Hangzhou and Suzhou

Before I start this post I just thought I'd let you all know that I just posted a whole whack of photos to our photo album (link to the right). Enjoy!

We spent the past week or so in Hangzhou. We chose this place to hunker down in during the Chinese National Day celebrations that run from October 1-7. I must say that we picked the perfect spot. It was big enough to have the amenities we like (grocery store, good public transportation, internet, etc.) but not so big that we were overwhelmed by the crowds. We took full advantage of the time here to eat properly again, catch up on our sleep, get a bit of exercise, groom and catch up on our email and blogging. It was great.

Hangzhou's most notable attraction is its West Lake. We went several times and, each time, saw something new. Part way through the week, our friend Sam joined us again and we've been together ever since. It's so great to have her back! We missed her the few days she ran off to Nanjing. Luckily we get to have her around now for another week or so.

There was so much going on for the Chinese National Day celebrations and the mid-Autumn festival. There always seemed to be something to see - beautiful performances, random fireworks (even during the day ?!?!), balloons and lanterns, people flying amazing kites (like some that looked just like hawks). It was just as impressive at night as during the day. Our favourite ways to explore were by bike and by boat. Once we had a rower bring us around parts of the lake and another time we took the ferry between the islands. We also ate at the oldest restaurant in China, Louwailou, and sampled one of the famous local dishes, Beggar's Chicken. It was delicious.

After spending more than a week in Hangzhou and feeling like we'd caught up on our rest a little bit, we headed off for Suzhou - "the Venice of China" (we have also read that Zhouzhuang is the Venice of China so we're checking it out too to see who's right).

Suzhou is a gorgeous little town. It wasn't obvious when we first arrived in the evening but, the next day, when we ventured out to Tiger Hill we found what we were hoping for. Here we saw ancient China. From the waterways to the pagodas, everything seemed (and for the most part, actually was) extremely old. In view of our interest in taking as many different forms of transportation as possible, we splurged and all got a palanquin ride up part of the hill to experience what it might have been like for the Emperors and Empresses. I must say that it felt far from Imperial. There is a suprising amount of shock absorption in the bamboo poles that hold you up. We couldn't stop laughing long enough to enjoy the scenery as we all bounced our way up the hill. It was certainly an experience!

We climbed our way up the rest of the hill to the ancient pagoda. It is over a thousand years old and tilts to one side (the leaning tower of Suzhou...). Unlike many of the buildings in China that have been renovated to look like they were built last week, this pagoda looks as though it might have when it was originally built. It was beautiful.

As if the scenery weren't enough, we were delightfully surprised by performances all over the park. Dancers, acrobats, hilarious magicians that looked like they were using a magic kit from Wallmart, and a nose-flute player. I was a bit grossed out by him but Rich and Sam were fascinated. I just couldn't get past the fact that he was playing the flutes by alternately blowing on them through his nose and then through his mouth.

After the excitement of all the shows, we decided to end the day with a leisurely boat ride on the canal that surrounds the city. It was so amazing to see the waterfront houses and people fishing from their balconies. Even though there were plenty of people there, we were relatively alone of the water and the gardens didn't seem crowded. There were times where we were by ourselves to enjoy a waterfall or a bonsai garden.

Looks like we finally found the elusive tranquility of China.