The two hour bus ride to Suzhou proved to be a great nap for the majority of our family-sized van. As we all awoke from lucid dreams, we pulled into our parking spot at the Suzhou Museum where we met our tour guide, Steven. Steven knew all about Suzhou, because he grew up there. He first took us to the Suzhou Museum designed by I.M. Pei. This was the last building that Pei ever built, and it stayed true to the classic Chinese architecture of the area. We saw some lovely cultural relics including jade burial masks, painted fans, and a carved elephant tusk.
Suzhou Museum
After wandering through the architecture by Pei, we moved onto the Humble Administrators Garden. This is the largest classical garden in Suzhou, so we knew it would be impressive. However, we worried that the crowds would be similar to the Summer Palace and there would be no peace or enjoyment. But there was peace and quiet to be found! And, as the day went on the crowds got smaller and smaller! Thank goodness for quiet and peaceful places. We also saw a koi fish the size of a dolphin (or at least close enough.)
For lunch, we explored on our own for snacks, and we half succeeded with purchases of dough balls and sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves. Even though we were not completely full after our meal, it was so inexpensive we didn't complain. When we were walking around we finally got to see the canals of Suzhou. Suzhou is pretty much the Chinese equivalent to Venice. The canals are not only practically used, but are beautiful.
The general consensus for the day was that we liked having time to sketch and that we were not surrounded by tourists. The Lingering Garden, my personal favorite, was the second garden we visited. It had different areas to stop and actual enjoy the scenery. Something interesting about the classical gardens we saw today was that they were completely compacted landscapes into someone’s backyard. Also, the existing architecture dictated how the gardens were laid out, creating awesome views and private view corridors.
The final garden, The Master of the Nets Garden, was the smallest and most peaceful. It felt like we were some of the only people there. But some of us took to the time to sketch and take jumping pictures in the circular doorways. We really like jumping pictures.
Jena was late to our meeting point, so Steven ran off yelling her name to make sure she was not lost. And she wasn’t, so we were good to go. After we left the garden, we bid adieu to our local guide and dropped him off at a street corner. We left Suzhou and began our two-hour bus ride back to downtown Shanghai. We went straight to our Shangenese restaurant and enjoyed beer and roasted pigeon. Dwight Law ended up joining us which livened up the conversation.
Until next time,
BYE BYE!
-- Rachel Barth
No comments:
Post a Comment