Chinese Gardens

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Suzhou is one city in China I do hope to visit again. I thoroughly enjoyed my few days and wish I had stayed longer and forgone my excursion to Nanjing. The former has to be one of the easiest cities in China for navigating and sightseeing while the latter' sights are spread miles and miles apart and the streets full of traffic. When I arrived in Suzhou, I rented a bike from near the train station, a typical one-speed jalopy that makes flat surfaces into mountains, and pedalled across town - why is it these towns look so much smaller in the guide books - to Dongwu, a budget hotel in the city's south-west. My Chinese isn't very good but I imagine dongwu translates as 'no frills'. No worries, i spent little time in the hotel room. The gardens of Suzhou are to fall in love with, a Chinese version of paradise, complete with tour groups. Actually, it was possible to avoid the groups in the earlier hours and whenever I sat to sketch, most tourists left me peacefully to myself. In the museum alongside the Humble Administrator's Garden, several local artists have their works for sale. I bought a couple etchings of the canal scenes and a couple bright woodblock prints. What I spent on art and antiques during this trip, I saved on food. I found my safest and tastiest bet were the popular roadside canteens where one may point at his choice of food. 'I'll have that green slop. Yeah, the one that isn't moving."

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Photos

Zhuozheng
at the garden's centre lies a huge pond with a thick green bed of tall lilly pads, purple lotus blossoms and bright red and orange carp

Beisi Ta, Suzhou
cycling the back lanes

shopping district, Guanqian Jie
well, they looked nice in the store

backpack Chenglish
There are so many flowers in the air, Birds are looking for the story of spring. What am I looking for in the mirror?
One country's poet is another country's pothead

backpack Chenglish
Good Morning I looking book

taxi rickshaw
China is loving it