Suzhou

My friend Wei went with me and his wife & kids on a whirlwind tour of northern China on vacation. First stop was Shanghai, where we stayed at my aunt's house. Listening to her playing beautiful music on the piano was a rare pleasure. We took a day trip to Suzhou, the city famous for its classical gardens, the silk industry and refined culture. We visited the Tiger Hill gardens, which was very impressive: beautiful ponds, rockeries, pavilions, pagodas, hills covered with tea hedges, bamboo groves, waterfalls, canals. Formerly a buddhist temple, the top of the hill is crowned by a shady courtyard and a 1300 year old brick dagoba. The views of the surrounding lush countryside was wonderful. Then we visited the Humble Administrator's garden, the most famous. It has numerous lotus ponds with many covered walkways, courtyards, bridges of all kinds, pavilions, colorful mosaic floors, and manicured flowering shrubs. It was a bit too touristy however. We took a train back to Shanghai, and experieced excruciatingly crowded subway in Shanghai.