Our school took us on an amazing weekend excursion to the city of Suzhou. We had to be in the van at 7 am sharp on Saturday (mind you, this was after our first week of teaching - yawn) to make the 3 hour drive to the water city of Suzhou, "China's Venice." We met up with a group of five Canadian teachers whose assignment was at Nantong University. We looked forward to spending time with fellow teachers to swap stories and compare notes from our first week.
 |
| We crossed the Yangtze River and it was ENORMOUS. Definitely no little Ping swimming down there! |
 |
| Literally, it looked more like an ocean and was bordered by HUGE loading docks and factories. Sea faring vessels could be seen from the bridge. Not at all what we expected. |
First stop, Tiger Hill Pagoda...
 |
| "Thousand People Rock" |
 |
| A lovely spring ran though the park. |
 |
| Tiger Hill Pagoda, also known and Yunyan or Leaning Pagoda |
Then, on to Suzhou's Buddhist Temple...
 |
| Tending to the massive amounts of incense is serious business. |
 |
| Do we look as exhausted as we feel??? |
 |
| Arthur, our super delightful Suzhou tour guide |
 |
| Cutest bare bottomed baby to date! |
Next stop, Humble Garden...
 |
| You'd never guess it was over 100 degrees looking at this photo, would you?! |
 |
| Cool bamboo contraption constructed to protect/support this curving wisteria vine. |
After an exhausting day, DeAnn, Linda, and Lisa, set off for an evening shopping excursion with Anna. It turned out to be pretty terrific!
 |
| Our favorite little shop in Suzhou. |
 |
| Little piggy steamed buns, anyone? |
 |
| Anna bought us sweet bean curd from this shop, one of Suzhou's specialties. |
We awoke in our lovely hotel the next morning, not quite refreshed, but raring to go, nonetheless.
 |
| Quail eggs for breakfast! |
On this beautiful Sunday morning we visited Shaijabang - a truly lovely and tranquil scenic park.
 |
| Suzhou's famous Kun Opera |
 |
| By this point, we had ridden many different boats, but she wins for best driver! |
 |
| Shaijabang also had its very own rice winery. Who knew? |
 |
| Cheers! |
 |
| These two gentlemen head the teacher training programs at Nantong University and at our school, Rugao Teacher's College |
 |
A final meal with the Canadians - 16 people around one table!
Our most rustic toilet yet. We had heard tell of the communal trough, and here, at last, we experienced it. Yay? |
 |
Just one kitchen where all the magic happens!
.
All in all, it was a great weekend. Such fun to see a different city in the Jiangsu Province! |
That communal trough? That's what they had in my teaching school. I (thankfully) never had to use it. . .
ReplyDeleteSonja