photo. There was a “lawn enforcement crew” that walked around with whistles. When someone went on the grass, they blew the whistle. No reaction, I’ll blow it again. What, no reaction, I’ll blow it again and then as my final step I’ll walk towards them (across the grass, how ironic is that?) and continue to blow the whistle until they move away. Of course, as soon as “the whistler” turned their back, they went back out again for the photo. Funny to watch (Stop! Or I’ll say Stop again!). Because it was less Western, we ran into issues with lunch. No picture menus with English words just written menus (I’ll have a number 1 meal with a Sprite) so there was no real way to know what to order. I skipped lunch from the counter and ate my granola bars just to be sure (always be prepared). There was no getting back on to a bus for that long not knowing what I ate and how it will affect me. Not to mention that they sold stinky tofu as an option and that does wonders for your appetite. I could make a show to compete with The Biggest Loser, just make people smell that stuff while they’re trying to eat and I’ll bet they take off the weight. Again, this is popular here so it’s obviously me that’s the problem (shut up to all those that just said “I’ve been saying that for years”). To each his own, if stinky tofu is okay for you, knock yourself out.
Now because they see fewer foreigners, it was Scott’s picture day at the park. Typically when we are out, it’s one or two photos with some locals. In this case, it was probably 2 dozen photos taken with some of the locals. We were like the Jonas brothers (just a smidge older, so perhaps the Jonas brother’s crazy uncles, twiced removed) out among the public. In the museum, Steve and I stopped to wait on Sharon (right near the end of the one section of the exhibit) and a Chinese guy who was walking through stopped dead in his tracks when he saw us. He stared like you wouldn’t believe. I mean just dumbfounded, he just stared. I tried to ignore him but after 30 seconds on just staring at us I looked right at him and it freaked him out. It was like we were part of the exhibit and all of a sudden we moved (whiteyus humanis). He called his family over without even turning his head and they all came by to stare and then they walked away laughing. It was the oddest thing, it’s okay to be stared at for a few seconds when you catch people off guard but I mean this guy was over-the-top. It was probably a total of 2 minutes of the “interaction” between us but it seemed a lot longer. He was the oddest experience, the rest of the people were polite and always asked to have their photo taken with us. We’d laugh and oblige them every time. In one case, after the second photo and getting ready for the third, Steve and I decided to do our “Arnold” pose to show the American muscle and the Chinese guy followed our lead so that was probably the best photo of the bunch. It was mainly the teenagers that got the photos taken, so strange but you just laugh it off and move forward. At the end of the day we met near the entrance to the park. While we were waiting for the others to arrive is when the photo bombardment started. As other groups were also meeting up to leave, they got their photos taken with a bunch of Americans (there were 5 of us). Even the people from the plant joined in and were getting their pictures taken with us so it made for a lot of fun photos. Now despite the photo fun, this points out the importance of speaking the language (even if it is very poorly), the further we travel from Shanghai, the more limited the English exposure will be so it’s going to be very necessary to understand a little bit of the language. Thinking of it in another context, the more photos that people want to take is an indication of how much exposure they have to foreigners and ultimately English. How’s that for a rating scale, I’ll use cameras to rank an area (on a scale of 1 to ten, I would say that Changzhou was 3½ cameras). Charades works but add in a few key words and things would be a lot smoother. Reading Chinese……that’s another story.
On the ride home I was shown again that you can never put the camera away. While on the highway, I noticed a blue truck in the next lane. As we got closer I saw it had cages on the back all stacked up about 4 cages high. It almost looked like the chicken trucks you see on the highway in Georgia. The cages were too big to be for chickens, and there are things moving inside the cages. Then it hit me, it’s a bunch of pigs (Porky’s revenge….the day after). These pigs were taking their last ride (or first and last ride). I looked back to Steve and told him I should’ve had the camera but the moment had passed. Not 15 minutes later, we passed another truck but someone forgot to get their camera out (doh!)….. So I took the hint and got my camera out and waited for the next truck, and waited, and waited. Nothing. The camera goes away and I missed out on a great shot to have, the kids would’ve liked to see that photo. We stopped at Auchan rather than drive back to the plant since most of the associates live in that area (or at least closer than the extra 45 minutes to the plant). As we’re getting ready to get off the bus, there goes the pig truck. $%!&*%#$&*%!!!!! I could not believe it; I missed it after 3 clear opportunities. The moral of the story; when you see one piggy, never forget that there’s two more coming somewhere behind it (“fire in ze hole”), or what I call the “big bad wolf theory”. (Booo!)I know it’s bad but I’m keeping it (Jerk Store…..I’m going with Jerk Store.....Jerk Store!) just because I can.
The first one is that while we were walking on the streets, there was a smell in the air. After a while you noticed that you are walking on a street of thick stone “planks” that was elevated over something. It turns out that this was essentially a walkway over the open sewer system for the village. How lovely... guess what I did when I got home? I’ll take “What I did when I got home” for $400 Alex. What is washed my sneakers? That is correct, it’s your board, choose your category.
The second is that in many of these historic places, you need a guide to explain what you are seeing. I walked away from the group and walked a bit on my own and found the Back Garden area of the Prime Minister’s home but I missed out on some important information being told by our guide. Many villages were made with secret passageways (tunnels) and the homes were laid out to confuse any intruders (which is why you can get turned around and lost easily in these places, it’s not just me not wanting to ask directions). The roof tiles were coated with a green glaze to ensure they could withstand fire and if water was thrown on the roof, it would run down and douse any fire on the ground around the home. This village had an interesting history (besides the Ming/Qing dynasty stuff), during the Japanese occupation the villagers escaped from the Japanese by using the tunnels to leave the village without the Japanese knowing anyone was there. When the Japanese arrived, the village was deserted. Many of the older homes survived the Cultural Revolution by claiming to be a school for the masses and not as a historic site. Many of the stone carvings on the outer walls were damaged by hammer and chisel to deface them as was the directive of the revolution. Things linked to the past or artifacts, paintings, sculptures, etc. were damaged or destroyed during that time period. Many of the educated people in the country were sent to the fields to perform manual labor to prevent any possible dissent from the voice of power and students were used to enforce the will of the leaders. Things have changed in China but it’s a shame that much of their past was abandoned or destroyed. Now they are trying to reclaim the past and embrace it but in many cases you can see the differences between what was and what is. They don’t dust off many of the replica items to try and give the impression of age but it really doesn’t fool anyone (except perhaps me). Many of the temples are lacking the original pieces and replicas have been made to replace those items but you can see the difference in the craftsmanship, materials and detail work.
Dinosaur Park
On Sunday, the company celebrated a safety milestone for the Suzhou facility, one year without a recordable incident. Many associates traveled to Changzhou to visit the Dinosaur Park in this city. We traveled about 90 minutes by bus from the plant to see the park. Once we arrived, we were on our own to explore and see the sights inside the park. It was a combination amusement park, park and museum, it’s called China’s Jurassic Park. You can see from the pictures (you did look at the photos right?) that there were dinosaur replicas everywhere and it will be a good place to take the family. We took in a bird show and walked the park but did none of the rides since the lines for the rides were very, very long even from early in the morning. It was a nice park but it was getting warm and after Saturday, it didn’t take long to wear down.
Changzhou is less “Westernized” and therefore most everything was in Chinese. We walked through the museum but the only things that were in English were the names of the creatures and most of the time those were in Latin. So I was “confusedicus manisus” throughout the museum. It was interesting but a little more difficult to understand. Inside the museum there were signs posted all over indicating No Photos, obviously the Chinese didn’t understand the sign but I did. They were taking photos all over the place and the employees at the museum just watched. I still didn’t take any pictures just to be sure. It was the same outside throughout the park. Signs everywhere to stay off the grass but the Chinese would just walk across the grass to stand next to one of the dinosaurs for a photo. There was a “lawn enforcement crew” that walked around with whistles. When someone went on the grass, they blew the whistle. No reaction, I’ll blow it again. What, no reaction, I’ll blow it again and then as my final step I’ll walk towards them (across the grass, how ironic is that?) and continue to blow the whistle until they move away. Of course, as soon as “the whistler” turned their back, they went back out again for the photo. Funny to watch (Stop! Or I’ll say Stop again!). Because it was less Western, we ran into issues with lunch. No picture menus with English words just written menus (I’ll have a number 1 meal with a Sprite) so there was no real way to know what to order. I skipped lunch from the counter and ate my granola bars just to be sure (always be prepared). There was no getting back on to a bus for that long not knowing what I ate and how it will affect me. Not to mention that they sold stinky tofu as an option and that does wonders for your appetite. I could make a show to compete with The Biggest Loser, just make people smell that stuff while they’re trying to eat and I’ll bet they take off the weight. Again, this is popular here so it’s obviously me that’s the problem (shut up to all those that just said “I’ve been saying that for years”). To each his own, if stinky tofu is okay for you, knock yourself out.
Now because they see fewer foreigners, it was Scott’s picture day at the park. Typically when we are out, it’s one or two photos with some locals. In this case, it was probably 2 dozen photos taken with some of the locals. We were like the Jonas brothers (just a smidge older, so perhaps the Jonas brother’s crazy uncles, twiced removed) out among the public. In the museum, Steve and I stopped to wait on Sharon (right near the end of the one section of the exhibit) and a Chinese guy who was walking through stopped dead in his tracks when he saw us. He stared like you wouldn’t believe. I mean just dumbfounded, he just stared. I tried to ignore him but after 30 seconds on just staring at us I looked right at him and it freaked him out. It was like we were part of the exhibit and all of a sudden we moved (whiteyus humanis). He called his family over without even turning his head and they all came by to stare and then they walked away laughing. It was the oddest thing, it’s okay to be stared at for a few seconds when you catch people off guard but I mean this guy was over-the-top. It was probably a total of 2 minutes of the “interaction” between us but it seemed a lot longer. He was the oddest experience, the rest of the people were polite and always asked to have their photo taken with us. We’d laugh and oblige them every time. In one case, after the second photo and getting ready for the third, Steve and I decided to do our “Arnold” pose to show the American muscle and the Chinese guy followed our lead so that was probably the best photo of the bunch. It was mainly the teenagers that got the photos taken, so strange but you just laugh it off and move forward. At the end of the day we met near the entrance to the park. While we were waiting for the others to arrive is when the photo bombardment started. As other groups were also meeting up to leave, they got their photos taken with a bunch of Americans (there were 5 of us). Even the people from the plant joined in and were getting their pictures taken with us so it made for a lot of fun photos. Now despite the photo fun, this points out the importance of speaking the language (even if it is very poorly), the further we travel from Shanghai, the more limited the English exposure will be so it’s going to be very necessary to understand a little bit of the language. Thinking of it in another context, the more photos that people want to take is an indication of how much exposure they have to foreigners and ultimately English. How’s that for a rating scale, I’ll use cameras to rank an area (on a scale of 1 to ten, I would say that Changzhou was 3½ cameras). Charades works but add in a few key words and things would be a lot smoother. Reading Chinese……that’s another story.
On the ride home I was shown again that you can never put the camera away. While on the highway, I noticed a blue truck in the next lane. As we got closer I saw it had cages on the back all stacked up about 4 cages high. It almost looked like the chicken trucks you see on the highway in Georgia. The cages were too big to be for chickens, and there are things moving inside the cages. Then it hit me, it’s a bunch of pigs (Porky’s revenge….the day after). These pigs were taking their last ride (or first and last ride). I looked back to Steve and told him I should’ve had the camera but the moment had passed. Not 15 minutes later, we passed another truck but someone forgot to get their camera out (doh!)….. So I took the hint and got my camera out and waited for the next truck, and waited, and waited. Nothing. The camera goes away and I missed out on a great shot to have, the kids would’ve liked to see that photo. We stopped at Auchan rather than drive back to the plant since most of the associates live in that area (or at least closer than the extra 45 minutes to the plant). As we’re getting ready to get off the bus, there goes the pig truck. $%!&*%#$&*%!!!!! I could not believe it; I missed it after 3 clear opportunities. The moral of the story; when you see one piggy, never forget that there’s two more coming somewhere behind it (“fire in ze hole”), or what I call the “big bad wolf theory”. (Booo!)I know it’s bad but I’m keeping it (Jerk Store…..I’m going with Jerk Store.....Jerk Store!) just because I can.
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