Suzhou

This past weekend David and I, along with five other folks from school, hired a driver and went to a "small town" about an hour west of here. When I first imagined what Suzhou would be like I pictured a small picturesque town with water flowing everywhere. (It's nickname is the "Venice of the East.") With 5 million people it was anything but small compared to NY standards. Regardless of it's size it was still a great place to go for the day.

Suzhou is known for its beautiful Chinese gardens, silk production and good food. We went to the Master of the Nets and the Humble Administrator's Gardens. They both had amazing Chinese style buildings with examples of fine furniture, lilly ponds with huge fish, and bizarre, yet awe inspiring rock gardens. David and I briefly went into the Temple of Mystery. It was filled with huge golden statues of religious figures. I wish we had spent more time there. We dashed in and out while our friends were getting ice cream. If we had had the time I would have liked to try to fully understand what the place was all about.

While there we bought some artwork for our shamefully bare walls. We purchased two lovely wood block prints of scenes from around town. Suzhou is also know for their silk embroidery paintings. Shop keepers take silk embroidery thread and sew amazing scenes on to white sheets of silk. David and I bought a very large one of a branch filled with red and white flowers. I will be sure to take photos of it once it's framed. The details that they are able to get are pretty cool.

There are many more things that we didn't even come close to being able to see. Luckily it is close enough to go there for the weekend!