Tongli

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I arrived in Tongli about 4 pm and found quite easily the old town and in that part a hotel room. There is an entrance fee for the old town, but luckily I’d got a discount via the hostel in Suzhou. Tongli is one of the famous water towns and there are many tourists that do a daytrip from Suzhou or Shanghai to Tongli. This was the reason I went late in the afternoon to stay the night. Indeed I didn’t see many tourists that day.

The street to the old town and the first four streets in the old town are very touristy, but the rest of the streets are not like that. The atmosphere in those parts is so relaxed, I cannot describe it. It felt a little like the villages on Greek Islands, but then different. When the sun had gone down, the light on the canals went on. Some of the canals had a bit too much of the neon light to my taste, but well I’m in China and here they love neon lights. The red lanterns did do the trick though. Because there was not much to do at night, I decided to sleep early (after some CCTV news) and wake early in the morning.

As said, I was walking the town at 7:30. Most of the shops were still closed and not many people were on the streets. In Tongli itself there are a few sights which are included in the entrance fee price. So I went to a couple of them, like the Gufeng Garden and the Songping Stone Display Hall. One of them had a very beautiful garden and buildings. Especially the spacing was strange, because when walking through the town, it looked liked the compounds were all very small but the sights were very large. The most famous spot in Tongli is the Tuisi Garden and when I went there at 8:45, there were already many tour groups walking around.

The last place I wanted to see was the one and only Sex Museum of China. Also here the compound was very large and beautiful. The things they had on display were very interesting. It looks like the Chinese themselves don’t see them as having little little fingers, which was very funny.

Around 10 am I was back at the hotel and slept for half an hour after all the touring through the town. After that, I went back to the bus station for a bus to Suzhou. I’ve really enjoyed the peacefulness in Tongli and cannot imagine how a stay would be in a weekend or only during the day. Not only didn’t I almost see any tourists, also the view of Tongli at night, I could recommend to everybody! I even noticed that the feeling I’d had to go home soon, had disappeared! It is just great to see such nice spots in China and I am really happy I still have a little bit than a week more to go!

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Photos

Tongli II
Church?

Tongly by night
Too bad that my camera is crap

Tongli XIV
A shooting game in front of the garden. Luckily nobody was there.