2015 China

28 March, Suzhou
JinJiang Inn 179CNY

Eighteen kilometres southeast of Suzhou lies the old town of Tongli, which we visited today. Frommers: “Tongli's picturesque old town, located north of the Shangyuan Canal, is actually made up of seven islets connected to each other by more than 40 arched stone bridges and fed by a network of some 15 canals. The town dates to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), though many of its surviving mansions are of later Ming and Qing origin. As recently as 2 years ago, residents were still blithely going about their lives along the canals (it was not uncommon to see children bathing and women washing clothes in the streams), but all that messy living has now been largely cleaned up for tourists.” We had planned to take in two attractions: The Chinese Sex Museum, which unfortunately has relocated to Shanghai, and the Retreat and Reflection Garden, built in 1886 by a dismissed court official, which was not as pretty as I had anticipated. We crossed three bridges within sight of each other, the Peace, Luck and Glory bridges, below which cormorants spread their wings to dry and tourists enjoyed ”gondola” rides. While Charl indulged his taste for Chinese cigars, I indulged mine for pampering by having a fish-kiss pedicure (where fish nibble the dry skin from your feet – less romantic-sounding than “kiss”).  

Back again in Suzhou we dined on pizza in Pingjiang Lu street, listening to live jazz. The street parallels one of Suzhou’s canals, and in its tastefully restored buildings are wonderful shops tempting us with rapturous silk and hand-crafted sweets, with artfully-crafted pottery tea-pots and flavourful teas, with delicious dresses and antique artefacts.