1) Today was our biggest adventure yet, as Nina, her friend Mei, Niamh, and I took the rail to Suzhou Museum (蘇州博物館). The building itself was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei in 2006, and houses more than 15,000 pieces in its collections. Most are ancient paintings and calligraphy, ceramics, crafts, unearthed relics and revolution relics. And the best part - admission is free!
2) Next, we paid a visit to the Humble Administrator's Garden (拙政园), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and at 13 acres, it is certainly the largest garden in Suzhou. It is also considered by some to be the finest garden in all of Southern China. In fact, Cao Xueqin, author of the Dream of the Red Chamber, was allegedly inspired by the scenery of the gardens after having lived at the garden during his teenage years! I personally found the gardens peaceful and tranquil, undisturbed by the modernisation of China.
3) After walking along the streets, Nina found a lovely place to eat. We tried "squirrel fish" (松鼠鱼), a typical traditional dish in Suzhou, so-called because the deep fried yolk paste on the fish resembles an actual squirrel. What amazed me was the price - just 99 yuan for a 5-course meal for 4 people! That amounts to just over 3 euro per person for a fabulous meal at a good restaurant - with FOC rice! It certainly doesn't get much better than that :) Continuing our walk, we spotted a traditional Suzhou Pingtan (評彈) - a regional variety of musical/oral performance art form that employs "story telling, joke cracking, music playing and aria singing". For the price of a glass of piping hot green tea, we got to enjoy this unique performance :)
4) But we were just getting started with our journey. We now walked to the main campus of Soochow University, where we got to see the iconic Dongwu Daxue gate, the Kenneth Wang School of Law, and the university clock building, amongst others. We then took the train to our last stop of the day - Suzhou Center (苏州中心), the largest shopping mall in Suzhou and boasting over 600 retail brands. We spotted a great seafood buffet on the top floor, which would come to less than 20 euros! Guess where our last dinner is gonna be? XD
5) After doing our fair share of window shopping, it was time for our two Chinese friends to make their leave, as they had their part-time jobs to attend to. I cannot overstate how much we appreciate their help in everything, so if you're them reading this, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We really appreciate the trouble :)
6) All that was left was to make our way back home, but not before having dinner first. One of us suggested the square that was near our apartment, so off we went. After scouting some restaurants, we finally decided on a restaurant selling beef noodles! Neither of us got noodles though; we opted for rice instead. As usual, it was VERY filling, not to mention delicious! Truly food in China is growing fast on me. The fact that it costs so little is just icing on the cake at this point.
7) Came back to our apartment to cap off what has been an extremely interesting day. Enjoy the many pictures, and thanks for visiting my blog. Have a lovely week ahead. Cheers! :D
At Suzhou Museum!
At Soochow University Main Campus :)
Group photo in front of the Suzhou Center, with the Gate to the East in the background :)
Suzhou Underground Rail
Suzhou Museum here we come! :)
Waiting line for the Suzhou Museum - entrance is FOC so of course there would be a line XD
Entrance to Suzhou Museum
The unique architecture of the museum, by I.M. Pei
Sitting in front of a bamboo forest outside
Beautiful lacquer works
Calligraphy on a fan
Traditional Chinese dress
Selfie time! :)
The atmosphere was so calm and peaceful...
The Humble Administrator's Garden
Entrance to the Gardens
The Bamboo Pavilion
Touching the sculpture is supposed to bring luck
The House of 36 Mandarin Ducks
Bonsai trees
Starbucks Coffee here!
"Suzhou Tai Tai" - where we had our lunch
"Squirrel Fish" - it actually says 'must-try' on the menu
糯米藕 - Honey Lotus Root with Sticky Rice - a sweet dessert! :)
Our superb five course lunch only costs 99 yuan!
The star of the dish for me - the "squirrel fish"!
Customary selfie before everyone digs in ^^
The "Qingtan" performance
Piping hot green tea - with a large flask of hot water to top up
(with it pouring heavily outside, this was heavenly!)
And here are our two performers of this afternoon
(the lady is holding a "pipa" - a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument)
The outside of the very well-hidden shop
One of the many canals in Suzhou
Some delicious flour cakes we tried!
(Thanks Nina! :D)
It literally says "Star" Bucks Coffee in Mandarin
Qipao for sale - better known to some as "cheongsam", a traditional body-hugging traditional Chinese dress for women
Soochow University Main Campus
The Zone of Quietness - what a badass sign :)
Dong Wu University - the old name for Soochow University
(this is the iconic gate)
Our underground rail passes :D
Suzhou Center here we come
Suzhou Center, with the Gate to the East looming over it
Inside the luxurious building
(comprising a north and south wing, each with 6 floors!)
HeyTea is so famous the queue is phenomenally long!
Oh look I found a little piece of my hometown all the way here in China :)
An indoor ice skating rink?! That's incredible :^)
Niamh with her commendable chopstick skills :)
Today I learnt potato is called "土豆" instead of "番薯" here in China
That's fried rice right there :))
Oh look is there someone hiding in between the door frames?
Oh well t'was a nice dinner indeed :D
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