2014.05.06 Shanghai Maglev

Shanghai Maglev Demonstration Line was a nice addition to my stay in China.  'Demonstration' is the key word her: maglev (= magnetic levitation) train was built to both show off China's potential, but also to check viability of using this means of transport to connect distant cities. It is used commercially as shuttle from Shanghai's airport, but its success is limited by not getting closer to the city centre. Still, there were tens of passengers boarding the train - after all it cuts time required to get to the airport significantly (30 km in 8 minutes!) in comparision to standard rail link, with higher cost easier to digest when including in total price of long haul trip. I'm sure a try of high speed travel is one of the reasons to choose it too :)
I had a morning walk trying to find some nice spots, but as the tracks of the maglev are elevated, I couldn't use Shanghai's skyline as backdrop:

Views from my hotel:
 

There is a nice Maglev Museum at the ground floor of Longyang Road station, with exhibition describing history of increasing speed of railway and reasons to involve magnetic levitation for transport purposes, showing all other maglev projects all over the world as well as technology of  Shanghai's line. If one's not in rush, it is worth visiting (free entry).

Longyang Road station:

On board of the train, apart from space (3+3 seat arrangement) there is not much difference. Start is quieter, but acceleration is no different than on classic trains, only it is kept at the same rate for much longer. At high speed the travel becomes a bit shaky - there is no suspension at all apart from magnetic gap, so any imperfections of the track are transmitted to the train without much of dampening. The display in the museum pointed that windows are equipped with 'deceletaring glass', but without explaining what phenomenon is used. When watching through the window nothing unusual could be seen, but with no reference it is hard to judge. The fact is the cars on the motorway runing alongside seemed stationary - no wonder:

2014.05.05 Suzhou modern landmarks and summary

Chinese growth, even though being so rapid, seem to be pretty well balanced: new buildings aren’t simple cubes, but have some architectural detail, there is plenty of plants around (but maybe gardening is just Suzhou’s thing?) and many objects of culture, especially monuments. I surfaced from underground at  the Culture and Arts Centre, and its scale says a lot:

Gate to the East building (nearly finished) show city's aspirations.Thus I feel that Suzhou cannot be treated as a typical example of Chinese lifestyle. It shows however contrasts between where the country was not long ago (and in some areas still is), and where it is now. The gardens are definitely the most interesting attraction of the city, and depending on time available, one can start with smaller ones and finish at the Humble Administrator’s, or go straight there and possibly see the most that in a Chinese garden can be seen. It is worth seeing local everyday life, not for nice views, but for its character. I would not call the old town ‘Venice’ anymore: maybe in the past there were many boats on the canals, now they are only used to clean bottoms of what became sewage… Food is an absolute must to try, I must admit I regret not being brave enough to buy one of those things made on the streets in the morning, but I’m happy I’ve been to hot pot and barbecue places (thanks Viv!). Looking forward to exploring Beijing in August :)

2014.05.05 Suzhou old town (north)

The last day of stay in Suzhou woke up sunny, so I could not resist attempt to finish off plans interrupted by the rain the day before. Start from the heart of the city: Xuanmiao Temple

Next Northern Pagoda:

I tried to capture it from eastern side and walked into another housing quarter typical for inner-wall area. Glory of the temple over everyday life:

I arrived at the Humble Administrator's Garden before opening time and there was already queue of people waiting for a ticket. This one, being the biggest, the most famous, and likely the most impressive of Suzhou gardens, judging on its plan needs half a day at least. Having much less that that, I decided to skip it and go straight to the Couple’s RetreatGarden. The way there goes along Pingjiang Road, apparently attraction itself, but it looked for me like yet another one of those messy pavements surrounded by local tradesmen. It is actually hard to find any road in Suzhou’s centre without a shop or stall at every metre of its length… On the other hand it maybe looks way different, but shows local lifestyle and living conditions (if that qualifies as tourist attraction). 

Local tourist spots aren’t very well signposted (the Chinese probably just ask and get directions), and all the maps I found show very approximate location only. It was similar in that case: there was a sign on the corner of the streets quoting distance of 200m, so after 5 minutes of walk I got worried (satnav doesn’t help without precise map, I managed many times to walk into those slums areas just to realize that each turn leads to dead end), but finally when got to a canal which the street crosses, another sign pointed the garden being just 40m away, and I could see some gate far away. I assume either these are different meters, or different units altogether :)

On the way back I could see the city wall in sunshine instead of rain:

New boundries: Gate to the East seen from the old town gate

I popped into local market hoping to buy some genuine gifts to take home, it appeard however it wasn't exactly the scale I was after. Clearly the Chinese are into stones and porcelain though.

In the centre there are more bicycles, but the scooters rule, being used even as courier mules:

I tried Suzhou’s underground. Very positive experience: ticket machine could be set to English, no problems with getting ticket, clean station with policemen watching the order. I don’t have much experience with the tube, but I suspect travel and passengers look identical, maybe with one exception: there must be signal transmitter on board of the train, as there was full mobile range.
Unfortunately the gate at exit from the station insisted to eat my ticket (simple way to reduce mess!) , so these are the only memories:

Park & Ride :)

 

Clik to see the path I walked, again switch to satelite view as street map (as of May 2014) is shifted.

2014.05.05 Suzhou Couple's Retreat Garden

The Couple’s Retreat Garden must not be the most popular (I was the first to visit, and it was good half an hour after opening), even though going along city wall its entrance is next to the zoo’s.
West side is occupied mostly by buildings, east part is based around pond and man-made ‘Yellowstone mountains’. I could see some common things (like spiral climb) and attention to detail (like uniquely shaped windows). The idea of this garden looks to be deeply based in philosophy and literature, after all it was supposed to express its creators’ pursuit of harmonious way of life, and as such my reception was less enthusiastic than the garden seen before.