Suzhou - second day

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Today I headed for the largest of Suzhou's gardens, the Humble Administrator's Garden. The name, apparently, is ironic, as the gardens themselves are vast and crawling with tourist groups.

I found it hard to get a clear sense of the layout of the garden because of it's immense size; however, it seemed to be arranged into two distinct halves, divided by a white wall. The first half, with the entrance and exit, has a few buildings, then opens onto a vast space of about 6 or 7 acres. Half of this (nearest the wall leading to the second half of the garden) is taken up by a lake, with an island in the middle and various bridges winding their way round and over it. The other half, nearest the exit, is occupied by some buildings, which I didn't explore, having been disappointed by their emptiness yesterday in the Couple's Garden, and a cute little thatched structure, surrounded by flowerbeds (this garden was unusual among those I saw as it did have colourful bits) and flower-covered walkways.

Since the thatched area was drawing in most of the crowd, I quickly sped on past the lake into the second half of the garden. This half is smaller, with a lake angled a bit like a boomerang, so that it took up most of the garden, but left space around it for buildings and walkways. There was an island here as well (smaller than the island in the first half of the garden), which was on an elevated bit of rock, so you could take the winding walkways over the lake, through overhanging willow and bamboo to the building at the top (a study, I think) and have views over the garden.

Again, the advantage of having a lake is that the reflection of the buildings and walkways around the still water gives the illusion of more space than is actually there. Not, in this case, that this was particularly necessary.

At the end of the second half of the garden was a strip occupied by the bonsai garden. Most of the plants here were potted - obviously - and set out on benches and supports rather like the greenhouse bit of a garden centre (oh how poetic my soul). I was amused to see tables occuped by what must be the Suzhou mothers' union, all playing cards and drinking out of a thermos.

Sadly, towards the end of my visit (once I was gardened out, so to speak), it began to rain. I put up my faithful umbrella and made a hasty exit (well, as hasty as I could make it, given that I had difficulty remembering where the exit was). I was unsurprised to note that the exit led straight into a cluster of tourist shops, all desperate to sell me real Suzhou silk and a number of other equally pretty but useless items.

Since I was quite tired after the garden exploration, I decided to treat myself and take a bicycle taxi back to the hostel. These are ubiquitous in Suzhou and you get pestered quite a bit by the drivers. Sadly, despite the vast numbers of the things, the one I ended up taking was a rickety, run-down old thing. The driver was quite safe (although you feel like you stand out so much more taking one of them) but some of the narrow streets were quite hair-raising. I particularly remember the steps up and down various bridges, which accommodate bicycles by means of three small ramps (the carriage part of the taxi naturally had 2 wheels) which, quite frankly, it was a miracle the driver managed to find.

Feeling refreshed after lunch, I decided to go and see the bridge and tower South of the city, where apparently the old city walls still stand and you can get a great view over the city and the canals. So I ventured first to the train station to find the right bus. I made the mistake of asking a map-seller which bus to take, and she referred me to a bicycle taxi driver who was quite adamant that the bus I wanted didn't exit and that he would take me.

I am afraid I was quite stubborn, and refused to take the taxi (much to the man's frustration), and was rewarded by finally finding the right bus (the other people at the bus stop surreptitiously helped me, realising that I had no intention of taking the taxi). I have to laugh about the whole thing.

Anyway, got on the bus (which did exist, after all) and was overcome byl lethargy. In the end, I went straight past my stop and decided to see where the bus terminus was. It was quite funny travelling to the end of the line - clearly tourists don't usually do that, and many of the passengers still left on the bus, as well as the driver, gave me curious, half panicked looks, as though wondering whether they ought to check that I knew where I was going and which stop to get off at. So I went to the terminus - which took me outside the city centre for the first time - and then back into the city.

By this time it was about 6pm, so I decided to make my way via a different bus to the night market in the West of the city. Grabbing some street food as I went, I drank in the lights, the tourist stalls and the people. I was stopped about halfway through my meanderings by a girl about my age who told me, in very good English, that she had seen me on the bus and that she and her parents had bumped into me again at least once since arriving at the night market and wondered if I would consent to take a photo with them. I laughed and went with it - this was not the first time I had been asked for a photo - and got the girl to take a photo with my camera as well.

I made my way back to the hostel after exploring the market some more, and realised that I had entirely new dorm-mates - all Chinese and all speaking amazing English. Weirdly, two out of the three girls (single sex dorm) had studied law. We spent a good hour chatting - the girl on the bunk above me was about to take her final law exams and then start work as a court clerk and the other law-student was only in her first year. The final girl studied history in Nanjing - my next destination, so I got to look at some photos and get some advice as to what to see when I was there. It was a shame that it was my last night in Suzhou as these girls were great company and I would have liked to get to know them better. Such is life, I suppose.

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Photos

The Humble Administrator's Garden
The thatched structure.

The Humble Administrator's Garden
The boundary wall between the two halves of the garden.

The Humble Administrator's Garden
The walkway up to the building on the lake island in the second half of the garden.

The Humble Administrator's Garden
The bonsai garden with the playing ladies.

The Humble Administrator's Garden
Lake in the first half of the garden, with its winding bridges.