Suzhou, China

Day 1

We left for Suzhou from Hangzhou by a rented car with a driver at around 10am.  Traffic leaving Hangzhou was quite bad.  We spent a few hours in Wuzhen 烏鎭, an old town, on the way to Suzhou!

WuZhen烏鎭

Wuzhen is a historic tourist town in Zhejiang which has a nickname of “Venice in the East” due to its beautiful canals and impressive gardens.

Strolling around the ancient town …

Wuzhen Grand Theatre 烏鎭大剧院

Traditional Chinese wedding exhibited in a mini museum showing wedding room and hall decorations and a palanquin to transport the bride to the groom’s home.

Suzhou

Passing by Suzhou City Wall …

We were in a traffic catastrophe trying to get to our hotel… our hotel is located right in the heart of the old city with all the best gardens and canals in walking distance. In fact, it’s so much in the heart that it does not have a road wide enough for cars to access so they sent a golf cart to pick us up at the at of the road.

We stayed at a traditional Suzhou styled hotel with interior courtyards and garden.

Day 2

Right in front of our hotel…

… this lady washed her clothes in the river just like they have been doing for centuries, beating her clothes with a pad… fascinating!

BingJiangLu 平江路

BingJiangLu is the epicenter of activity in old SuZhou …There are tons of small food and other shops, lots of traditional architecture and rock, work and bridges along the canals, all of which make it an attractive place for people to wander and eat and stop to take pictures and just enjoy their time. Needless to say, this place was packed on the weekend we were there.

I love these … on BingJiang Street!

Lion Grove Garden 獅子林

We went to visit a number of different gardens in Suzhou today, Suzhou is definitely known for its beautiful gardens. Lion Grove Garden dates back to 1342 when it was built by a Zen Buddhist monk named Wen TianRu.

Inside the various rooms, there are many artistic and unique flower arrangements.

The garden was nationalized by the Chinese government when they came to power in 1949 and was open to the public in 1956. It is a beautiful garden with flowers and bamboo plants and really unique rock formations, surrounded by wonderful tranquil pools, including a rock formation that looks very much like a lion led to the garden being named the lion forest garden.

The garden became part of the Bodie orthodox monastery and then passed through a number of different hands until ultimately it was purchased by a Shanghai merchant in 1926.

Humble Administrator’s Garden 拙政园

We also went to visit Humble Administrator’s Garden 拙政园.

Marco Polo referred to SuZhou as the Venice of the east because of its wonderful canals, bridges and gardens. The best known garden is definitely the one that is referred to as the “Humble Administrator’s Garden”, which is also said to be the finest garden in Southern China.

It is a huge site and if you get there on a busy day like we did, expect to line up with thousands of other people in order to get tickets and enter the site and walk around. It was so crowded the day that we were there that we did not get to see everything, but what we did see was very impressive.

The ponds and pools and canals through the garden, with large lakes and big halls and traditional pavilions, are all connected to smaller private areas with a network of paths and beautiful plants.

This garden dates back to the 12th century when it was part of a monastery, after which it became a private residence for a Tang dynasty scholar. The buildings are classic Ming dynasty style and the gardens and rocks and flowers are impressive. Don’t miss this on your trip to Suzhou!

Day 3

Suzhou and Hangzhou is famous for their crab大押蟹 especially during the fall when they are in season. We tried their crab meat sauce noodles 蟹黄面 on the our last night in Suzhou for dinner. We were served with 4 different kinds of crab meat sauces with unlimited servings of noodles. They were pretty good. Apparently, after eating crab meat sauce noodles, we are encouraged to drink ginger tea to counter the heat element inherent in the sauce. Those chicken feet were complimentary 😳.

Some restaurants are pretty small with just a small counter to order food, unable to accommodate dine-in customers so the customers sit by the river banks to dine. It looks like one of the most popular places around to eat while enjoying the local scenery.

We also enjoyed a night of traditional Chinese singing 評台 at the hotel.