Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi

Nov. 6

By the time today was over, we had visited three cities whose combined population was greater than the whole of Canada – Shanghai, 22 million, Suzhou 11 million and Wuxi 4 million. We didn’t actually see much of Shanghai, other than the route out of town from our east-side hotel. We did however get a peak at the financial centre with its ultramodern skyscrapers. I hope to get a better picture of this area, but for the time being this will have to do.

As we continue our travels in China, it has just struck us that we have yet to see a stop sign. This explains the insane merging that goes on everywhere and the non-stop horn honking. Electric bikes and scooters are abundant and usually carry a variety of cargo. I’ve tried to make a point of capturing the human element in my photos. I’m not sure this blog has illustrated the unique manner in which these people live or how cute the children are, but the next photos might help with that matter.
Our first destination was the city of Suzhou. This place has been nicknamed the Venice of China, due to its myriad of canals and waterways.



We visited three places in Suzhou. The first was the interior of a once private house dating back 1000 years that was owned by a ranking official under the Emperor. This place, called the Garden of the Master of the Nets, was a vast expanse of buildings, gardens and ponds.

Next, we took a short cruise down one of the canals. Although we didn’t find it overly reminiscent of Venice, apparently Marco Polo did and one of the bridges over it bears his name.

Finally, we visited the Tiger Hill Pagoda, which is compared to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, due to its equally scary tilt.

We then headed north towards the much smaller city of Wuxi - only 4 million. By the time we arrived here the sun had disappeared, but we took a quick stroll through a park, before heading downtown for dinner.

We have been astounded at the night-time lighting all over China and Wuxi did not disappoint. Many of the lights are not static, with a variety of moving patterns and designs being created on the sides of buildings.

We finally made it to our hotel for this evening, shown below, the Grand Park Hotel. It was located in the heart of downtown, so before bedding down, we took a stroll through the shopping area. Tomorrow we will see more of this beautiful, relatively new city, before heading to our next destination.