This morning we met our guide 'Deng' and went on our first rickshaw ride through the backstreets of the city.

A Rickshaw to Market

There were a lot of very small shops housing individual businesses such as jade craftsmen and fan makers but also I noticed some had more regular businesses like paint sellers and very tiny eating houses and barbers.
The traffic done these side streets was still quite hair raising at times because whilst there was no where near as much volume as on the main streets, they are so narrow that when you meet someone coming the other way or when a scooter wants to overtake the rickshaw, everything is such a squeeze.
On the way, we visited 2 markets, a food market and a flower and pet market. We found them really interesting but many westerners may be shocked when they visit them. In the food market, not only where there huge stalls selling fruit and vegetables, there were also traders selling live meat and live fish. The general idea seems to be that they keep lots of things alive (not necessarily in the most humane environment or great shape mind you) until you want to buy them to take home for tea and then they finish them off for you when you agree to buy them! It was amusing watching a couple of ladies eyeing up the fish and then obviously moaning to the trader when the fish splashed them.
The flower and pet market was also an experience. They had some very cool decorative stones and bonsai's for sale as well as flowers and tea sets but most of the market was taken up by pet sellers. Dogs, cats, fish, terrapins, turtles, hamsters, chipmunks, rabbits and loads and loads of birds. Budgies, canaries, finches, parrots, parakeets and lots of myner birds.
Bearing in mind that they also eat dogs and turtles, it was quite weird to also see them being sold as pets. I mentioned to Karron that we have seen very few old digs as pets so I wonder if once the puppy gets to a certain age they mature in to the family dinner! ;-(

A Boat Ride

Next, we took a ride on a traditional Chinese boat with just one paddle around a section of the city moat. Years ago the merchants used the moat to transport there wears to the town and the markets but nowadays it's only used for tourist boats. Deng said there are fish in the moat but not for eating - apparently it's too polluted? We passed under bridges that are 800 years old and were told that the whole area is now protected by the Chinese government as historical landmarks. All houses on the side of the moat can be rebuilt in their original fashion but no new ones can be built. Every house has a front door on the street and the back door with steps leading down to the water where they moored their boats. Eventually, the moat runs into The Grand Canal which is one of the longest rivers in china at over 800 km long. Towards the end of the boat ride our driver treated us to two folk songs as he rowed. His voice echoed off the side walls of the canal and was actually quite loud.

A Visit to the Garden

The last thing we did this morning was visit a small garden hidden down a side street called 'The Garden of the Master Fishing Net'. This is one of the most famous gardens in China because it has been owned by many famous Chinese scholars and leaders. It only covers around an acre but is really well laid out and quite beautiful. It is said in China that a perfect garden has 4 elements - water, stone, flowers and trees. The aim is to represent natural landscapes in miniature. This explains why the large decorative rocks are often found in Chinese gardens, they are the mountains. The bonsai are small versions of the great trees but the Chinese do not call them bonsai.
the ponds are to represent the lakes and the flowers are for colour. They also like to incorporate buildings in the garden so that it can be enjoyed at any time of year. The buildings often have 'framing' windows that look out to a view that is extra special. They also have 'moon gates', large round openings which once again are used to frame a special view within the garden, just like a living picture.
In the old days, women were separate from the men and they had there own space from which to view the gardens. In general, the male owner if the property entertained his guests in the largest room which was filled with magnificent furniture. We saw examples of both later Qing 'heavy, square and with marble insets' and Ming 'lighter and more flowing angles, no marble' furniture in different buildings. They ladies were generally kept out of the way and they did not walk far on account of the fact that they spent much of their lives with bound feet, (smaller feet were considered very desirable in imperial times).

The Silk Factory

We had lunch at the No1 Silk Factory and afterwards git to walk around it. Set up in 1926 this is now a very busy tourist attraction and working factory. We saw and held (yup, karron too) live silk worms and then watched how the process of making silk garments works from the sorting of the cacoons to making the thread to the spinning machines clunking away. Apparently 85% of the workforce in the factory is female. It's quite amazing to see how it all gets put together. The silk duvets they were making were gorgeous. Light and super soft - but very expensive from the factory. I dare say it's possible to get them much cheaper on eBay! On the way out if the factory was a huge shop. They sold all sorts of silk items but all with quite high price tags. The items did seem very high quality though.

Another Garden

The last place we visited today was another famous garden, 'The Lingering Garden'.
This has had a few different names over the ages but this is the last one given to it by the last private owner, a famous Chinese Doctor who wanted the garden to 'linger on' in his family through the generations. When the japanese occupied the city they took control of the garden and then afterwards it became the property of the Chinese Government so unfortunatley it would seem he didn't quite get his wish.
This garden is much larger than the first covering 6 acres. It is interesting to note that both gardens entrances look like regular houses and it's not until you go in that you realize what lies behind. This was done on purpose. This garden is very similar to the last one but on a much bigger scale. We also got to enjoy some traditional Chinese music being performed in 3 different areas. We heard two types of Chinese guitar and the Chinese harp being played. At one point a young lady playing a pi-pa was rowed out to the centre of the lake in the middle of the garden whilst playing and singing to the gathered audience. Her voice and instrument being relayed around the area via a wireless microphone attached to her blouse.
The best part of this garden for me was the bonsai garden. There were over a hundred individual trees on their own plinths and some must have been hundreds of years old. The gardener that originally set and shaped the tree long since dead. They were just awesome and I would have liked to have taken them all home with me - not that I'd have the room for them, let alone the hundreds of thousands of pounds needed to buy them!

All in all, we had a really nice day out, less about the history and more about the gardens and culture today.

Beasted before bed!

We've finished off the day with both of us enjoying a full body massage (more like a gentle pummeling) in the hotel and we're now sat in the bar waiting for the waiter to bring us a beer - perfick.

Whilst we're waiting, a couple of girls are singing live with a pianist - some Amy Winehouse stuff right now and actually they're not bad at all. No rolled 'r''s anywhere 

Back to the room after our beer to get a good nights sleep before travelling to Shanghai tomorrow morning on the high speed train.