Day 249 – West Lake and Suzhou

We had breakfast at the hotel and then took our stuff down to the lobby.  We had about 40 minutes before we had to leave, so we took a quick walk across the street and looked a the Grand Canal.  There was an old woman that smiled at me, and I at her and we tried to have a conversation.  She was really pleasant and I sure wish I could speak more Chinese than I do.

 

People doing Tai Chi in the square across from our hotel.

Barges on the Grand Canal of China.

This man was selling baby bunnies and this little girl was the new proud owner of this one.

We drove in the bus to the West Lake.  It is really beautiful.  We had a boat ride on the lake that was very pleasant. 

One of the structures on the park around West Lake.

Some of the beauty we saw.

More of the park.

Riding the boat around the lake.

West Lake, Hangzhou, China.

After the boat ride, we walked around part of the park that surrounds the lake.  Our guide knew where to take us that was a less crowded part of the park, so we could actually see that park and not just people.

These pigs had to share the road with us during the traffic jam that caused us to be late for Suzhou.

After lunch, we drove to Suzhou.  This drive should only have taken us two hours, but the traffic was horrible and it took almost four.  We were so late that the traditional Chinese garden that we were going to see had to be cancelled because they close at 5 p.m.  As an alternative activity, they took us on a boat ride on the moat that surrounds part of the old city.  At first the canal is pretty wide, but we went down some canals that got pretty narrow.  People were waving at us and shouting “hello.”  It was rather fun that way.

In the canal in Suzhou.  Suzhou is considered the "Venice" of China because of all the canals that the city is built around.

This part of the canal was pretty narrow.

David go his finger in the way of this shot of the narrow canal.

We checked into the hotel and then had dinner at a near by restaurant.  After dinner, we stopped at KFC and had an ice cream cone.  We were both tired, so we just came back to the hotel room and got caught up on email, Facebook and the blog.