So Wuxi used to be a tin mining town. And now the tin is all used up - hence the name "Wuxi" meaning just that.
When you visit Wuxi you can see the hill where the mine was from most places in the city. And it is now the place for a lovely park. We visited there during our October break when there was a lantern display in the park. We weren't quite sure what to expect from a display of lanterns, we certainly weren't expecting these magnificent wire and silk models.
There were other attractions too, like this stall selling lollipops. They were made on-the-spot from hot toffee quickly shaped into intricate designs from the Chinese zodiac. Little darling here really couldn't wait and wanted to get his hand onto the unfinished still-soft confectionary. Which he succeeded in doing moments after the photo was taken.
Warning, warning.
And then there was the chair-lift, which looked like it could be fun, despite the misty, rainy weather that day.
I always imagine the worst - especially in a place like this where public health and safety are handled differently from our own country. So I was very careful to read all of the instructions before I handed over my money for a ride.
And I didn't frolic once. And I'm glad it didn't stop half-way because I definitely would have felt some panic despite their instructions.
Too hard to read? Here is what it says:
1. Please line up to buy tickets and get into the chair lift one by one. Keep the ticket for check when going out. Otherwise you have to buy the ticket again. Children under 1.2m should buy half-price tickets, while children over 1.2m should buy full-price-tickets.
2. Anyone who have heart disease, high blood pressure, mental disease, vertigo disease, acrophobia, acute infection disease, or is the drunk, the disabled, a kid under 1.2m without parents-companion are not allowed to take the chairlift in order to avoid any accident.
3. When sitting on the chairlift, the behaviors such as smoking, squatting, standing and frolicking are forbidden.
4. Any explosive, inflammable, toxic and dangerous articles as well as handbags over 5kg are not allowed into the chairlift.
5. Don't little and damage the facilities. Passengers have to pay any damages.
6. Don't feel panic when suddenly stopped in the middle way or any technical problems occur, please follow attendants' instructions.
7. When the chairlift is coming into the station, please follow the attendant's instructions to exit the station. Don't stay in the station to take pictures.
Thank you for your cooperation and hope to see you again.
Time to change the beds ...
You've got to hand it to them - the Chinese know what they are doing when it comes to gardening. Not that their methods would work so well in the harsh Australian environment, but they are certainly masters of their own domain.
We plan ahead. We plant tiny trees, and dream of the day when they will be tall enough to give us some shade. We try to plant a garden bed with some plants that will look good in winter, and some for summer too.
But not here. Gardens are instant, complete with fully-grown trees. The planning happens elsewhere, and the trees arrive on the back of a truck with their foliage dragging behind on the ground and their root-ball all tied up with rope. They are hoisted into position with wooden supports on each side and their trunks bound with rope, supposedly to protect them from the shock of being moved.
The road at our back gate has been under road-works for the past few months. Until a couple of weeks ago there was nothing to see except piles of dirt and heavy machinery. Now the road service is laid, and lines are painted, barriers are up, and the gardens are in place too.
Elsewhere, this is the time of year to change the beds. Armies of gardening staff pull the summer shrubs out of garden beds, bind up their roots and put them away until next year, and pop the winter bushes into place. They give them a bit of a trim - bushes and hedges are generally trimmed into interesting shapes, they could be Chinese words for all we know - and voila! The winter garden is ready.
... and paint the trees.
When we noticed last year that the big trees along the sides of the roads were all painted white up to about a metre high, we presumed it was for ease of visibility - especially as the light poles are similarly painted. Then we noticed acres of tiny trees - probably the ones that will later be transplanted when they are fully grown - all with their spindly trunks also painted white. Well, maybe someone was bored and thought it would look nice.
Now winter is upon us, and we noticed that they are doing it again. All the trees that are not bound up with rope - or in some cases what looks more like white plastic - are presently having their trunks painted white. Even the forests of tiny trees away from the road have all been thoroughly sloshed with the white liquid. It does look rather neat, but we are guessing it is some kind of winter protection - only guessing, because no one seems willing or able to tell us why it is done. Maybe, from their point of view, it has always been so, it's like asking why the sky is blue, it's not something to be questioned.
Colour comes in pots
Then there are the glorious flower displays. Sometimes the gardeners will arive with a truckload of already flowering plants, and pull them out of their pots to place directly into the ground. But mostly the displays are just made up of plants still in their little plastic-bag pots attractively arranged.
Sometimes they will even build a wire model, such as a dragon, and put the flower-pots into it at all sorts of angles.
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