China Visit - Phase Two

After three days in Beijing, we spent most of the next day travelling from there to Wuxi, arriving mid afternoon. We had the night in this smallish (by Chinese standards) city, visiting a shopping area and grabbing some dinner in the evening, before visiting the second largest fresh water lake in China next morning. We were then subjected to another hard sell visit to a pearl factory before making the one hour bus trip to our next stop, Suzhou

Wuxi, pop 6 million, a city near Shanghai in eastern China, sits on the banks of Taihu, one of China's largest freshwater lakes. Surrounding Taihu are walking trails, a 115m-tall Ferris wheel and parks such as Yuantouzhu (Turtle Head Isle). Another major park is Lingshan, whose notable Buddhist sites include the bronze Grand Buddha statue, which is more than 80m high

Taihu Lake, Wuxi - allegedly if you hold hands with your partner as you walk over this bridge, you will spend all this life with them PLUS your next two reincarnated lives....

Park on the banks of Taihu Lake, Wuxi

Old shopping area at dusk, Wuxi

There were 29 fresh water pearls in this one shell. Anything under 8mm diameter, they grind up and use in medicines or cosmetics. Pearl factory, Wuxi.

Street views in Wuxi. There were a lot of trees and also shrubbery etc everywhere we went, even along the motorway verges. The tress are painted at the bottom to prevent wood boring insects getting into them

Suzhou, pop 5 million, a city west of Shanghai, is known for its canals, bridges and classical gardens. The Humble Administrator’s Garden, dating to 1513, contains zigzag bridges over connected pools and islands. The Lingering Garden features ornate viewing pavilions and the Crown of Clouds Peak, a striking limestone rockery. Tiger Hill is home to the 7-story, leaning Cloud Rock Pagoda at its summit.

The above and following images are of the Lingering Garden, where we spent about two hours. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and very impressive. Fun fact - the entrance gate in the surrounding wall is quite small and unprepossessing - because if it was too showy and attracted attention, the emperor might realise how grand the garden was and be jealous of or annoyed at its owner!

Suzhou is also known as the Venice of the East although it is not sinking, as all the canals here are man made and fed by fresh water as it is an inland city, unlike its counterpart in Italy.

Bridges over canal, Suzhou

The next several photos are of the canal trip we did, which lasted about an hour

After the cruise, we had about ninety minutes to find lunch in the adjacent historical streets - below

I am sure that is enough photos for today - loading them via the blog site I use takes AGES! This post has probably taken me over an hour to create, so I hope its of interest :)