After some weaving and turns, the taxi driver dropped us off by the side of the street. I opened the back door and immediately, an electric scooter came flying by, almost taking the door with him. Is there anywhere safe here? I wondered as I ran out of the car and as far from the road as I could run. Figuring out where I was would be a question for a later time.
My mom and I along with her cousins M and T walked down an inconspicuous alley way until I saw a river. A short distance away was a sign read, “Shantang Street”. “This is a well-known street in Chinese history,” my mom said and began walking until a man shouted.
“Hey, you’re going the wrong way. The street is that way.” He pointed at the opposite direction. “Why don’t you ladies ride my taxi and I’ll show you around.” He pointed at the 3-wheel vehicle that couldn’t be bigger than a smart car.
“No, thank you.” My mom said and we began walking as fast as our legs would take us. “Next time, huh?” My mom added, just in case.
The farther we walked, the narrower and more crowded the street became until we were squeezing ourselves among the throng of people. We ended up resting at a restaurant with a small bowl of Suzhou specialty cuisine- Red Roasted Beef Noodle Soup. Even with my mom’s triple warning to the wait-staff to take out the spice, it was spicy and then the restaurant charged us an exorbitant price for such a dainty bowl of noodle. “That’s China,” my mom said, “if you want to eat at a scenic area, you’ll be paying an arm and a leg.”
Once we crossed under a pedestrian bridge, the scenery changed. While the street still remained a shopping street, we could once again see the canal.
There are many bridges along the canal to allow for pedestrian crossing. While I do appreciate the scenery, I don’t appreciate the crowds. This is supposed to be a historically and culturally important site, yet, there were so many people and businesses squeezed into one another. I guess I just wished it be like the historical sites I’ve been in the US, where everything is kept as it was and not try to modernize and commercialize the place.
When we reached the end of a section of the road, we decided to return to the hotel. Instead of ordering a taxi at the corner of the next street, my mom decided to walk almost a mile in the opposite direction from the hotel before telling Cousin M to order the taxi. My mom would do this multiple times throughout the trip. Why? I don’t know. All I know is when I go on trips with my mom, I end up walking more than I have to.
The taxi ride back to the hotel was another adventure in itself. Cousin M ordered the taxi from her phone and the taxi driver arrived on the other side of the street looking for us. The driver was red-faced angry when we got into the car 5 minutes later after having to run half of a block to cross the street. In China, crossing the street was never easy for me because unlike probably anywhere in the world, where pedestrians take priority over vehicles, in China, anything – electric scooters, bicycles, motorcycles, and even cars – can come at you while you’re trying to cross the road.
Anyway, the driver looked like he was about to blow when I got into the car. I was always the last to get in because I didn’t want to be squeeze into the middle. The driver began screaming at us, first in a local dialect, then in Mandarin, neither I really understood. Apparently, Cousin M made a mistake when she booked the taxi.
Apologetically, my mom slipped a 20-dollar-bill to Cousin M to hand to the driver for his troubles, who screamed while driving like a raging maniac until we reached the hotel. By the time I got out of the car, I was starting to have regrets of not taking my mom’s offer when she gave me the ultimatum in Nanjing.
