Sunday July 24, 2004 6:00 pm

Wow - what a long day!

I met Scott in the lobby of his hotel at 7:30 this morning. The hotel staff pointed out the tour director to us and we all got on the bus. There were about 20 people there with us.

Our first stop was Li Yuan Park. We walked through some gardens and out to Tai Hu Lake. It was very pretty - but the polution here really ruins a view! There is just such a strong haze in the air it is sad.

At this spot we met our friends of the day Darrell and Emily. Thank God for them!!!! They spoke very good english and really helped to direct us and tell us important things - like meet back at the bus in 20 minutes or Don't go that way, and the best thing they said - would you like to have lunch with us! :) I have no idea how we would have managed without them on that part!!

At our first stop we took the funniest boat ride I have ever been on. They herded us down to little speed boats about 7 of us to a boat. The boat speed out of the dock and basically did a 12/ mile loop and came back in. I don't think it was more than 2 minutes. We were thinking they were going to go out and then go slowly so we could get some pictures - but nope - just took off like crazy and then we were done just as quickly. It was hilarious. I could not stop laughing when we got back.

I guess the boat ride really set the day for the speed of this tour. In all the places we stopped we really didn't get a chance to stop and look at anything - just kept walking through the grounds or where ever we were and then headed back to the bus.

After the scary boat ride we walked through some more gardens and then boarded the bus again. Next stop was a recreation of the Ting Dynasty buildings that were used as part of a TV show. It was pretty amazing how much detail they had gone into to create these sets - the place was very big and it was interesting to see it all.

We were treated to 2 shows here. One was more of a mini play/opera. No spoken words from the actors - just music and dancers on the stage. It was only about 10 minutes but it was fun to see even if we didn't know what they were saying in the music. The second show was on the Old Time street. A group of bullies were picking on a father and daughter - and they had to fend them off. There was this strange part where the bullies all started doing a little dance - almost like West Side Story. It was pretty funny.

Third stop of our trip was the Pearl Farm and lunch. They grow a lot of pearls in Wuxi so we (well, assuming we understood what the guides were saying) learned about pearls and growing them - then we got to visit the pearl gift shop and see all the jewelery for sale.

Then Emily and Darrell saved us and asked if we wanted to eat lunch together - Yeah for them!! We went upstairs to a restaurant and sat with a few other people from the tour. Darrell and Emily looked at the menu and kept asking us what kind of things we liked. We pretty much left it up to them what to order. They suggested 2 local specialties - egg with sliver fish and Bones (which turned out to be just like barbeque pork ribs) and then a veggie. It was all very good. The pork had good flavor to it. The eggs were basically like scrambled eggs with a little onion and little fish in it. The fish are famous here - sliver fish is what they are called. They are very little - about an inch or two long and white. You eat the whole fish and they really don't have much of a taste to them. We got rice and some pepsi to go with our lunch. It ended up that all that food cost us $3 - amazing.

Let's see - after lunch went to another park. Turtle Head Penninsula at Tai Hu Lake. There were some nice gardens and beautiful views of the lake. We got to walk around a bit and then got on another boat. This time it was a tour boat that went out on the lake and took us to an island that had some very pretty temples and a lot of religous figures. It was very pretty. There was a beautiful waterfall and a series of caves with different statues. It was nice to be inside there as it was quite hot again today! I kept buying water at each place I saw it!

Our last stop was at a Clay Tea Pot factory. This area makes famous little clay tea pots and we got to watch a demonstration of different features of the pots and hear about how well made they are (again we only assume this is what they were saying).

And that was the end. It was a long day - very warm and a lot of walking. I think I will sleep well tonight!

I'll be meeting Scott and another co-worker for dinner tonight. We are on our own so I don't know where we will be going - but I hope it is good!

Tina