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Post by Raoul Duke on Jun 1, 2005 22:55:59 GMT 7
Suzhou...city of canals and bridges and computer factories. Arguably the best place in China to be and to live. Much of it is modern and some of it- such as the residential areas of the Suzhou Industrial Park district out east- is clean and new and nice and would not be out of place in a Western city.
But the old towns are the best part. A doorway or alleyway can take you back 500 years...old homes, market stalls, twisty narrow streets, the whole bit.
A great place to visit while there (more coming!) is Rock Station, very possibly the coolest CD/DVD store anywhere in mainland China. During the Mayday party, several members had to be sedated and carried out in restraints. They have major collections of TV series box sets, concert films galore, and a simply indescribable selection of movies. Stuff you never dreamed of finding in China. Pink Flamingos, anyone? I've found people like Velvet Underground and Tangerine Dream in their CD collection...
They don't really have an address...not even on their cards. A main and well-known tourist and bar street in Suzhou is ShiQuan Jie. Take it to the intersection with FengHuang Jie...there's a Bank of China on the northwest corner and an Avon store on the southeast corner. Turn north off of ShiQuan onto FengHuang. Immediately north of Shiquan is a canal running parallel and an alley running along the canal. Turn right (east) onto the alley and it's a few meters up. Easily visible from FengHuang Jie.
Ask for Dave. He speaks great English and knows his movies.
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jun 2, 2005 7:53:31 GMT 7
This is great Rauol, I am so glad you started this, I hope everyone adds there blurb. When you have no clue, it's hard to decide. Thanks
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jun 2, 2005 11:09:13 GMT 7
Thanks, Millana! I've been wanting to add this for a while now...
Suzhou is a great place to live. It has a number of foreigner-friendly touches. There are some tolerable (if pricey) foreign restaurants, and other goodies are available at Carrefour and Auchan. There are also some expat bars, mostly along ShiQuan Jie. I don't know much about them...this is the only Saloon I frequent very often. Try Pulp Fiction, which is run by Australians.
If you are the randy decadent sort of expat- and who isn't?- Suzhou is the Pink Light Capital of China. All that Suzhou money has the girls flocking in from across the region and across China. Scads of "beauty salons" (the kind without scissors or shampoo, if you catch my drift) on about every street. Many of the bars are crawling with, uh, professional ladies so if this is not what you want then choose your bar carefully. You can find bars that are legit here. Try Pulp Fiction, City Hunter, or Venice Bar. (Things may have changed since I was there...) The economy is strong...one of the world's strongest. There are JV factories as far as the eye can see...but these are sequestered in the Suzhou Industrial Park and the Suzhou New District out on the edges of town. Suzhou's GDP has surpassed that of Shenzhen, a much larger city. Suzhou is the world's largest maker of notebook computers.
If you want more than Suzhou can offer, Shanghai is only an hour away by cheap and frequent train. I go there to eat, shop, or party sometimes, but I think the living is better in Suzhou.
Suzhou also has perhaps the highest per capita concentration of English speakers in China. It's easy to find help, conversation, and friends if you want them.
Downsides: Suzhou train station is a boiling mass of cast-off humanity. Unusually bad even in the context of Chinese train stations. Animal behavior and theft are rampant. Be aware there.
Taxi drivers are either jewels, or people who were thrown out of the train station as undesirables. They are very much kings of their own 4-wheeled domains. There's a taxi call service (6777 6777 ext 1) but it's a complete joke.
Summers are unimaginably horrible...maybe worse than the deep south but mercifully not as long. Temps in the high 30s/low 40s and thanks to the canals about 250% humidity.
More to come...
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Post by CarryAnn on Jun 24, 2005 12:03:40 GMT 7
Hey Raoul or anybody else out there in Suzhou,
I'm thinking of accepting a position at the No 10 SUzhou Middle School (Kong fusi Lane 6th Suzhou) starting in September. Do you know anything about the joint? Head teacher is Shen Mingcheng (Michael). I'll buy you a single malt and sit on your knee if you can give me any info. Is the school in the city centre or out in the sticks? I have a map of Suzhou but can't see it marked. Any advice aprreciated
PS. I know it's astonishingly poor form to post a question like this after being absent pretty much since my induction as a new forum member earlier this month. Please don't think I am abusing your fine establishment.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jun 24, 2005 23:25:43 GMT 7
Ok, this is a SCHOOL question on the CITIES board, but hey, you're cute and new. Feel free to abuse our fine establishment. Everyone else does. Just be aware that our fine establishment may abuse you in return. I've never worked at the school you mention. If you ever see me in a Chinese middle school please call the police immediately as I have obviously been kidnapped and taken there at knifepoint. However, Suzhou schools, from an educational standpoint, seem to be several notches above most others in China. For what that's worth.... I hear it by reputation and by the fact that graduates are generally not the drooling idiots that come out of most Chinese schools. Within that context #10 Middle School seems to be one of the best. A surprisingly progressive place, from all reports and appearances. The location is excellent. It's on the canal-alley just behind Shiquan Jie in the center of the city. It should be easy to get to, and it's only meters away from Suzhou's hottest expat street, so any after-school drinking and whoring plans you might have will be terribly convenient. A number of us walked past this school during the Mayday party, on our way to our second trip to Rock Station. We were wondering which park or garden or museum we had stumbled across...the grounds are old and cool-looking. Now, please pick up that tumbler of Lochan Ora and come see your new best friend, baby, because Raoul needs lap candy.
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Post by CarryAnn on Jun 24, 2005 23:52:06 GMT 7
Jeez Raoul, I told you I was new with all this stuff! Thanks for limitless understanding, apols for terrible fox paw and mucho gracias for heads up info. Will atone for dreadful sin by delivering requested goodies in the flesh if my pal and I take these jobs (yes there’re two of us gorgeous gals heading northeast for winter). Now calm down and finish your milk. I’ll be there to read you a bedtime story soon.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jun 25, 2005 1:57:08 GMT 7
And here I am with two knees. This works out well.
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Post by George61 on Jun 25, 2005 2:28:58 GMT 7
Where have you been hiding the Lochan Ora, you miserable bastard!!
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Post by CarryAnn on Jun 29, 2005 9:05:00 GMT 7
Better warm up those knees Raoul - got the jobs and will be in Suzhou late August. Just how much does a tumbler of Lochan Ora go for these days? I'm more the beer and cheap red type. George, don't fret - I'll find out where he keeps the good stuff.
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Post by con's fly is open on Jul 14, 2005 16:59:10 GMT 7
Just got a job offer from a publc school in Suzhou-Kunming. Is that a suburb where Raoul and CarryAnn live, or is it one of those London, Ontario or Portland, Maine things?
Haven't heard about class sizes, but the rest sounds like what I'm looking for... provided it's the Suzhou in Jangsiu.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 14, 2005 18:17:30 GMT 7
Uh, Con, are you sure about that? Sure it isn't Kunshan?
There are vast areas of Suzhou I still don't know well. Anything is possible. But do ask them if it's the one in Jiangsu...
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Post by con's fly is open on Jul 14, 2005 21:28:02 GMT 7
Nope, you're right: it IS Kunshan. I must have misremembered the last character/syllable out of my psychotic envy of Mark Roswell, whose show I don't even benefit from, since we don't get CCTV-9 here. poo on it all you want, until you don't get it.
Crap, a HUMUNGOUS decision coming up: fantastic opportunities here, fantastic opportunities there. Plural, in both places.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 14, 2005 21:55:51 GMT 7
Kunshan has a blurb in the Smaller Cities section here. It's near the midpoint between Suzhou and Shanghai; technically part of Suzhou City. Not too bad a town, and easy access to both bigger cities. Anything happening inside Suzhou proper?
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Post by Dragonsaver on Jul 14, 2005 22:58:23 GMT 7
The hot and muggy summer in Suzhou sounds like a real bummer!! We are having a long, hot, humid spell in Ontario. Over 40C with humidity. My air conditioner is not working, probably because the contractor putting in the radiant floor heating system has the furnace in pieces in the backyard. It really is ukky hot. How bad is it there in the summer?? Do the housing for teachers have air conditioning??? What about the scools???
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Post by con's fly is open on Jul 14, 2005 23:06:47 GMT 7
Long time no see, DS. Living with fans, here. Horrible. I've heard the news on Ontario- you might as well be here. speaking of which, when will that be?
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 14, 2005 23:16:07 GMT 7
Wow! Well, Ontario has been worse than Suzhou, which is about the same latitude as South Carolina or Georgia in the States. We haven't hit 40C yet. (For those of you from real countries, 40C=104F.)
Truth is, Summers EVERYWHERE in China are hot. Places with water are also muggy, but believe me...it's worth it to have water 24 hours a day. The only places in China that aren't hot in the Summer are waaaaay up in the mountains.
There's a thread in the main library with an overview of Chinese weather. I'll try to find it and bump it for you.
Suzhou is uncomfortably hot for a bit over 2 months in the summer. Elsewhere this can range from under a month in the far northeast, to most of the year in the far southeast.
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Post by Dragonsaver on Jul 15, 2005 0:05:47 GMT 7
Con I will be there when I get a job offer. Just starting the process but with luck and planning I am hoping for the fall. I must have been Chinese in a past life because I appear to plan things just like they do (plan what plan ). Would like to be in the Suzhou area if possible. Will be finished the TEFL course in another couple of weeks.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 17, 2005 23:16:52 GMT 7
There are a number of "beauty shots" of Suzhou over in the Party Pictures. So here are some shots of my little corner of the world, the Dong Gang- a nice quiet little working-class neighborhood, bordering a canal of the working variety. Won't you take me to...Funkytown? The street where I live... Also the street where I live. My place is somewhere along the apartment monolith to the left. This delightful little girl is part of the enormous mob of migrants from Qinghai that provides vital la mian services for our neighborhood. Market on the bridge spanning the canal junction, with old town behind it if you can make it out. Old houses along the canal. Fascinating to watch...the people here have completely adapted the canal into their lifestyle. Our area is where a lot of the canal barges come to anchor for the night. Many of the barges are operated by families who also live on the boat. Note the girl washing her hair over the stern of the barge. Parked barges. I sleep better knowing that huge bargeloads of chemicals are parked about a block away every night. Making that hard left turn. Note the person using a long pole to help turn the barge.
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Post by Dr. Gonzo on Jul 18, 2005 4:04:57 GMT 7
Damn you Duke. Just as I was becoming de-Chinaised, you've made me homesick again. Towels drying outside "hairdressers". Things floating in canals. Traffic's glorious harmonic anarchy. Endless miles of identikit apartment blocks. One business in every three an eatery of sorts. Women fitting their jeans far better than anywhere else I've been. I don't know why I waste time defending the place on other forums. Some people will never get it!
ps Whilst waiting for the pics to load, I roasted and consumed half an ox, washed down with a magnum of Cotes de Rhone.
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Post by burlives on Jul 26, 2005 11:32:29 GMT 7
Is it just me, or do others hear "mo gui" in Suzhou?
Three times I've heard it so far, and it's always just when I appear. First when I turned a corner in the supermarket, second when I appeared around a billboard at a busstop, and third when I walked into a restuarant. It's something said between people already speaking to each other, and it's said just once, and there's no special ceremony about it, not like a "laowai" or a "hello".
But I wonder if it's mo2gui3 -- "devil".
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Post by George61 on Jul 26, 2005 11:47:38 GMT 7
Elitist swine!! What's wrong with McLarenvale, or the Barossa, or that other little valley, which 's name I've forgotten...no I haven't...Clare Valley!
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Post by con's fly is open on Jul 31, 2005 11:34:45 GMT 7
I got a job offer from Taicang, apparently a bedroom community belonging to Suzhou. How close is it to city centre?
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 31, 2005 12:59:58 GMT 7
Taicang is a loooooong way out there, Dude. Other side of Kunshan, practically to Shanghai, but a bigger pain in the ass because there is no train station. It's a very funky bus ride of an hour plus to get between Taicang and Suzhou.
My company walked away from business in Taicang. Too hard to get in and out of.
There are jobs to be had in Suzhou, ya know?
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Post by con's fly is open on Jul 31, 2005 20:23:00 GMT 7
God love 'em. DOES it technically belong to Suzhou? Spin is alive and well.
I don't want a Suzhou bedroom community, no matter how convenient. I'm a downtown boy at heart: have friends in the country by all means, and visit them frequently for the mental health, but live within spitting distance of 3 convenience stores, 2 late-night diners and 4 bars.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 31, 2005 23:48:48 GMT 7
Taicang is indeed technically part of Suzhou city, but it's nowhere close to the real town of Suzhou. Not even a bedroom community. Looked small, dull, and industrial to me...
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