The city of Suzhou is known in China for it's canals and its gardens. The "Venice of the East" has nine gardens that are together a UNESCO World Heritage Site. During my one day visit I had the opportunity to visit only the Lingering Garden 留园.
The gardens are basically big old houses built by rich people with a lot of green and water, to chill out in the humid summer of southern China. I can imagine hundreds of years ago just resting in the shade listening to the birds and the breeze passing through the trees.
Fast forward to 2016. Dozens of tour buses park outside the garden and a guide with a flag comes out with hundreds of tourists following with their little matching hats. Why? Because it's a class AAAAA tourist destination. That means Chinese tour companies will take groups there. Not because it's cool, not because people WANT to see it, but because it was determined it's supposed to be seen. I'm not saying it's not cool, because it is, but there is also a lot of cooler stuff without any A worth checking out. You can see by now that I'm not a big fan of how they decide what gets five As.
It is beautiful, go see for yourself. Ignore the tour buses.
Pond with dozens of little orange carps. The sound of water flowing can be heard but no waterfall is nearby. Hidden in a corner is a hose popping out of the water. I believe its only purpose is to generate sound.
A couple strolls around the part in the back where they have trees planted in vases.
A group of tourists rest sitting on a stone set of benches and table. It was a very humid day. So humid it rained a few minutes later.
Inside one of the buildings was a magnificent wood carving doorway. Hard to believe that during the Sino-japanese war this place was used as a horse breeding facility.
This old lady could barely walk. Three people helped her sit down on a very unsafe rock in a very unsafe position and persuaded her to reach towards the water closer to the water lilies just to take a photo. It's a miracle she didn't fall in just because her finger had to be 3 inches from the flower. I guess that somehow makes a better picture. What do I know?
A little boat lies in the corner of one of the man-made ponds. They are so small I don't believe they are for actual rides, but more for cleaning up. Although a few hundred years ago I can see a rich fellow just chilling in the water.