Suzhou – 21st Apr 2009

Our visit to Suzhou was too short. Our walk around the Humble Administrators Garden was magnificent. Even with the sun too high for ‘proper’ photographs! Once again the temperature was too high for me. It is well worth taking the river cruise as the pictures show.

A brief description:

Suzhou is located in the centre of the Yangtze Delta, in the south of Jiangsu Province, with Shanghai to the east, Zhejiang Province to the south, Wuxi City to the west and the Yangtze River to the north. Since 42% area of the city is covered by water, including a vast number of ponds and streams, Suzhou is praised as the 'Oriental Venice'. Taihu Lake, four fifths of which is in the territory of Suzhou, is one of the four largest fresh lakes in China, with East Hill, West Hill and other scenic spots in its vicinity. The city is cut by the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal from north to south. Together with its mild climate, making it an available destination all year round, fertile landscape and abundance of produce, it is no wonder that Suzhou is called 'paradise on earth'.