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Post by Raoul Duke on Sept 18, 2006 21:35:40 GMT 7
I LIVE IN SUCH A WONDERFUL PLACE! I had a little time Sunday late afternoon...my last free day before starting a pretty heavy teaching schedule on Monday. A school I'd subbed for owed me a couple hundred, so I decided to go collect it. It was a glorious crisp sunny fall afternoon, so I decided to walk it. I'm glad I took the camera...one of the most beautiful walks I've ever had! First, out through the apartment complex that houses El Nuevo Rancho Raoul. I'll try to get more photos here that do this place justice.... We have Moon Doors! Then, down the main street, which quickly turns into the famous Guan Qin Jie shopping/walking area, which was a TOTAL madhouse with the nice weather... It was all so nice I even decided to walk back. Coming back, I saw a street that had long intrigued me, and having nothing pressing I decided to walk down it and see where it went. It was mostly a long tube of a street...and endless stream of grubby little shops facing huge blocks of decrepit-looking apartments. Only small paths turned off the street I was on, twisting their way up among the apartments. But I could see that in the distance the road ended in a 'T'. As I neared the T, the buildings got older and cooler... Finally, at the T, I found myself in Old Suzhou! I was stunned...amazed at where I suddenly was. The cool thing is that this apparently is NOT a tourist development of some kind...it's a neighborhood. People are living here. It was clean, green, and quiet...only the gurgle of the water, bike chains, and occasional quiet conversation broke the silence. And almost no trash or litter anywhere... Palm trees and pomegranates. The area was loaded with pomegranate trees heavy with fruit... Beautiful but empty... The only concession to tourism I saw here was the occasional canal boat. These are always piloted by women, who sing old, old rowing songs as you travel the canals... This lovely place went all the way to next to my house, emptying onto the street where I live, seen here. And finally a duck into the night veggie market for some taters...still had sour cream left! Ah, I do love this town. It's full of little treasures like this...
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Post by Lotus Eater on Sept 18, 2006 23:05:36 GMT 7
Old Suzhou looks great!!
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teleplayer
Barfly
Ni3 you3 hen3 duo1 qian2. Gei3 wo3 yi4dian(r)3 ba.
Posts: 541
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Post by teleplayer on Sept 18, 2006 23:31:48 GMT 7
Great pics, Laoban! That beautiful and empty bldg would sure make a cool bistro/corner bar.
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Post by George61 on Sept 19, 2006 2:12:26 GMT 7
Great pics, Laoban! That beautiful and empty bldg would sure make a cool bistro/corner bar. ...but would ruin the neighbourhood!! Excellent pics, O Rayool One. Members, PLEASE check the Photo Guidelines before posting!!!!
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Ruth
SuperDuperMegaBarfly
God's provisions are strategically placed along the path of your obedience.
Posts: 3,915
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Post by Ruth on Sept 19, 2006 7:57:23 GMT 7
Wow, a secret hideaway, with a canal, within walking distance of your home. Don't tell anyone.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Sept 19, 2006 10:16:00 GMT 7
Members, PLEASE check the Photo Guidelines before posting!!!! Let's just say I followed that request to the same extent everyone else does...
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Post by gretch on Sept 20, 2006 18:38:56 GMT 7
Members, PLEASE check the Photo Guidelines before posting!!!! Let's just say I followed that request to the same extent everyone else does... Teaching 101: "Do as I say, not as I do............................................................................................................oh, hell, do what ever you want!!!!"
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Post by Raoul Duke on Sept 21, 2006 9:20:28 GMT 7
Exactly! Meanwhile, a few more pics... These are more from my apartment complex. This is the view from one of my windows (Laundry World)... We have stone lions: don't mess with us. Out on the street. This couple make the best flatbread you'll ever eat! It's flavored with a little green onion. First it's cooked in some kind of oily substance on a griddle, then placed inside the oven/barrel UNDER the griddle and baked a bit. Absolute heaven if you get it fresh and hot... Back to the cool old neighborhood. I found out a bit more from a plaque seen near my street...apparently at least part of this area is accounted for by the presence of an old "Charity House" ("Suzhou #104 Official Preserved Building"), which I guess was a combination of orphanage, women's shelter, soup kitchen, and YMCA. Also, some of the pretty wooden buildings had work crews inside, but whether they were just finishing emptiness, building some kind of facility or business, or surreptitiously creating an illegal knockoff shoe factory, I have no idea. This is actually garbage collection, Suzhou style... Is it less picturesque if the boat is a garbage scow? Yer basic concrete boats. If you haven't been to China yet, yes, you ARE reading that correctly...
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Post by George61 on Sept 21, 2006 20:30:18 GMT 7
If it wasn't for concrete, China would be empty!!
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Ruth
SuperDuperMegaBarfly
God's provisions are strategically placed along the path of your obedience.
Posts: 3,915
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Post by Ruth on Sept 24, 2006 11:02:45 GMT 7
You GOTTA take me there next time I visit Suzhou.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Sept 24, 2006 11:54:27 GMT 7
Then hustle them Sweet Buns down here, Baby! RIGHT NOW is the time to see this place...the Osmanthus are in full bloom in Suzhou, filling the air with a scent that must be experienced to be believed. The pomegranates and other trees are blooming now, too. However the 2nd-best time should be in early May...just in time for the 3rd Annual Saloon Party... Meanwhile, I'm here about every day... Unfortunately, if I have the money I may move again in November. The area is wonderful but the apartment is at best so-so. De lanlodes collect my quarterly rent and then forget I exist, and I can't get even very basic repairs done. Next time I'm going back to monthly rent... However, I can always find this place again as long as I'm in Suzhou. Which I hope is a good long time.
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Post by AMonk on Sept 25, 2006 14:47:26 GMT 7
I have been loving the pix you (and Lotus) have posted, recently. It makes me a little jealous, that you get to view the scenes in real life. Thank you for sharing. Um, Raoul.....can you arrange to get those repairs done, and deduct the cost from the next 1/4's rent? (You'ld need to have written the landlord about it, in advance, and hand over receipts/copies). Or would he increase your rent for "improvements"?
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Post by Raoul Duke on Sept 25, 2006 19:40:54 GMT 7
Thanks , AMonk! Unfortunately I'm not sure I'd count on the repair thing working that way...knowing these weasels, they'd probably take what money I did give them and then have me evicted. I now at least have real screens on the downstairs windows and am being assured that the upstairs will happen when my ayi is here again on Friday... Amazing what you can accomplish when you start playing Eskimo Opera very loud late at night.
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Post by Mr Nobody on Sept 26, 2006 21:23:19 GMT 7
One thing about SUzhou that surprized me were the brick houseboats. I mean, houseboats, made of brick. As in brick house. A boat. Yeah.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Sept 26, 2006 22:41:23 GMT 7
At least the house parts were brick...
We saw these on the boat ride to Tongli for the party last May. And they definitely surprised me too...
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Post by Mr Nobody on Sept 27, 2006 11:34:40 GMT 7
For the amazement and edification of all those who have never before seen such a thing: A Houseboat made of brick. The hull seems to be concrete, although the roof is mere corrugated tin. TIFC.
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Post by George61 on Sept 27, 2006 15:17:18 GMT 7
.....and why not?? All the other houses in China are made of brick!!
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Post by Dragonsaver on Sept 27, 2006 19:21:54 GMT 7
.....and why not?? All the other houses in China are made of brick!! In University in North America they have concrete boat races. Boats must be made of concrete, must float (dah) and I forget the rest of the criteria. A basement if thoroughly sealed will float if the water pressure below is high enough and the water can't seep through. Concrete floats.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Sept 27, 2006 20:20:41 GMT 7
At least it does if it's enclosing enough air...
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Post by Mr Nobody on Sept 27, 2006 20:31:36 GMT 7
Same reason anything floats. The average density of the object has to be less than the average density of the volume of the fluid displaced, or it sinks. What any of them are made of don't matter. Technically, a vacuum would be best.
For example, the reason why most .com companies are afloat in the rarified medium of business is due to the hot air produced by their managers. When the hot air cools, the vacuum is too strong to hold up, so the bubble collapses along with the company.
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Post by Dragonsaver on Sept 27, 2006 20:34:28 GMT 7
So then stupid folks would sink not swim because they are dense???
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Post by Mr Nobody on Sept 27, 2006 20:37:40 GMT 7
Nah, the vacuum in their heads counteracts it.
On an aside, we had a guy at uni so thick we had to postulate new substances. We figured he was so dense that he must have had a black hole for a brain. However, he was not attractive, so therefore his skull must have been made of a high density sheilding substance which we named "thickeum".
He is now a high school teacher.
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Post by Dragonsaver on Sept 27, 2006 20:39:33 GMT 7
That voids my premise then.
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Post by Mr Nobody on Sept 27, 2006 20:42:23 GMT 7
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Post by George61 on Sept 28, 2006 0:28:59 GMT 7
Concrete is a well-known boat-building material in many countries. Even ocean-going yachts are made from concrete.(No, not all of them!!)
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