Suzhou: City of Silk and Waterways

A flower in a pond at Panmen Garden 

Time is winding down for my year-long teaching stint in Shanghai. I only have a little over a month to go. I would be lying if I said I can't wait for the last day…I miss home like crazy, but there is still a lot more adventures left for me in Asia. I will leave for Tokyo, Japan, next week and Bangkok next month. This past weekend my friend Mark invited Lauren and I to visit Suzhou and his grandparents with him. I had been wanting to go to another city within China besides the ones I have visited so far: Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Beijing, and my home-away-from-home, Shanghai.

The Master-of-Nets Garden

Suzhou is still a large city compared to most cities in the world, and only a 30-minute train ride from Shanghai in Jiangsu Province in Eastern China. Known for its silk and canals, Suzhou is known as the "Sister City to Venice, Italy." Suzhou was founded in 514 BC, and its canals, pagodas, and stunning gardens have been added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

I have been wanting to visit Suzhou since I came to China. In fact, I had placed it second on my list (behind Shanghai) of cites  I wanted to be placed for teaching.  

Silk paintings

We met up with Mark's grandfather, who is really his great uncle, and dropped our stuff off at our hotel room (which he generously got for us). We quickly went to see The Master-of-Nets garden, which has one of the world's oldest trees, beautiful koi ponds with lily pads, and intricate houses storing skillfully painted works-of-art on famed silk. I bought a little painting on silk as a souvenir--a summer scene of mountains and trees. Lauren and Mark got ones as well. Since I bought a painting, the woman allowed me to take some pictures of the other silk paintings. There was a famous artist who painted tigers on silk and even raised them inside the garden.
   

Mark kisses the fishy main entree 

Afterwards, Mark's grandpa (as Lauren and I began to call him) took us to eat at this restaurant by his house. There, mark's grandma, aunt, uncle, and cousin joined us and we sat down to a traditional Chinese feast at a large, round red and yellow table. Mark said that he had a lot of family and even in Suzhou, we had a table for nine. We tried a bunch of new food such as pumpkin-filled round treats of goodness, orange sweet fish (tasted like orange chicken back home), sweet oats, and this bread filled with meat and green beans. The fish was a specialty of Suzhou and laid on the plate like any fish in China--head and all. The middle was cut up and deboned though. Mark ate, and kissed, the head. We also had spinach, prawns, mushrooms, rice, pork, broccoli…basically, a lot of food. It was one of the best meals I had eaten in China thus far.

At dinner, Lauren and I expressed interest in making the little pumpkin things (the name of which I already forget). Mark's Grandpa told us that she would be happy to teach us how to make them! First, Grandpa wanted to take us on his walk that he takes everyday along the lake in Suzhou. The sights were beautiful. We walked off our dinner and saw temples in the distance, ancient bridges, and even bats flying everywhere (more bats than I have ever seen in my life)! As I said before, Suzhou is known for its canals and we saw its four main canals and the place where they intersected.

We got back to Mark's grandparents' apartment (a traditional Chinese size apartment as Mark said). We helped Grandma and Grandpa make the pumpkin bites by rolling up balls of pumpkin and lots of flour. You cook them on the stove and add some sugar and that's it. I'm definitely going to make these when I go home. We had our own little cooking lesson. Mark's grandparents' were so sweet and cute! Before we left for our hotel for that night, they packed us a little bag of hard-boiled eggs, pumpkin bites, and peaches for the next morning or a midnight snack.

Mark's grandma showing us how it's done.

The next morning we got up bright and early to go see the ancient part of the city. In order to get there, we had to take a car since the subways are being worked on. Mark's aunt drove us this round-about way to the ancient city. Once there, we boarded a little boat with a guide who sang classic Chinese songs as we paddled down the river, passing decades of history. Mark's grandpa knew some of the songs and sang along.

Soon we got off the boat and walked around the ancient city. This was a good place to buy souvenirs since Shanghai is more expensive. It was only right that we stopped at a store where everything being sold was made out of bamboo. I bought a compact mirror.

Next, we wandered over to a pearl shop. China is famous for its pearls that are found off the coast. People visit China just to buy pearls that are cheaper here than anywhere else. Mark's grandparents bartered with the shop owners and got me 40% off of a black pearl necklace…so I had to go through with the purchase ;). Temptation called.

Crabs on a stick

We walked a little more and spotted a food vendor that was selling five small crabs on a stick for only 5 rmb. Little did I know, that the crabs were not yet dead. The woman just picked up the stick of the five wiggling crabs, and put them in a pan to fry. They were pretty crunchy and didn't have much crab meat on them, so I didn't eat all of it, mostly carried them around like a scared tourist, but at least I can say I tried it. We walked back along the canal and watch as women would dress up in ancient dress and pose in front of one of the famous bridges. It just shows…even locals like to play the tourist at times.

Next, we went back to grandpa's house where he made us noodles and we looked at grandma's little garden and her silk paintings of birds. We could tell that she was embarrassed, but really proud of her paintings, and they were really good!

Grandma and her painting

             

               A woman dressed up and posing for a photographer

On the Xi Shi stone bridge of good luck

We then went to see the Pan Gate Scenic Area (Panmen Gate) with its beautiful Ruiguang Pagoda, which was built in 247 BC, the oldest pagoda in Suzhou, the Wu Gate Bridge, and Pan Gate. The Gate is essentially a castle with battlements and everything. It was built in the Warring States period and estimated to be around 2,500 years old. Pan Gate is a part of the ancient city wall, built in 514 BCE, which use to protect Suzhou. There is an area between the main gate and the entrance to the castle where they would trap enemies and either drown them out or shoot them with an arrow.

Overall, Suzhou is a beautiful place full of history and surprises. I recommend visiting Suzhou if you find yourself in China. It is definitely one of China's top tourist attractions. Experiencing a traditional family and how they live from day to day as well as visiting one of the smaller cities (in China terms) really shows you a different side of China, one that cannot be compared to the bustling towers of Shanghai.