If I mentioned in a previous post that it was longest day, I was wrong. This was the longest day.
In a pagoda at Tiger Hill in Suzhou, as the elderly trio passed bags of pork jerky around, contemplating on where to go next, I was busy editing photos in the Lightroom app on my phone. I was using almost every second I was sitting still to edit the photos so I wouldn’t have to edit them when I got home. Suddenly, my mom said something that caught my attention, “Let’s go to the Big Pants.”
The “Big Pants” aka the Gate of the Orient is a modern shopping mall on the newer side of Suzhou. I am usually not a fan of shopping and malls but it was the word “modern” that caught my ears. Modern means air conditioner and in this weather, yes please.
Anyway, once again, instead of catching a taxi right outside of Tiger Hill, my mom made us walk a couple blocks farther than necessary. Again, the taxi arrived on the other side of the street. There I went again, holding my breath as I crossed the street. For some reason, though, we did not end up at the “The Big Pants”, instead, we were back in the older part of the city.
The sidewalk was full of tour groups and tour guides with loud microphones. “Where are we?”
We were at the Lingering Garden – one of the most well-known classical gardens that’s been recognized into the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. At first, I was excited to see the garden. After all, it’s a garden and I am a gardener looking for inspiration. Less than 10 minutes into the tour, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. You can’t escape the people in China. They’re absolutely everywhere, even in a beautiful garden such as this.
People were smoking when a large no smoking sign was above their heads. They were sitting and lying down in the middle of the pathway. For the duration of the trip, I wished I could’ve gone to one place, especially a garden, where it was quiet and serene as gardens are supposed to be.
For the majority of the tour, I was walking in a line while from time to time, I was searching for my mom and her cousins. I managed to get some photos with little to no people but that took me taking a step forward in front of someone. It’s just something one has to do in a place like China.
After the Lingering Garden, we were heading to lunch, at least according to my mom. After a brief walk, we arrived at a temple that was, again, full of people. After paying the admission, my mom handed each of her cousins 6 incense sticks. Each person was supposed to get 3 incense sticks but since my mom and I were Christian, we couldn’t commit the betrayal. I didn’t want to anyways. The smoke was so thick from the incense burning that it made me cough and eyes watering.
“Let’s get in line for lunch,” next thing I knew, my mom pushed me into a line that was forming while she went to look for her cousins. Slowly, I followed the queue as it moved forward. If I moved a little slower, the person behind me would push and shove, as if it would’ve made a difference of getting food sooner or later. Wait, I wondered, are we all eating lunch here? Would we all fit?
Soon, I entered into the cafeteria-style dining room. Every seat in the room looked occupied and if someone sat down without a bowl of noodle, a guy will come over and bark “No reserving seats!” So how are we supposed to eat? Standing up?
The bowls of vegetarian noodle soup sat on a counter. Everyone seem to walk by and seamlessly grab a bowl like it weighed nothing. The bowl was heavy and hot. I continued to follow the line of people while scanning for empty seats but it was like playing an impossible game of musical chairs. At last, I was led outside where I could squeeze between a lady and a man slurping away their bowls of noodle soup.
