Hello Suzhou!

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Getting Our Feet Wet

In my last entry I mentioned a weekend trip out of Shanghai with 9 other students to see the nearby city of Suzhou. We chose this destination because it is close and there are many beautiful sights to see. It turned out to be a great deal of fun and an excellent first experience with traveling away from "home".

All Aboard

Our journey began at the Shanghai Railway Station, which is only a short subway ride away from campus.



The train was clean and comfortable. I was expecting a long ride so I brought my thermodynamics book to study. When we left the station I decided to use the lavatory and when I emerged the conductor was announcing our imminent arrival! Apparently we were moving at over 120 mph, so the trip was less than half an hour.

Hostel Hospitality

Everyone piled into 3 taxi cabs at the train station in Suzhou and headed for the hostel to check in. This was my first time staying in a hostel, so I was looking forward to the experience.



The beds were nice and the staff was friendly. They also spoke English, so they were able to suggest places to see in the city. Suzhou is famous for its beautiful Chinese gardens. They are everywhere, so knowing which ones to see during our short visit was important.

Lion Grove Garden

During our first day we were only able to see the Lion Grove Garden, since most of the gardens close at 5 PM. It was very pretty, filled with traditional Chinese buildings and interesting rock formations. The garden was built by monks in the 14th century and has been visited by many famous Chinese historical figures, including Emperor Qianlong.





This group shot was particularly fun. After I finished setting up the tripod a Chinese gentleman approached and offered to take the picture for us so we could all be in it (he only spoke Chinese, so we didn't understand him, but it was pretty clear that's what he meant). I declined, since my camera has a timer and did not need any assistance, but he didn't seem to understand so he insisted. I started the timer and ran over to join the group, and that's when he assumed that he would need to take the picture for us so he started fumbling with the camera while our group shouted at him "No! Stop!" Eventually he got the message and backed away, so the camera took an awesome picture of us laughing hysterically while trying to hold a pose. It was great.

Suzhou at Night

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening shopping and eating in the downtown area of Suzhou. There was a section with very cheap, touristy Chinese merchandise, the kind of stuff you see over and over again everywhere you go. Next to that area was a sort of outdoor mall with familiar American stores. Eventually we headed back to the hostel to retire, but before entering I got a pretty decent night shot of the canal outside. I'm still practicing my picture taking skills, and the night shot is something I really want to master.

The Humble Administrator's Garden

Our first stop on Saturday was the Humble Administrator's Garden. It was built in 1509 as a private garden for a government official in the Ming Dynasty who wanted to spend his retirement gardening. It is the largest and most renowned of the gardens in Suzhou, and one of the four most famous in all of China.



We planned to visit the Suzhou museum afterwards, but some of us including myself were wearing sandals and were denied entry. Those with shoes went in while the rest walked around and explored. We were going to switch footwear afterwards but I wasn't too interested and neither were the other sandal-wearers, so we proceeded to lunch.

North Temple Pagoda

After eating we made our way to the North Temple Pagoda. The site is over 1,700 years old, but the current pagoda structure was built by Buddhist monks in the 12th century, during the Song Dynasty. With a height of 76 meters, it is the tallest pagoda in Suzhou.

Tiger Hill

This is probably the only place in Suzhou that I regret not seeing with an English-speaking tour guide. Although it was very nice to see, I did not know anything about it until I returned home and looked it up online. The history of Tiger Hill goes back to 496 BC with the burial of King He Lu. Unfortunately I did not see the 2,500-year-old tomb, but I did see the Yunyan Pagoda.



The Yunyan Pagoda is the oldest pagoda in Suzhou and is known as the Leaning Tower of China since it leans by about 3 degrees. It is both taller and older than the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

"I Think You Lose Your Way"

Tiger Hill was our last destination before heading home, but we still had a few hours to catch the train so we decided to eat and walk around the vicinity. Eventually we wandered away from the main streets and found ourselves in the middle of a disturbingly poor neighborhood. We saw people living in small buildings with no doors or windows, so that as we walked by we could see straight through to their beds. Trash was collected in several concrete structures outside and often spilled out into the streets. Something told me that a bright green Waste Management truck would not be coming any time soon, but I did notice someone picking through the garbage for recyclables.

You might expect a neighborhood like this to be extremely dangerous, especially if you're picturing something like a bad part of Atlanta. Yet despite the fact that it was getting late, all of us felt very safe. There were children playing in the streets and adults going about their business, occasionally stopping to stare at the foreigners. Surprisingly, I do not recall seeing a single long face among them.

I wondered how such a place could exist at the foot of a beautiful historic site. It was as if these people made up the base of Tiger Hill, holding it up from the bottom on their backs. This isn't the first time I've seen poverty, but it is perhaps the first time I've seen such a sharply contrasting dichotomy.

Along the way, an old man who spoke English stopped us to ask if we were lost. I think I could spend a lifetime pondering that question.

Heading Home

We boarded the train at 8:45 PM and said goodbye to Suzhou. The trip was wonderful, especially for our first time traveling outside of Shanghai. It's hard to believe that some of the things we saw are thousands of years old, older than anything I've ever seen before. Now I'm really looking forward to the rest of my weekend trips! All I have to do is make it through the weekdays...

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