Stone Lake Area

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June 13
We went to the Stone Lake area this morning. Jerone came for us about 10 am and we took a taxi out to the area since he wasn't sure where it was so didn't want to drive. It turned out that parking would have been very difficult since they were closing the access road to the park area to traffic and didn't seem to have figured out where to send people instead.
The park/forest is one of the less visited sites here in Suzhou, probably because it isn't one of the private gardens Suzhou is famous for. There is a Buddhist temple, under repair at the moment, a pagoda, lots of hiking and walking trails, a barbeque park, a little lake with paddle boats and lots of things for kids to do. All in all, it was a very nice place. And a zoo with monkeys and peacocks. As well as the occasional peacock wandering loose and calling out for friendship. Not a pleasant sound. The peacocks were on the edge of moulting which might have been why the cocks were fanning their tails regularly. And some of the tails were looking decidedly bedraggled.

Jerone is very kindly holding my parasol while I take the photo and is trying to pretend he doesn't know anything about it. However, I have decided that a parasol is a great idea! Other than leaving it behind regularly... Although that was only an umbrella so maybe it doesn't count.

A lot of the historic sites here in Suzhou seem to be having facelifts and repairs generally. Part of it is the realisation that tourism is a fairly major part of life here and part, I should imagine, is trying to keep people employed until the economic situation improves. As a result, large trees are being transplanted, landscaping is fantastic throughout the city and the Buddha was invisible behind scaffolding and nets. And I refused to climb the steps to the pagoda since the temperature was already 35 C according the the thermometer on Henning's walking stick.

The bridge with nine arches is famous here, apparently. People come out to see it when the moon is full to view multiple moons reflecting through the arches. The Chinese seem to like these romantic stories which, considering how pragmatic they are, is remarkable. Every lake, every bridge, every pond has a romantic tale attached. Ten thousand versions of Romeo and Juliet or the equivalent. These tales seldom
have a happy ending so pleasant suggestions of viewing many moons through the bridge arches seems quite benign.

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