We did a day-trip to suzhou today. The weather was beautiful and we were both excited to go. We got an early start (for us) and decided to take a cab to the main train station; this turned out to be a mistake. We got stuck in horrible traffic and by the time we got to the station, the train we wanted was sold out. We bought tickets for the next train but it's departure time was two hours later. After finally arriving in suzhou, we immediately bought our return tickets and then headed straight for the center of the old city. Unfortunately they've turned the centuries-old classical Chinese buildings in the center of town into a shopping arcade full of cheap souveniers. Slightly dissapointed, we decided to abandon any sightseeing plans and just walk. We were really lucky because our walk took us through some very real neighborhoods where local people were out in the ancient, narrow streets socializing and preparing to cook their dinners. The people here are fascinating; there are some real characters! We had a very strange experience at dinner. We went to a fairly up-scale restaurant we had read about. We ordered a cold chicken dish, a broiled eel, Chinese broccoli, and two bowls of rice. Our waiter remained tableside, pen and pad in hand. I tried to explain that we were done ordering but he kept saying "bu gou" or "not enough". Confused, we added a soup to our order but this didn't seem to change our situation. By this point there were three waiters standing around us trying to speak to both of us in rapid-fire Chinese. Then they somehow produced a typed up menu in English! And began pointing to the appetizers. I again tried to explain that we didn't want any more food, but this was not satisfactory. Eventually they brought the English speaking manager over who looked at our order and said that, "yes, this will probably be enough and if you're still hungry you can order more". In the end, we could only eat about half of the food on the table.
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