the simple shanghai life (fri)

"Paradise in Heaven, Suzhou and Hangzhou on earth." - Chinese saying

Suzhou is simply beautiful.

If you're used to city life, Shanghai isn't that great. It's a lot of buildings and a lot of people.

Like any other city.

But Suzhou is quite the opposite and a nice break from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Suzhou is a 75 minute train ride away from the Shanghai Railway station. If you don't intend to stay overnight in Suzhou, start early in the day and you can spend an enjoyable day there. (The last train leaves from Suzhou to Shanghai at 1 am)

I reached Suzhou at about 10ish and was able to visit the following places:

Wangshi Yuan
Shizi Lin (built in 1342)
Zhuozheng Yuan (built in 1513, rebuilt in 1860)
Huqiu Shan

Basically, a lot of trees, flowers, lakes, Chinese furniture, pavillion, one leaning pagoda, some world class heritage sites endorsed by the UN.

And a lot of walking.

But in this weather, it is simply gorgeous.

I would have liked to sit around more and just enjoy the scenery. Still, I enjoyed it tremendously.

In the evening, I took a 70 minute boat ride from Renmin Qiao and took in the beautiful-litted river.

I would have loved to stay another day in Suzhou and visit Zhouzhuang, the little Venice.

But this gives me an excuse to return to this beautiful place.

Pictures in the next post.