Advertisement
The small town of Tongli is only about an hour away from Suzhou, easily accessible by bus. Well, actually it takes me longer to get to the bus station in Suzhou by local bus than it does to Tongli. Upon arrival, I buy a few baozi for breakfast and make my way to the centre. I grudgingly pay the hefty 90 yuan it costs to enter the old town; what's the use of complaining - it is a touristy little town and they wanna max out the profit, just like anywhere else. I can't help but wonder what it would be like were, say, the Heidelberg Altstadt fenced off and accessible only through a gate where tourists have to buy pricy tickets to enter.
Visiting Tongli on a Sunday might not have been the brightest idea, for it is packed with domestic and foreign tourists. The eyesore of the day are the happy dappy German, Dutch and Danish tour groups marauding through town in their socks, hiking sandals and Jack Wolfskin-gear. Tongli is also known as the 'Venice of the East'. It doesn't take me long to find a Wikipedia page called 'List of places named Venice of the East'.
The list encompasses 18 places, among them Osaka, Melakka, Bangkok, Jakarta, Udaipur, Hanoi and...Suzhou, less than one hour away from Tongli. Crossing the gorgeous little stone bridges and wandering next to the many canals, one cannot help but be reminded of that famous Italian tourist trap, but I find Tongli much more picturesque and chilled out than Venice. Also, the prices are more than reasonable. I eat a noodle soup in a tiny eatery on the main square, and it costs me only marginally more than it would pretty much anywhere else in China.
In the very centre of town, there's a spot where you can see three bridges named Taiping, Jili and Changqing. These are the most famous of Tongli's many bridges. Local lore has it that you must walk across the three of them on your wedding day and on your 66th birthday for good luck and to pray for health and happiness.
There are also a number of scenic gardens, similar to the ones in Suzhou. The most notable is the Retreat and Reflection Garden, a private garden that was built in 1885. It is quite a magnificent attraction, but I find that after Suzhou,
it has become a little hard for me to become enthused with those gardens. A more entertaining diversion turns out to be the Chinese Sex Museum. There I encounter all kinds of erotic carvings, ritual sex objects as well as lascivious, lecherous and libidinous statues that appear to focus mainly on oversized penises. It's all quite graphic and amusing, especially considering that some of the artifacts date as far back as 3000BC.
Tongli is also known for its numerous teahouses. After a little browsing, I settle down in one slightly alternative-looking teahouse-cum-hostel. I'm the only customer, despite the teahouse being right next to the famous bridges. A roughly 15-year old girl takes my order. She speaks English reasonably well and wears a Dead Kennedys-shirt, both of which come as a bit of a surprise to me. I laze away a few hours enjoying my Chrysanthemum tea, watching the goings-on outside. There are quite a few freshly married couples crossing the three bridges together with their entourages. I take a little nap, then drink more tea. After visiting nothing but big cities in China, spending a day in small Tongli proved to be a treat and well worth the trip,
no matter how touristy it may be.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.22s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 36; qc: 145; dbt: 0.1489s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.6mb
Dancing Dave
David Hooper
VENICE OF THE EAST
Love the feel of Tongli in your pics. Probably not surprising it reminds me of Suzhou. I really love traditional old style towns in China. Fascinating sex museum...erotic on show...condoned as it's in a museum!