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Published: June 11th 2008
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Woke up at around 6:30am this morning. Couldn’t really do much until everyone else was awake, so just stuck my iPod on. Gradually everyone stirred. Some had noodles for breakfast, but to be honest, I didn’t want any breakfast. At that particular moment, I longed for a normal simple breakfast like cereal or toast.
We weren’t going to be arriving at Sūzhōu until mid morning, so there was plenty of time to kill. Damon, Georgia, Lisa and Vince were playing a new game of cards they’d found out, so I joined them. I wasn’t too sure on the name of the card game, but it certainly passed the time, until all the others stirred and we’d neared our stop.
On arrival, we made our way through to the exit, and then walked over to the taxis. Sūzhōu, although a massive city of over 5 million people, still doesn’t yet have a metro system in place, and so taxi is the main way of getting around.
If the taxi that Marcia and I got was anything to go by, I thought our driver was in a race with the others. She was a very good driver, and I honestly
thought I was going to be the passenger in a taxi accident a number of times in our ten minute drive through the streets to the hotel.
Sūzhōu’s 2,500-year history largely depended mainly on its strategic position along the Grand Canal, which is a busy trading route. By the 14th century, the city was China’s leading silk-producer. Wealthy aristocrats, scholars, artists and actors were all drawn to the place, and built themselves villa and garden retreats. By the 16th century, there were over a hundred of these impressive gardens. Coupled with an extensive canal system, this gave Sūzhōu the tags ‘Venice of the East’ and the ‘Garden City’. The city continued to flourish under the Ming and Qing dynasty, but after a number of protests of workers, and being taken control of by the Taiping troops in 1860, the city endured many changes. A lot of the canals were filled in, and gardens were built over, but there is still enough of a draw to the place.
We got to our hotel, Gusu Hotel, and we were impressed. Our particular room had a lovely view out onto a small river or lake, and there was hot water also.
After a short while, we headed back to the reception area, as we were heading off for a quick orientation trip, and then group lunch. It was a nice group lunch, with the now usual dishes, and once eaten, we were then free to do as we wished.
The plan was to go to the Humble Administrator’s Garden, but some of the guys needed some cash first, so we looked out for a bank. The only bank we found had moved to somewhere else, so we had to leave that for now. Dan got Elli, Erlend and I a cab first (what a gent!), and we went direct to the Garden, and Dan and the girls followed on a bit after. Once all back together, we thought it might be nice to do a canal trip, but none included the Humble Administrator’s Garden in it, so we found one a short walk from the garden entrance. We were a little concerned about how reliable it was, but we took a chance.
We travelled through the canals, which was nice to see from the river and it was a nice, sunny day, so it was nice we did that,
Sūzhōu Canal trip
Erlend, and Dan (try not to pose!) but where we actually travelled, I could not say. Dan was getting a lot of attention as he sat out front in his cool pose, with his shades on, and then as if we weren’t getting enough attention as it was, with all of us getting laughs and smiles and such, that the oarsman then burst into song. He had a fairly good voice, not that I’ve heard that much singing by Chinese oarsman, but I guess it added a little more atmosphere to the trip.
This trip lasted about 45 minutes I’d say, and once back on dry land, we then actually went into the Humble Administrator’s Garden.
The Humble Administrator’s Garden is the largest of all the gardens in Sūzhōu, and is also considered the most impressive by most. The gardens date back to the early 16th century, and are spread across five hectares, covering lotus ponds, pagodas, bridges, bonsai tree gardens, and well maintained gardens. We’d picked a nice place here, away from all the hustle and bustle of the city, to just take it easy. We spent a good hour or so here, but had to leave then, as we had to be back
at the hotel to get some dinner, and to get ready for tonight’s outing to the Garden of the Master of the Nets.
Dan got Elli, Erlend and himself a taxi first, and then I struggled getting a taxi for Steph, Ros and myself. We were there for absolutely ages, until Ros noticed one emptying down a side street, so we nabbed that. Well the traffic was a nightmare, and to be honest, the driver did as best as he could to get us to the hotel as quickly as possible.
We got back to the hotel eventually, and we all had a group dinner at the hotel. The food was nice, as usual with all the dinners we’ve had, except for the memorable ‘strong-smelling bean curd’ dish which was taken away from the table pretty much soon after it arrived, due to the disgusting smell overpowering everything else.
Once dinner was done, we then met up with Marcia in the hotel lobby, where we walked to the Master of the Garden of the Nets. This place is considered to be one of the best-preserved gardens in the city, originally dating back to the 12th century. We
were visiting at night though, so didn’t see much of the gardens. We were treated to a number of authentic Chinese music and amateur dramatics performances, some better than others, but it was definitely a nice break, and a chance to see Old China.
From here, we went to some Australian-theme bar, complete with large map of Australia spread across the ceiling, but we didn’t stay here long as drinks were pricey and it didn’t feel comfortable being there, so we found another one down the road. Not sure of the name of this one either, but it was pleasant enough, even though from the outside it also looked a little dodgy. After a few drinks here, we then moved on to Scarlet. We thought this might be a bar/club sort of place, but we were surprised to find karaoke booths.
We decided to stay here for the rest of the night. It was a really random evening, and everyone enjoyed themselves, even the Scarlet staff who seemed to love seeing everyone having fun. They gave us great service all night, popping in to check we were OK for drinks, and bringing in nuts and fruit as extras.
They even sang us a number of Chinese songs, one of which I’m sure I heard playing in the taxi earlier that day.
Come the end of the evening it was time to go and we expected a huge bill, but were surprised with how little the bill was. Still, we weren’t going to query it. Then it was back to the hotel by about 1am, and after a little chat it was time for sleep. Tomorrow, we were heading to Shànghăi, our final destination of the tour.
Gusu Hotel:
http://www.gusuhotel.com.cn
Humble Administrator’s Garden:
http://www.szzzy.cn
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