Blogs from Suzhou, Zhejiang, China, Asia

Eventually the time had come and I was about to be in a city that I had, for a very long time, been dreaming for. Suzhou. I had been studyng the history of China for a long time and Suzhou was famous for its arched stone bridges, emerald green canals and its beautiful willow trees with hanging branches caressing the water of the canals. Of course, the modern days Suzhou has changed a lot and, at my arrival, the narrow streets running a long the sumptuous canals were lined with colourful and crowded cafeterias, bars, restaurants, souvenir shops and local ladies brushing and cleaning the staircases leading to the boats docking area. It was drizzling but still ok for a visit around the city. Even in Suzhou things change fastly and I could see many constuction ... read more

Started the day with the short high speed rail journey from Shanghai to Suzhou. The experience would be familiar to air travellers complete with security checks and a short wait at a platform gate. Internally the carriages resemble an aircraft cabin with reclining seats and plently of leg room plus they run on time ! The walled and moated Suzhou city is 2500 years old having been established during the Wu kingdom in 514 BC. It is known as the Venice of the East having a network of canals linking it to a number of freshwater lakes and the Yangtze river. In comparison with Shanghai it is low rise and nine of its classical gardens are world heritage listed. The most famous of the gardens and the next stop on our itinerary is that of that ... read more

Suzhou ( 苏州 ) - City of Gardens the most beautiful garnden and the most numberous gardens is all in Suzhou. when you come to this city you will see a lot of gardens and some of them are be announced the world heritage ... read more

Le 20 septembre, une autre visite d'une journée dans une ville près de Shanghai, cette fois Suzhou, moins de 40 minutes par train rapide. C'est une ville reconnue pour ces jardins qui sont, dit-on, les plus beaux de Chine. Huit d'entre eux sont d'ailleurs classés comme patrimoine culturel mondial par l'Unesco. Au cours de la journée, nous avons visité deux de ces jardins. Le premier était le jardin de la forêt du Lion, reconnu pour ses amoncellements de roches. Même si le jardin n'est pas très grand, ça forme de vrais labyrinthes avec escaliers, ponts et tunnels dans la roche, où nous nous sommes un peu perdus parmi tous ces chemins! Les enfants doivent adorer cet endroit!! Le deuxième était le jardin de la Politique des Simples, qui est le plus grand de Suzhou. Il avait ... read more

On Monday morning, I took the train with Mark to Suzhou. For the record, Suzhou is pronounced "sue-jo". He was going there for work, so we said goodbye at the train station and he went to his meeting and I got in line for a taxi. I had copied the pages from our travel book to avoid carrying the whole big book, and had a tiny map of the city and the highlights for tourists. I decided to go to the furthest spot and work my way back toward the train station. Another city that claims to being the Venice of the East, it also has a history of being a water town. I only had a few hours, so I did a couple of sights from the guidebooks. I picked a famous garden called Wangshi ... read more