Our first day in Suzhou was a busy one, and after walking back to our hotel room after dinner….. I was totally spent and crashed pretty quickly. I also knew that if the Missus had Her way, we'd have another full day coming up. And I was right, The Missus decided that we should walk from our hotel to the Lingering Garden (留園).
It ended up being a pretty long walk, but also gave us a pretty good look at some of the neighborhoods along the way.
In one of the shops along the way, we noticed that these "candidates" for dinner had made it out of the tanks, and were trying to avoid becoming the main course…..
We also came across a large "market area", and decided to take a detour….. I love these places…..
Scenes we've seen played out on a daily basis all over the world….
Meandering through the narrow alleyways…….
And over the canals….the ancient highway system for Suzhou.
Ending back up on the main street……
Out past the Changmen Gate….
You'll come across a simple long wall and gate……. the simple entrance belies the beauty of the Lingering Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and along with The Humble Administrators Garden, The Summer Palace in Beijing, and the Imperial Mountain Summer Resort in Chengde, is considered one of the Four Famous Garden of China.
We'd arrived right at opening, but there were already a couple of tour groups in line. While waiting, a young lady walked up, and started chatting with the Missus. Apparently, University Students majoring in History and Tourism give free guided tours. We ended up having a free private tour, albeit in Mandarin (with the Missus translating). The young woman was very knowledgeable and pleasant, and we really enjoyed the experience.
The Lingering Garden was built in 1593, and had gone through several owners, each of whom added his own touch to the garden but still keeping within its grand design. The garden covers about two hectares and is divided into four parts, the central, North, East, and West. Which are connected by a corridor.
There's so much to write….and even more I forgot as the young woman was full of immense detail and stories of the garden. I'll stick to those that have really stayed with me. The first thing that I think of when it comes to the Lingering Garden was the wonderfully angelic song coming from this boat in the middle of the pond.
I've never been a big fan of this type of Chinese music, but here, in this environment, it was beautiful……. just plain beautiful.
The young woman told us we were lucky that it wasn't very crowded. When the garden is too busy, and the chattering gets too loud, the woman stops singing, since no one can really hear her.
The natural stones also grabbed my attention. Many of the large stones replicate mountains, landscapes, and in this case a scene. This one is called Eagle Fighting Wolf…. and looking closer it did indeed look like a eagle swooping down on a wolf.
This stone is probably the most well known…. we were told that it was headed to the Forbidden City… but the transfer was halted when the Communist regime took over.
For me, the most imp[ressive hall in the Lingering Garden is the "Yuan Yang Ting", the Mandarin Duck Hall.
The hall is divided into two saloons which are decorated differently. Even the beams and the roofs are different on each side of the hall.
There's so much more….but so little time. Here are a few other photos.
This is one place I'd like to return to.
There's a saying I heard several times while in China – "Shang you tian tang, xia you su hang" (上有天堂 下有苏杭), "In Heaven There is Paradise, On Earth, Suzhou and Hangzhou".
My foot had started bothering me a little, so we decided to catch the bus back. Unfortunately, traffic was so bad we decided to get off the bus after a couple of stops and walk back to our hotel. Along the way, I noticed this shop…..
Look Familiar?
I'd been trying to get the Missus to 85C Bakery in Irvine, but She just didn't seem interested. But it was getting kind of hot, and we decided to take a short break….. and it ended up being just the perfect stop for us.
It turned out to be the perfect thing.
After this, every time the Missus was tired and needed a little pick-up, we'd look for a 85C Cafe…..
We were really enjoying Suzhou!