One of Suzhou’s Famous Gardens
Suzhou (Sūzhōu) is a quick, half-hour high speed train ride north of Shanghai. Once home to over 100 gardens, now there are about a dozen. It’s still known as Garden City, and is a popular stop on the tourist trail. A number of the classical gardens are UNESCO World Heritage listed, combining man-made features with natural backgrounds and landscapes: ponds and pavilions, trees and pathways, bridges, islands and rockeries.
Immediately after exiting the Suzhou train station, we were bombarded by people trying to get us to join a tour bus that takes you around the city and its famous sites. As I’m sure, dear reader, you are aware, we do our absolute best to visit cities and sites at our own pace and avoid the mass tour groups at (almost) any cost. We ran the gauntlet of touts and made our way to the local bus stop in the plaza upstairs from the train station.
This led us to the next challenge of the day, which bus to get on to visit the sites we had so carefully chosen. It had sounded quite easy from what we’d read, but there were no signs in English at all and no one in sight who could help. After a little debating and guesswork we made a choice and boarded. We matched up the characters for the main street in town from our map, with one of the stops on the list for bus #4. At ¥4 (less than $1) for both of us in an air conditioned bus what could go wrong?
Following along on the map, the bus was going where we expected. Great. Then, a sudden turn off the main north south avenue and we were a little thrown off. Hoping the bus would turn back and continue down the main thoroughfare, we sat patiently. It never did. We kept saying “If it doesn’t turn by the next stop, we’ll get off,” until we were really too far off track to double back easily.
What to do? Modify the game plan of course! We were at that point on the western outskirts of the city, but luckily there was a garden just down the road. The Garden to Linger In wasn’t on the list for the day but it was quickly moved up to status A1 by proximity. In hindsight, this was probably a blessing in disguise. Because it’s not on the main tourist route, this garden doesn’t get as many huge groups. We were able to explore at our leisure without fighting for space or time. The garden was created in the Ming Dynasty by a doctor as a relaxing place for his patients. There are hand-written stone plaques displayed throughout with reflections on the place by these patients. In addition to the winding paths, riverstone art, bridges, a nice-sized reflecting pond and corridors, there were some beautiful pieces of period furniture, and an impressive bonsai garden.
Lotus Blossum
After lingering for a few hours, we took a walk back to the heart of the city seeking nourishment, which we found in the form of some Uighur specialties from China’s far northwest. We enjoyed lamb noodles, some vegetables, naan bread and lots of good green tea. Feeling a little more energetic, we continued walking the city. The canals area was not as picturesque as the guidebook for Suzhou described, but it had a few scenic bridges and lotus ponds. Other major gardens are Master of the Nets, the Humble Administrator’s Garden and the Surging Wave Pavilion. We passed on the Temple of Mystery, though the plaza surrounding it was lovely.
