A day trip to Suzhou

We started our day feeling that we truly were living in an asylum. As we walked down the long, dark hallway from our room, we stumbled on a half-naked white guy sprawled out in the hall. He looked like a refugee from a looney bin.
We decided to be “third graders” for the day and took a group tour to Suzhou. It wasn’t terribly bad- only 9 people- four Caucasians and 5 Asians (Hong Kong and Malaysia). The drive was short, only about 1 ½ hours. Suzhou is known as the “Venice of the East” with it’s Grand Canal. Not so long ago, it was also known for it’s medieval housing, cobbled streets and tree-lined avenues. Today, it’s succumbed to the typical Chinese “urban renewal”. Most of the cities’original buildings are being bulldozed and new concrete buildings are going up in their place.
Our first stop was Tiger Hill This was another of the “Chinese tourist” sites. It was the final resting place of He Lu, founding father of the city. He died in the 6th C B.C. and his burial place is believed to be guarded by a white tiger.

At the top of the hill is the leaning Yunyan Pagoda., a 7 story pagoda built entirely of brick. It began tilting over 400 years ago. The price of a group tour is the inability to move things along and we got a rock by rock description of the entire site (sword testing rock, tiger rock…), complete with “local legends”.
From there, we headed to Hanshan Temple (Cold Mountain Temple). It was named after the poet-monk, Hanshan, who lived in the 7th C. According to legend, he adopted two boys, Cold Mountain and Pick Up and made them monks. We even got to clang the temple bell three times- for prosperity, long life and good fortune.
After lunch (an interesting selection of mystery fish, mystery fish soup and an entire carp), we went to the Garden of the Master of the Nets. Suzhou is known for its’ gardens and although this was the smallest of the cities gardens, it’s supposed to be the most beautiful. It was laid out in the 12th C and restored in the 18th.

Finally, we got to our last sight, the Grand Canal and Pan Gate. The Pan Gate is the only section of the original city wall which remains intact. At the top, you could get a sense of the complete destruction of the old city going on. One entire expanse was now filled by a huge Sheraton hotel and the rest of the old housing was already in rubble.
A group tour wouldn’t be complete without the requisite shopping experience. This time, it was the silk factory and fashion show. We politely excused ourselves and stopped for a drink while the rest of the group shopped.
By the time we made it back to Shanghai, it was raining and bleak, so we headed to JJ Mariachis for our last night of great Mexican food.