The far canals of Suzhou

This weekend we ventured out of Shanghai to Suzhou (pronounced Sue Joe). Suzhou lies 90 klm west of Shanghai - a well known "town" famous for its old historic canal district, it's gardens, opera and silk. 

The canals were built thousands of years ago to assist with the movement of goods along the silk road.  Suzhou itself is famed for it's silk production - Suzhou was China's capital of silk production with archaeological evidence of silk production dating back to the late neolithic age - but i'm getting ahead of myself.....

Our journey started at the Shanghai railway station where we boarded our bullet train to Suzhou.  We travelled first class - at the cost of 49 rmb ($10) and found ourselves arriving in suzhou only 25 minutes after boarding!  Reaching a top speed on 288 klm/hr

Of course according to Russ the train trip was the best part of the weekend!  And yes - he did track the journey speed with his iphone app! 

We decided to stay in the old town of suzhou  and I found a little "boutique" hotel that was a converted Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) mansion.  Ping Jiang Lodge sits right in the middle of the canal district and offers an authentic suzhou experience!  It is fair to say that the lodge was a little "tired" but I guess it has the right to be somewhat weary having stood for 100's of years!  The lodge retained the classic layout of a traditional Chinese home with rooms that were contained with walled courtyards and gardens.  We stayed in a large room - somewhat reminiscent of a barn!  Chocker block with quirky Chinese antiques and other memorabilia!  I cant say it was a comfortable stay (on a traditional straw bed!) but it was certainly an opportunity to get inside one of the buildings you usually only get to admire from the outside! 

Lodge Cafe

Pingjiang lodge

Traditional bed

Our room

Bathroom

barn like ceiling

Once settled into the Lodge we were off on our 3 hour cycling tour of Suzhou that took in the historic canals, the grand canal and canal side markets. 20 years ago Suzhou had no motorways, all transport was water transport.

Here we go!

The Grand Canal - Suzhou

Group pick halfway into the ride!

Canal side homes

Suzhou opera stage

Canal crossing

The day was hot - and the ride took us not only through the old town - but through the inner city - which was hair raising to say the least. Much of the old town is currently under destruction, to make way for new housing. I can't describe what it's like to see large blocks of ancient housing totally flattened.  It seems such a shame - but at the same time residents of those homes live in unbelievable conditions.  We explored a number of the old homes that are currently lived in - our guide explained that one home would have once housed one family - but this all changed during the cultural revolution and now up to 10 families live in a home that was built for 1.  Below are some of the images of the housing we saw the inside of.  The number of electric meters tells you how many families are housed in each home. They all share 1 kitchen and 1 bathroom. 

10 meter boxes all in row

shared facilites

By the end of the ride we were all in agony - its true to say that our butts have lost their bike tough!   

After a quick freshen up we managed to hobble up to one of Suzhou's finest restaurants and enjoyed a lovely meal - that night, after all the activity, we didn't even notice how hard the bed was! 

The next morning it was up bright and early for another day of exploring (although Russ bailed and spend a quiet morning exploring the local cafes!)

Suzhou is home to one of Chinas most revered gardens - The Garden of the Humble Administrator - and I swear the day I went - so too did half of china! The garden was constructed in the Ming dynasty and, if you look past the throngs of tourists, you can see the romanticism of china in its garden houses, willow trees and lotus flowers. 

After exiting the garden I left the marauding crowds behind and found peaceful tranquility in Suzhou's silk museum.  As I said earlier Suzhou has produced silk in China for thousands of years.  It was the only supplier of silks to the ruling dynasties of China.  So much of it is exquisite, with rich colours and patterns that transport you back to another time.  The museum is artful and takes you on a journey from ancient times through to modern day and demonstrates how silk is made.   I loved it! 

Busy, living silk worms at work!

silk loom

bobbin section of the loom

After my time in the silk museum I returned back to the old town (in a rickshaw!) and joined russ in one of the many cute cafes along the canals.  In fact this cafe doubled as a postoffice.  The cafe walls were covered with postcard racks and the cafe full of young Chinese buying, writing and mailing postcards.  Quite a novel idea and one that was clearly well received! 

Then it was time to return to Shanghai.  Within 2 hours of our departure from Suzhou we were home, showered and sitting in our local pup  chowing down on their traditional Sunday Roast, and russ was enjoying a nice cold VB! 

It was a hectic weekend! And once again China continued to fascinate with me with its never ending contrasts.  Suzhou really does manage to transport you to another place in time.  Many of the images in this post capture the beauty of Suzhou and perhaps romanticise it somewhat! Suzhou is a "town" of 11 million people and the mere density of people, the cacophony of noise, the onslaught of pungent aromas and the patches of squalor at times were, in truth, quite overwhelming.  But that's China!