Exit The Dragon

Jinji Lake

JInji Lake

 My three months in China have come and gone. Not only have I seen a part of the world that I never imagined I would, I actually lived here long enough for the experience to be much more than what a tourist on vacation would come to know. After eating Beijing duck, seeing The Great Wall, Summer Palace and Lamborghinis driving in the streets of Beijing. And seeing The Bund, Pearl Tower and eating Shanghai dumplings in Shanghai I got to the point where coming back to Suzhou was just like coming home. That feeling of comfort you have when you make it to that familiar road that leads back to your house after a nice vacation. That road for me has been Jinji Hu Da dao or Jinji Lake Avenue. It’s my Chinese version of Moreland Avenue. Although the bus ride home from work every day is mundane (well I mean once I got used to the driver almost running over people on bikes) it was always nice to pull into the driveway of Who Chow Lee Gin (not spelled right but that’s how you say it) or the Chateau Regency. The people at the desk always say hello and Carina was always sitting in the shop where I would get a coke, some chips and “occasionally” a Tsingtao beer. Then up to the third floor to my cleaned up room, which will be hard for me to get used to having to do myself back home, the only cleaning I’ve done in the last three months is washing clothes. Ah yes, kick back on the couch and turn on the flat screen and have my choice of CNN, National Geographic, HBO (sort of and sometimes) or Cinemax. On second thought take Cinemax off the list because it’s really not even worth checking here, only terrible movies that should have never been made. Or I could watch some Sumo wrestling, ping pong, strange Chinese game shows or NBA games that are two years old. That is the reason to buy DVDs here, which I think I have around thirty something, they are usually only about two dollars each.
 After relaxing for a while I would usually meet up with Scott and his family or Alan and Cecilia for a quick walk up to a pizza place called Mario’s or a quick taxi ride to the Drunken Chef for some cottage pie. Don’t think that I haven’t eaten Chinese though, I assure you I could name several places if I knew how to say them. Then back home to my not so soft bed to be woken up by my cell phone alarm clock and do it all over again.

 Suzhou is all lit up at night, it’s kind of like Vegas without the gambling and Americans. It’s always nice to walk out to Jinji Lake and look at all of the bridges glowing in neon with a big city back drop of buildings covered with neon as well. One of the more recognizable buildings has thirty floors of the game Tetris blocks coming down on it every night. All of the trees have Christmas lights in them or different colored spotlights shining up on them. Pagodas and roof tops of smaller buildings are lit up as well displaying the familiar shape of Chinese rooftop architecture. Across the lake is the Giant Wheel Park where a laser show is projected on to the, well what else, Giant Ferris wheel. (396 feet high) Near that is the Suzhou Bird’s Nest which is an expo building housing theaters that fades into different colors like electric paint is slowly running down it’s sides. On Friday and Saturday nights you have the Laser, fire water show thing that you can watch for free also. Then of course, on the weekends there is downtown Suzhou and bar street, Shi Quan Jie, where you have more choices of bars and pool tables than you can shake bamboo at. There is one simply called The Pub that some of us like to sit outside of and get stared at by older Chinese people walking by. There are other kinds of bars on bar street too, they’re called chicken bars and well, let’s just say they are not the kind of bars you would take your wife to. They seem fairly risky also, I’ve seen the police raid some of them and I would bet Chinese Jail would not be fun. I don’t think bar street really closes, I know I’ve come close to seeing the sun come up there a few times. Guys ride by on bikes selling fruit that makes for a good midnight snack or you can jump on a rickshaw to get to your next destination if you’re feeling a little lazy.

 Last night Scott and I met some of the workers at a bar called The Tunnel to have a beer and play some pool with them. The two girls ordered orange juice and the guys sipped on one beer each the whole night. Some of them had never shot pool before. It was funny to see one of the girls shooting with the cue backwards and moving balls around with her hands. Overall it was a good night, I think they all had a good time. Actually one of the guys didn’t make it to work today, I guess that one beer got to him.

 Alright, this will probably be my last blog while in China. This is really strange to know that I only have one more day of a job I have been working for nineteen years. I knew when I came to China it would be my last three months and now the time has come. I will miss Suzhou, but I am ready to come home.
 Anyone hiring?

 Hopefully the trip home will go smoother than the one coming here and the flight to Beijing. I can’t wait to get home and see Dylan and Veleta and everyone else. Here is a short list of things in my “to do” book:

Eat at Fox Brothers bbq; eat a Five Guys hamburger; eat at Waffle House; have a real steak; Black Label Maple Bacon mmm; jam with my band Single Malt Solution; eat at Six Feet Under, snow crab legs; drive my car; play regular golf with my bud Erick; cook something on the grill; sleep in my own bed….. This list could go on forever but, I’m sure you get the picture. Zi Jian

The "kids'
Left to right the guys: Sky,Dragon, American Scott, Strong, American Matta, Ocean
The girls left to right: Vicky and Finny