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Mama’s bdayyyyyy hehe snapped a few photos w mega
cui face when it was only the 3 of us lol got a rlly pretty photo of the two of
them too hehe :D happy 55th mama! :D oh and I saw photos of her bday
celebration and she held the flowers that I gave in nearly all the pictures
kekeke :D
Godma then called the driver at 615 cause he hasn’t
called to pick us up and she got a shock when he said he doesn't knw the car
plate lol but anw we went dwn and boarded the van with this reckless driver who
was rushing to get his passengers haha guess he was late and worried about
being fined oh wells forgiven keke then he dropped us at this bus terminal
place whr we reported and paid to this woman, who later directed us to bus 8979
at the end of the road after a corner turn. The train was… okay la haha not v
old so oh wells its ok but I coudnt take the torn seat so papa helped to take
it unknowingly keke but good also cause he can take photos :D just a pity that
I cant sit w mama on her bday but hmm ohwells then off we go to Suzhou on a 2hr
bus ride! Slept on the bus, I guess all did, and woke up to the stop station
whr we peed lol mama didn't like the toilet but I guess I got used to that
standard lol mama is simply like a replica of me when I first reached such that
I can compare myself to myself lol
So our first stop after the ride was 狮子林 where we had a good tour around the place hearing the floor tiles made
of coins and flowers = spend money lol, the many tiger rocks and the bat
representes fortune etc then the tour guide ended his explanation at the fake
mountain area where we roamed ard ourselves at the bamboo area, fake mountain w
a pretty lake behind, boat, 真趣 plate etc heh glad we managed to take so many pretty photos there J J
Then we moved to the next stop which was a boat
ride along this river/lake that brought us to see the many bridges in Suzhou as
well as the Suzhou uni which had the lowest crime rate as it was opposite the
Suzhou prison haha we also learnt about how “nei hor” = 你好 and “gao” = 哥 in Suzhou language it
was quite a good ride despite not being able to sit near the windows haha and
they bought the poker cards and scenary cds lol
Even though it was alr 12 they didn’t bring us to
have lunch haha instead, we ended up in a silk factory where we learnt about
the small silkworms’ transformation to silk also realized that the origin of
the idiom “作茧自缚” came from silkworms
through this trip haha godma ended up buying this 700+rmb silk blanket omg
faints I was so worried that mum was gonna get one too lol luckily she didn't
phew the tourguide for this factory was so in to promoting the silk blankets
till she lost the whole group in the end zzz
Finally lunch at this restaurant that seems catered
for travellers haha our order got taken down the moment we entered and sat down
and yay! We had 松鼠鱼 in sweet and sour sauce,
银鱼炒蛋, 东坡肉, seaweed soup and veg keke damn yummy! :D though
mama said the fish wasn’t fresh but its k cause I couldn't taste it hehehe have
been wanted to try it for ages :D
And that’s not the end of shopping – we visited a
pearl factory after that where they promoted pearl powder and cream which they
bought again, and even pearl bracelets that cost 360 and 150 omg faints I mean
I knw that that’s a gift for mama’s bday but shrugs I cant see the beauty in
pearls >< prob just not yet oh wells but anw glad mama liked it so J only that the two ladies got stuck at the pearls section for too long
such that we were late to gather and hence papa rushed over first to wait for
us but they wouldn’t hurry lol finally managed to settle the bill and then I
rushed over while they trailed behind walking at a much-faster-than-normal
speed luckily the bus didn't leave phew but we missed the chance to look at
those local snacks oh shrugs
The next stop was the tangbohuo garden which had
this stone gate hmm I cant rmb what was on the sign but tour guide says that we
can only walk in and not out haha kinda dumb but he said 入乡随俗 so fine point taken haha it was quite nice if I
rmb correctly and that’s when I knw that 唐伯虎点秋香 is a fake story lol caue tangbohu was 20years younger than qiuxiang so
they were an impossible couple made up simply because one was 第一风流书生 and the other was 第一歌姬 which made a superb pairing hahah oh and they all said that tangbohu’s 风流ain’t about girls, but was a compliment of his
literature works so clapclaps haha
Oh but here’s the stupid thing. We were “fortunate”
to get to watch a “performance” by this calligrapher but omfg it felt like such
a scam zzz the caligrpher made the people who wanted to take photos to stop
taking photos cause it’s an experience and not a photo-taking session so that
felt like eh quite cool sia this guy but omg how wrong I was. Mama volunteered
her name for a instantaneous poem which was written on paper which was nubbad,
but then godma decided to pay to get it on calligraphy omg 290 per piece and
the names were hidden within the poem zzz omg damn dumb honestly so then many
mothers queued to get their daughters’ name written as a poem and godma also
got herself one at the end of it but omg his words weren’t even like damn
pretty to speak of and he kept goading papa and I to get one as well like super
commercialized yet still act class wtf and stupid tour guide also helping him
in the sales omg such a wholesome scam zzz
Our last stop in Suzhou was 寒山寺 which I knew godma would love ihownicesia but anw
the autumn leaves there was rlly pretty also so yay J and I simply paid my respects without being forced much so it was quite
an ok trip there J took many photos theer
as well especially at the tall pagoda area heh and at the end we met this lady
whom we offered to take a photo for, who then later took a photo for us aww she
even chased after us when she saw us going the wrong way to find our coach damn
sweet aww J
Haha but tour guide got angsty in the end cause 2
members were late so bus couldn't move oh wells the only upset from here would
probably be being unable to spend time w mama, though I think I caught up quite
a lot w papa J ah but in all I guess
this trip was a good decision cause 1) we wouldn't have left early ourselves if
not for the tour, 2) we would have shopped slowly and wasted loads of time, 3)
we wouldn't have a tour guide to explain stuff and stories, 4) we wouldn’t have
covered the boat/silk/pearl/tangbohu place if we came ourselves. However, if we
went ourselves, we would have 1) had a chance to take the clean train, 2) wouldn’t
have spent so freaking much on these tour scams and 3) would have visited
zhuozhengyuan, qilishantang and taijiannong. Oh wells, everything has its pros
and cons haha so long as it was a fruitful trip it’s good J
Then after the ride back where I had a good long
chat w papa on our priorities and my studies, we went to raffles city at
renminguagnchang haha walked the stretch of basement food stalls and ended up
having noodles that’s okay la nubbad haha caught a photo of mama eating happily
heh that’s all that matters then starbucks cause godma needed her latte so we
ordered two muffins to be mama’s bday “cake” hehe here’s a mental note to have
a cake w mama when I get back in jan J also had a phone chat w ahma while we were there exploring the other
levels of the mall which was rather quiet cause we were quite late by then heh
then we walked while trying to grab a cab then cabbed back to the hotel
