Showing posts with label Suzhou. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Suzhou. Show all posts

Monday, May 16, 2011

Suzhou, China: City of Gardens


Suzhou's other claim to fame is it's gardens. Rather than going to one of the biggest and famous ones, we decided instead to check out two small ones. First was the Master of the Nets Garden.


The garden intertwines living spaces and nature to form a beautiful garden. I wish we could have hired a tour guide. So many folks here were on tours and there seemed to be so much to learn about this history here. Someday, when I'm rich, I suppose...



Then our second garden we headed to was called Lion Grove Garden. This was similar and yet totally different from the Master of the Nets. Again, intertwining living spaces and nature to form a garden, it is similar to the Master of the Nets, but here was a huge labyrinth formed into the rocks. walking up, down, around in, the path through the rocks twisted around in a small area that took ages to escape from. All I could imagine was how much fun it must have been for children, ages ago, who must have lived here or visited here. Oh, the hide and seek games that could be played here!




One day was not nearly enough to explore all that Suzhou had to offer. I wish I could have stayed here a week to see everything! Suzhou is a must see on any trip to China. And if I were to do it again, I think I might have passed over Nanjing and spent all my time here! At least for the sights. Though Nanjing did have some amazing food and crazy cheap massages, so it's hard to say what city is better!

Suzhou, China: City of Canals


For our last full day of our trip to China, we took the train to Suzhou, a nearby city, about 1 hour away by bullet train. One of Suzhou's claims to fame is it's beautiful, ancient canal waterways. The city felt so much cooler than Nanjing where the heat was just stifling. I'm guessing it must be because of the canals.


The one thing I really had looked forward to doing here in Suzhou was taking a canal boat ride. In the end, it was the one thing we wound up not doing (but spent 4 hours trying to do) but on the way we had lots of amazing adventures and saw some beautiful sights. When we finally found the boat we wanted to ride, we had decided that we had seen so many canals it wasn't worth the 150 RMB to rent the boat and do it again from just another perspective.






We ended our day at a lovely little cafe with a kettle of tea and a never ending thermos of hot water to keep the tea coming. We watched as the boats passed by and appreciated the beauty of the moment.