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Travel JournalHangzhou and Suzhou (China)(Thursday 13 December 2007) by Lynda
Second stop was Suzhou, it's called the Venice of the East and Marco Polo did visit Suzhou a long time ago and he used the adjectives "great and noble". Suzhou is a great place to walk around along the small canals and cross the little bridges and visit the famous gardens. You can not compare a chinese garden with an English or Dutch garden; the Chinese garden is full of pavilions, rocks, pools and walkway's. Only a very small part of the gardens is planted with very old trees and most of them are bonsai trees. It's great to walk around in the gardens because at every corner you have to decide where to go next, left - right - up or down, it's like playing hide and seek and around every corner you enter another "garden-chamber" with a different style or theme. Before I left a garden I always checked in the map at the entrance if I did not miss a part of the garden, some of the "garden-chambers" are quite hard to find but that's the fun of visiting the gardens. I really enjoyed spending time in the gardens and the names are really charming: garden of the master of the nets, the humble administrator's garden, the couple's garden and the garden for lingering in. And at night all the canals are lit and gives the whole place a mysterious atmosphere, I loved it! And maybe the best part of Suzhou: I received a package from Holland filled with all kinds of dutch treats, poste restante even works in China!!! Thanks little sister!!!!! I'm back in Shanghai at the moment and I will travel further south-west towards Hong Kong with one or two small stops on the way. Joost will fly to Hong Kong just before Christmas so I can't wait for Christmas!!!!!!
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