Bricoleurbanism

PaD Shanghai: 37

An alley/lane along Qinzhou Lu, south of Tianlin Lu, not sure what the letters HHD are for

Location in google maps

Browse all of PaD Shanghai here at bricoleurbanism.org

…or here on the PaD Shanghai Flickr Set

PaD Shanghai: 36

The best place to get roasted nuts, dried fruits etc.... on Tianlin Lu

Location in google maps

Browse all of PaD Shanghai here at bricoleurbanism.org

…or here on the PaD Shanghai Flickr Set

PaD Shanghai: 35

An alley off Jinxian Lu north of Changle Lu between Shanxi Lu and Maoming Lu with part of a wall mural

Location in google maps

Browse all of PaD Shanghai here at bricoleurbanism.org

…or here on the PaD Shanghai Flickr Set

PaD Shanghai: 34

An apartment building along Tianlin Lu west of Caoxi Lu - notice how the windows have mostly been replaced upgraded individually, lending a pleasant sort of variety to this textured mosaic!

Location in google maps

Browse all of PaD Shanghai here at bricoleurbanism.org

…or here on the PaD Shanghai Flickr Set

PaD Shanghai: 33

View from the stairway of my language school in an old compound in the French Concession at Xinle Lu and Shanxi Nan Lu, near South Shanxi Rd Station

View from the stairway of my language school in an old compound in the French Concession at Xinle Lu and Shanxi Nan Lu, near South Shanxi Rd Station

Location in google maps

Browse all of PaD Shanghai here at bricoleurbanism.org

…or here on the PaD Shanghai Flickr Set

Trains, Taxis, Rickshaws and Tuktuks…

A Valentine’s Day trip to Suzhou for a cherry blossom festival (yes cherry blossoms were out on February 14th!) – it was an exercise in trains, taxis, rickshaws and tuktuks that started off with a subway trip to Shanghai Railway Station to catch the bullet train to Suzhou (train tickets cost 26RMB / US$3.75 each way):

Bullet train from Shanghai Railway Station to Suzhou, about 40 minutes - these trains are 16 cars long and are essentially 2 trains coupled together - this is the joint between the two trains

Taxi trip from Suzhou Railway Station west towards Lake Tai and the “Taihu Garden Court” – trip time circa 1hr (under 100RMB / US$15

Visit to cherry blossom festival (see photo PaD Shanghai: 23)

Why travel by 4 wheels when you can travel by 3? The one we took was an older model in much worse shape than this one

We took one of these 3 wheeled cars a few minutes ride into the local town centre to the bus station (cost: 5RMB / US$0.75)

Ohoh... we have to get on this bus to get back to Suzhou (maybe 1.5hr ride!)... to shove or not to shove that is the question!

This bus will take us back into Suzhou, but there’s a lot of people waiting; the first one is full and we can’t get on; we get on the second, but it’s pretty full and we have to stand – trip time is estimated at 1.5 hours, but after what seems like an hour and only half way there, we get off to have lunch in a district centre in the suburbs of Suzhou

Taxi back into Suzhou (we ask the driver to take us to Suzhou, and he says, “this is Suzhou!”) (cost: circa 50RMB / US$7.50)

Arriving by tricycle rickshaw at the main entrance of the exquisite Garden of Cultivation (Yipu Yuan) at 5 Wenya Lane in the NW corner of Suzhou's old city

From outside the canal that circles the old city of Suzhou, we grabbed these tricycle rickshaws through the narrow lanes of the old city to the Garden of Cultivation (cost: 20RMB / US$3)

Motorcycle richshaw/tuktuk back to the train station, four of us hanging on for dear life as we hustle through some of Suzhou's tiny streets taking a shortcut

To get back to the railway station for the trip home, four of us piled in to this 3 wheeled motorcycle rickshaw/tuktuk (cost: maybe 5RMB / US$0.75?)

Note: the photos are geotagged in Flickr so you can track the trip, however Flickr uses yahoo maps whose China mapping and airphoto coverage is very poor at the moment