Dora's TravelChat: China, Suzhou

Suzhou

Our first destination for Jiangnan tour. We only stay a night at Suzhou. It is divided into 3 main parts: the old historical area, new development area and industrial zone. Our first stop is The Couple's Garden Retreat 耦园 at the historical area.

The Couple's Garden Retreat 耦园

Ou Yuan used to be the retreat of a local official, but it is now a tourist attraction. The whole retreat is divided into east and west. East for the host (我做‘东’）, west for guest （‘稀’客）.The host area has more greenery and is more comfy than the guest area. The main axis has building 1-4 on it. 1 is the main entrance, where the host will come down from the sedan chair. Building 2 is used to serve uninvited guests. Here, the housekeeper will pour full cup of tea to the guests, hinting that they are not welcome.俗语说茶倒七分满就是这道理. Building 3 is the main living area to serve guests. Whereas building 4 is the family living area.

The sign on the main door means living normally and privately like a normal people. It is a humble statement for a local high-post official.

The main living hall to serve guest. This is shown as number 3 on the floor plan above.

Inside the living room, there is category for the seats. Hosts sit at the east side and guests sit on the west side. Most important people sit at the middle and only the main host and main guest will talk during the meeting.

As Suzhou humidity is quite high, usually ground floor only used as living and storage area. The main bedrooms are on the top floor. Don't get confuse by the glass panel. It used to be sandpaper for the window.

The wooden column is separated from ground by a stone to avoid ground water sipping to the column. See the algae on the ground? That is how humid the place is...

The local fond to use bat in the details. It symbolizes blessing as both words has the same pronunciation （蝠&福）.

We can see false mountain in front of each building, it means to protect the money from flowing away.

Her Shoe.....

Colour so matching hahaha

After visiting the garden, we took the boat back to the parking area. Just because our low tips, the boatman refused us to have picture at the front deck. Such a realistic people! He just sing one song and we reach our destination. So short the destination hahaha...

Dinner, we had the famous local squirrel fish 松鼠鱼 and other few dishes.

Night, we stayed at 4-star 开元曼居. The places the tour organised for us are all at the outskirts. So we do not recommend staying there if you do not have transport to send you.

Golden Chicken Lake 金鸡湖风景区

Next morning after breakfast, we went to Jinji Lake / Golden Chicken Lake 金鸡湖风景区. The place is known as Golden Chicken 金鸡 because it looks like a chicken from aerial view.

The building with an arc opening in the middle is the "Gate of Orient" 东方之门. It is the landmark of Suzhou.

We were standing in front of "Suzhou Culture and Arts Center" 苏州文化艺术中心.

The inspiration for the facade design comes from the silk pattern of a double-silkworm. The interlacing pattern of a double-silkworm is much complicated than a single-silkworm.

Harmony Times Square 圆融时代广场

Next up, we headed to Harmony Times Square 圆融时代广场 to see the 500 meter long LED sky screen. As it was day time when we visited, hence we couldn't see anything. Fail.

Suzhou International Financial Square

苏州国际金融中心

Beside this building is the construction of Suzhou International Financial Square 苏州国际金融中心. This will be the tallest building in Jiangsu Area, which is 452 meter upon completion.

Suzhou Museum 苏州博物馆

Next up, we headed to Suzhou Museum 苏州博物馆. This building is designed by famous architect I.M.Pei 贝聿铭. Being a resident of Suzhou, he wanted to contribute his expertise back to his country despite that the project is considered small scale. Hencewhy he offered to design the Suzhou museum.