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Post by con's fly is open on Aug 1, 2005 0:35:24 GMT 7
Taicang.... Looked small, dull, and industrial to me... If I wanted that, I could stay here. Okay, Suzhou proper, or bust.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Aug 1, 2005 1:36:05 GMT 7
Well, it's closer than where you are now, but still a fair piece away. Taicang is a distant suburb of Kunshan, which itself is a very distant suburb of Suzhou....
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Post by Raoul Duke on Aug 7, 2005 19:23:31 GMT 7
More slices of life from the Dong Gang, here in fabulous typhoon-blown Suzhou... The entrance to the neighborhood vegetable market. Pretty big and one of the best I've ever seen. You can also buy meat, fish/seafood, household goods, and more here. One lady was selling a large orange mesh bag of live frogs, but she declined to let me photograph it. Probably something in the frogs' contracts. Not sure what we're standing in line for here, but it had better be pretty m'kaying magnetic. I actually stood in the line quite a while to find out what could possibly be this good, but the line never moved so I bolted. It appears to be some kind of cakes being cooked in an elaborate machine out on the street, then stamped on one side with highly toxic bright red dye. Boyz N The Hood. When you encounter a gang of street toughs like these, it's a good idea to photograph them so's you can pick them out in the police lineup later.
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Post by Arlis on Aug 10, 2005 0:45:00 GMT 7
Any roller/ice rinks in Suzhou? What sports do they play down there?
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Post by Raoul Duke on Aug 10, 2005 19:44:51 GMT 7
Badminton and basketball are big here. I don't know about skating but will try to find out for you...
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Post by George61 on Aug 10, 2005 19:50:36 GMT 7
Keep this up, Rayool and you will have every man and his dog down in bloody Suzhou!
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Post by Raoul Duke on Aug 10, 2005 19:57:54 GMT 7
No, we're aiming for women here. But Con and a few others are acceptable too, if they will stay away from the women...
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Post by Mr Nobody on Aug 10, 2005 20:49:36 GMT 7
I'll bring my own, thanks.
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Post by icebear on Apr 18, 2006 23:03:16 GMT 7
Anyone in Suzhou... care to comment on the severity of the winter? What are the average temperatures you experience in the coldest months (I'm guessing Jan/Feb)? On average how many days of a week/month will the ground be wet with snow? Do you get warm snaps (chinooks for you Canadians)?
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Post by Raoul Duke on Apr 19, 2006 0:26:36 GMT 7
Icebear, if you break it down to numbers it doesn't sound so bad...and I guess compared to places like Alaska or Canada or DongBei it ISN'T so bad.
Low temp: around freezing. Rarely freezes here at all...average low maybe around 5C.
Days of snow on the streets: Zero. If it snows at all, you just get a few minutes of pretty. I frankly wish it snowed a bit more...all those eaved roofs are mighty pretty with a dusting of snow.
Warm snaps? Yes. Or at least not-so-cold snaps.
Don't let all this make you think the winters aren't cold...they are. It's windy a lot. The air here is very wet. A lot of places here are uninsulated, drafty, and either underheated or not heated at all. We don't get the bitter blasts of the north, but you will want a good warm coat, gloves, and other warm clothes here.
Your apartment should at least be comfortable, especially if you spring for one of those electric oil-filled radiator things.
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Post by icebear on Apr 19, 2006 0:42:16 GMT 7
Thanks Raoul. The question was stated skateboarding on dry ground in mind. Here in Colorado we experience freezing temperatures for weeks at a time, then warm snaps, then winds, then snow that is gone in a day or two. Sounds like Suzhou is similar.
I'm not looking for a California climate, take it or leave, just one that will permit me on the board on a semi frequent basis. Here in Colorado I might be kept off by weather for a week or two, but its rarely longer than that. And in Alaska, well, we wore snow gear and found basement level parking garages with dry ground, so you know the temperature itself wasn't a deterent, just the snow.
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Post by joe on Apr 19, 2006 3:48:49 GMT 7
Here in Suzhou I rode my bike through the winter. It needed thermal duds but the sky was more often than not clear, and the sun bright, at least this last winter. Yesterday riding around before work I skirted a guy going somewhere on his board, riding the main road. He was rolling downhill and it looked easy.
That, and the guys who work the bike shop near the centre of town, and skate a park across the road from their shop. They have ramps and jumps. It's small, really small, and they gave up when winter started and haven't started up since. But there's dudes with boards doing things.
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Post by con's fly is open on Apr 20, 2006 18:19:28 GMT 7
Icebear, you have to go pretty far inland and/or North to get a winter that an Alaskan boy would sweat. Instead ask yourself how hot and humid a summer you can stand.
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