Suzhou

Arriving in Suzhou was really great!  The bus station was a little less than 3 km from our hostel so the taxi ride this time around was much, much less.  Yay for buses!  I am a fan.  Public transportation.  If only it were a little more efficient in Reno (and in the US), I would definitely consider taking it, especially after this past semester.

Suzhou is known to be the Venice of China because of its waterways and gardens.  And man, did we load up on those gardens.  Our hostel was really great because not only was it in a historical section of town, but it was close to 2 of the gardens that I most wanted to see!  Of course with only two days there and not wanting to stress out, we didn’t see much outside of the gardens, but that’s definitely okay.  If and when I get back to China, I have a list of places that I would like to see because I didn’t get the chance this first time.  So, I am satisfied.

So in 2 days, we saw 3 gardens and 1 museum.  Pretty good, I would say!  Gardens were all neat, but they definitely started to have very similar characteristics after the third one.  Humble Administrator’s Garden was my favorite.  Then Lion Forest.  Then Lingering.  But with all of them, all I could think was, "I could use a backyard like this."  And Suzhou Museum was pretty cool.  They had an exhibit from English there.  All I have to say is that, wow.  British people are weird.

Pictures!

Canal!

Lion Forest Garden

There were openings and stairs and walkways amongst the formations.  So cool!

Canal at night!

Humble Administrator's Garden.

It is the most famous of the Suzhou Gardens.  It deserves to be.

There were signs like this all around the Lingering Garden.  I think they might have been my favorite part.

Boats, just in case you got tired of walking around your massive garden.

Suzhou Museum.  British artist trying to make a statement I guess.

I don't get it.

 There we go!  On to the next city!