2010年6月28日 星期一

兒童烘培體驗營 Kids Bakery Workshop

Winston finished his final exam at school. On June 25, We invited some of his classmates to our house to make cookies and pizzas.
The kids had good time with the DIY food. They also grabbed every chance to play in the kid's room.  After they left the room was a chaos.
Richy fixed some of the broken toys and felt proud of himself for being able to fix the seemed unfixable toyes.
It was so much fun to watch kids play and learn. The feedback from parents and kids was very positive. I plan to hold this kind of activity again next year before school's summer vacation.
趁暑假開始前, 辦了一次小朋友親手做餅乾Pizza的體驗營。


2010年6月21日 星期一

留園 Suzhou Garden:Liu-Yuan


In the evening of Dragon Boat Festival, we visited another Chinese garden--Liu Yuan.  Liu Yuan is one of the four most famous Chinese Gardens in China.  It is also a World Heritage certified by UN.  The most spectacular scene in the garden is a Tai-hu Rock called Guan Yun Feng which stands for "the hill over the clouds". It is also the tallest object among the neighborhood. This rock is a heritage from Song Dynasty.
We walked along the winding roofed walkway and  zigzaged stone path to different gardens and forests. Some old trees standing firmly on the rock based forest provided shades for visitors in the hot summer. As we walked, the view was changing. The variety of plants change with the seasons, which gives us a good reason for more re-visits in other seasons.
留園與拙政園、北京颐和園、承德避暑山庄齊名,為中國"四大名園"。1961年列为中国重点文物保護单位。1997年列入"世界遗產名录"留园三绝是:冠云峰、楠木殿、鱼化石。這次摄影师 Richy只拍到冠云峰和楠木殿,鱼化石因为體積小,加上出發前没有先做好研究,所以遗漏了。下次必定將它找出,我们有庭园卡在手,随时可以再访留园,江南庭园四季的景色各有特色,值得一地数游。說實話,那张楠木殿的照片也拍得不太成功(攝影技術?),下次一併補齊囉!
 
Guan-Yun Feng, the Tai-Hu Rock
冠云峰是太湖石中的绝品,集太湖石的"瘦、皺、漏、透、醜"五奇於一身,相傳這塊奇石是宋末年花石綱中的遗物。
Roofed path over the water

 

Rock mountain

Stone table



 


Stone paved ground with animal picture

Chinese Word "壽" for " Longevity" , with five bats"五福" stands for "5 blessings"
 
 

 Birds picking tree barks for nest-building. A wild-life lesson for Winston


 Man-made mountain and fish pool

Zizag stone paths

Dragon Boat Festival 龍舟慶端午


Lunar Calendar May 5, which was June 16 this year, was Dragon Boat Festival.
In Chinese tradition, we eat zong-zi, peaches, and  watch dragon boat races on Dragon Boat Festival, and we did on that day. According to lunar calendar, the day and days after dragon boat festival will be hot. And it was really hot, till now. Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan has always been one of the important festivals. The goverment held boat races every year to celebrate the day.
This year, the Suzhou city goverment picked the tradtion back and had a boat race at Gold Chicken Lake. So we had the luck to watch the boat races.  
 The most interesting thing in the race was to see one of the dragon boat turn up side down and every rower fall to the water. It was so much fun to witness the "boatwreck".




 翻船 Boatwreck
 The crowd
 

Zong-Zi

2010年6月17日 星期四

1st Visit with my Suzhou Garden's Card 園林卡第一刷

 
An Indoor Well
We have been in Suzhou for almost 2 years and are eligible for applying for the Suzhou Garden's Cards. With the Garden's Card, we paid a fixed annual fee and can enjoy 100 visits to those "Expensive" Chinese gardens in Suzhou.  We like to go outdoors on Sundays and are sort of out of old towns to visit. Our next outing targets may be the gardens. So we got the cards. We paid our first "free" visit to "Yi Pu" Garden.  The Chinese words "Yi Pu" means "artistic Garden", which is rarely known to travelers or even to the residents in Suzhou.  I think that is because it is small, and located in the small alley. Yi Pu got its " World Heritage Certificate" from UN in 2000.  The original building and landscape were built in 1541. It was the only place where we didn't see noisy crowds in and out and we didn't have to line up and wait for a good shot.
Stone bridges, rocks, lakes, trees, and old houses make a tipical traditional Chinese garden. They generally look familar in every Chinese garden.  The very impressive part in this trip is that we saw an indoor well in a lobby. We used to see some wells in the gardens but never seen one inside the house. Unlike other existing outdoor wells, this one does not have garbage inside.  It still reserves clear water. I wonder why this well  was not specifically mentioned in the tour guide, but it looked like a treasure to me.
来蘇州近二年,終於可以申请辦理園林卡了,园林卡是苏州市政府开放给当地居民、长期居住的外国人或境外人士付费申请的年卡。有了它,一年内可以任意逛苏州庭园100次。对于几乎逛完苏城附近所有古镇的我们非常好用。那些收费的园林接下来就要成为我们周末散步的后花园了。
上星期一我骑着小折腳踏車、再利用公车接驳的方式,顺利办好了我的第一张园林卡。Richy 也在星期日办了一张,我们当天把两人园林卡的第一刷献给了“艺圃”。
大部分的人知道苏州最有名的园林是拙政园,但我根据我的经验,很多很棒的园林,很多外地人都不知道。譬如我逛过的狮子林,还有这次的“艺圃”。
艺圃是许多人(包含苏州本地人)没听过的园林,它小而美,地处小巷弄,不容易找到,可能因为如此,人少,门票只要¥10(全市最低),可能是因为交通因素,没看到任何旅行团带看此处,是到目前为止唯一可以不用闪人群、排队拍照的园林,But 它可是少数有联合国认证的世界遗产古迹哦!每天都有些基本的茶客(附近的居民)到此喝茶闲聊,苏州真是退休老人的天堂。
很特别的是,我们这次第一次看到一口“室内井”,难得一见得井却不见旅行者或主管机关们在这方面多做着墨。
历史
艺圃是一座建于明代的名园。最初为明代学宪袁祖庚所建,初名“醉颖堂”,后归文征明的曾孙、明末礼部左侍郎兼东阁大学士(相当于副宰相)文震孟,改名“药圃”。
明亡后,在清初为明崇祯进士姜�(号敬亭)所有,改称“敬亭山房”,后其子姜实节更名“艺圃”。
至道光年间为绸缎业七襄公所所在地。全园有地仅为五亩,以约占五分之一的池水为中心。
建筑特色
以池水、石径、假山相结合的手法,为明清苏州一代造园家所常用,可谓“自然而又力求超越自然”。
池水之东有乳鱼亭,是明代遗物,外有小径与各处相通。
池水之西,有芹庐小院,以圆洞门与其它景区相隔而又相连。步入院门,即可见院中有小池,似与大池相通。
北设厅堂、南有山水,这在苏州园林中是属于少见的设计。院中散置湖石花木,为园内最为避静之处。

Yi-Pu is located in this small alley. 
坐落在小巷子里的艺圃
 
The entrance
Path to the gardens and lobbies





乳鱼亭(明代至今)


2010年6月7日 星期一

烏鎮 Old town Wu-Zhen

    
Last weekend we visited another old town--Wu Zhen
Wu Zhen comprises 4 areas, but only two areas are open for visitors: the East and West.  We visited the West part of Wu Zhen
The west area is bigger and well organized while the east part is more localized but smaller. The travel bureau took over everything in the west( this sounds cruel to me to evacuate the residents), while the residents in the east still stay and run business in the area. Because of the differences between these two areas, we did not see residents' hanging their underwear or bedsheets on the street or lakeside in the west area. The compromise was that we could not find a bargain store to shop around.
  
烏鎮地处浙北水陸交通要道,因水成市,傍河成埠,自古商賈雲集。出生的名人大家多不及數。一千多年前中最早的梁昭明太子,宋、明、清期間,一共出了近二百名舉人、進士。近、現代也出了许多书法、绘画、和政治名家。
该地雨量丰沛,物产丰饶,是个富裕的古镇;它的建筑经历代翻修之后,大气而不失古味;水道、小橋相互交織,布局完善,令人嘆為觀止。我们走在街上,没几步路就会遇到小桥,忽高忽低好像在爬山,一路上很有變化。很多走道都有廊棚,而且水道很多,不会太熱,我們走了近五小時。
乌镇目前开放参观的地方有东栅和西栅二处,东栅还有当地居民居住,所以也有民宿;西栅则完全是旅游局進駐,看不到任何居民(只有店員),所有旅馆住宿都要經由旅游局,街道虽然是整理的很干净近,看不到有人沿街晒内衣裤的窘樣;相对的,街旁就看不到低价的玩意店,是个名副其实的观光镇。一个富裕的古镇,照说应该和同里古镇一样,有着几处大户人家的庭院可观赏,But这里没有,Why? 我猜啦,古镇里得四星饭店、五星饭店很多,门面都是古迹,它们大量霸占了当时的庭院,不知将多少庭园化做客房,唉!古迹避得了战争、文革、还得逃得过“利”字那把刀,才有机会留传后世啊!
我想,这么美的古镇,当初被赶出此镇的老居民,心里一定很不舍,太残忍了,这种事也只有..........。不要想太多了,花了120RMB/每人,就好好享受此行吧!。
 
Dyed Calicos
Paste & Pickle workshop
The foundry workshop
 
River Bank Cafe
 Old Choppy Wall
 
The library's stairway
 
The big and round straw-woven plate
River bank food court, White Lotus Tower in the back  白莲塔
Night View
After we took some shots of the night view, we left this poetic and splendid old town.