Venice of the East

After a quick stop at the Suzhou silk factory (and a beautiful red cadhmere scarf later) we visited the Lingering Gardens and squeeeeeeezed our way through 10 000 other people also visiting on the 3rd day of the National Holiday - only 1 more to go

We then cruised along the Grand Canal to view life along China's longest waterway. Marco Polo christened it "Venice of the East" : he must have visited the opium dens before his visit. It had water and bridges but the similarities ended there. It was still really interesting to get a peek into the "backyards" of the peoplewho live here.

Matt and I split from the group who opted for a traditional noodle lunch by the water and strolled (pushed and shoved) through the crowds and back alleys and stumbled upon a bar where we "had" to stop for our 1st IPA of the trip.

Then it was back on the bus for a 2 hour trip to our next stop, Hangzhou. We had a walk around the neighbourhood near our hotel, and then had a reasonably early night as we had to be up at 5.30am the next day.Leer más