For our first adventure in Shanghai, Melyssa and I decided to check out Suzhou, a “suburb” of Shanghai. Suzhou is a water village and known as the “Venice of the East” for its canals and rivers that run through and around the city.
Melyssa and I opted not to take a tour and instead ventured to the bus station to take an hour long bus ride to Suzhou. An hour quickly turned into two hours, and two and a half hours later we arrived at a bustling bus station in Suzhou!
Melyssa and I quickly realized Google had failed us, and we were truly in the middle of who-knows-where with a single map of Suzhou and little else to go on. About 30 minutes later, after much confusion, attempting to ask for directions in English and sometimes in our broken excuse for Chinese, we started walking to “The General Administration Garden”.
The General Administration Garden is one of the most famous gardens in all of China. Map in hand, we walked through dozens of motorcyclists and taxi drivers who were offering rides from the bus station. In a smaller town like Suzhou, outside of the city, that is not as “touristy” or as visited by Westerners, a 5 foot 9, blond, with light skin and green eyes, causes just a little bit of attention. Dozens of people were shouting “hello” to us as we walked by, and I have never had that many people take pictures of me!
The most attention I have ever gotten was when we were actually in The General Administration Garden. Tons of people were taking my picture. I now know what it feels like to be stalked by the paparazzi! Sometimes people ask to take my picture, and ask if they can get a picture with me, which I am generally fine with. I usually “ham it up” and throw out a peace sign, everyone seems to love that. But the real “creepers” are the people who pull out the cell phones to take a quick picture, or the people spotted ten feet away who are noticeable taking a picture.
The General Administration Garden was gorgeous, but so crowded. Melyssa and I joked that half of China must have been there! So Melyssa and I decided to venture to where we thought gondola rides were offered.
After a taxi ride around the city, we ended up at North Temple Pagoda, a park area offering gondola rides. We quickly headed to the “Pleasure Boats” a sign pointed to, and Melyssa and I enjoyed a much needed, relaxing, gondola ride. The park itself was gorgeous, with Chinese pavilions, a Chinese pagoda, and a lake.
There was even a fish feeding area where we saw the biggest fish! They were the biggest gold fish I have ever seen! You could tell they had been fed a lot!
The best part of the day, other than the gondola ride, was when a mother with the cutest Asian baby came up to me and asked me to hold her son and take a picture! Melyssa took a picture of me holding the baby, he was so cute!
Melyssa and I then headed back to the bus station and waited alongside the river as we ate our dinner that we had bought from a street vendor. Melyssa and I bought dinner for less than a dollar and enjoyed spicy noodle and bean paste dumplings. The bus ride back to Shanghai was a little easier and thankfully, a lot quicker. One day of adventures over, another day ahead.
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