'I want to go left!', is what I imagine the lady in today's photo is trying to communicate. Meanwhile, her husband lounges at the helm of the boat looking on, thankful he's not facing his wife.
Although I titled today's photos 'Suzhou River Scene' they should perhaps more accurately be titled 'Suzhou Canal Scene' for most of the waterways in Suzhou are canals and the straight lines of the banks in this scene look more canalish than riverish.
'Have duck will travel', is perhaps not a commonly heard phrase but one I feel appropriate for today's photo.
The shack on the landing is a fuel depot for the longboats of the community. What I still fund curious is that 'Slow Down' is written in English. I only ever saw locals driving boats on the rivers. Maybe they determined 'Melambatkan' wouldn't fit in large enough letters to be visible until it was too late. Or maybe they determined it was only English reading explorers that were speeding on the rivers.
Just like those bigger riverboats, the Soon Hong No. 7 carried a spare drive shaft and propeller. I still don't know how they would have gone about changing that mid-river.
From high on a hillside we had a great view down onto the river and the new arrivals coming upstream. This photo was taken in the Gunung Mulu National Park in 1989.