The Final Day in Suzhou

Two days of Suzhou was plenty. I wouldn't want to stay in this city much longer. It's not that it's a horrible city, I just don't care for it much. Aside from the gardens, the rest of the city isn't too fancy. The shopping area is nice too, but that's about it.

This morning, we checked out of the Sheraton Suzhou at 8:30am and booked a train ticket for a late train to Shanghai. After a quick breakfast, we walked around the Sheraton hotel where the Panmen Pagoda stood and a moat from the old times lay. From there, we taxied to The Master of the Nets Garden, which is nice... but paled in comparison to yesterday's Humble Administrator's Garden. Then we went Northwest to Tiger Hill, where a famous Yunyansi Pagoda has stood since 959 AD, tilting with a lean of 3'49, and is the symbol of ancient Suzhou. From the base of the pagoda, there are sightlines to see much of Suzhou... which, even at a distance and elevation, is still unimpressive. From Tiger Hill, we taxied to The Lingering Garden, another one of four famous classical gardens in China (the other being the Humble Administrator's). We lingered. Also very nice, but I was getting tired of seeing gardens.

Finally, we dropped back to the shopping center and walked around the arts and crafts market, which also had a few streets of plants (bonsai's and more). Shamefully, I suggested going to Pizza Hut, because I was hungry and was looking for something easy. To balance out my guilt, I ordered the "Seafood Catch" Pizza, which had shrimp, octopus, imitation crab, and squid. We also had a couple other more "regular" pizzas.

Finally, we taxied back to the hotel. Now here's the cool part, along one of the smaller streets, our taxi pulled to the right slightly. Then, out of nowhere (since I was behind the driver, I didn't see it), a bus hits our taxi along the side! The taxi driver, a woman, stepped out of the car and started to yell at the apologetic bus driver. Then they got into a yelling match as the taxi driver was enfuriated, and the bus driver would do nothing of it. The damage wasn't too severe, but there was a scratch that ran along the length of my door. The bus driver gave her 50RMB (a meaningless $8-9), and she reluctantly left the scene steaming.

After returning to the Sheraton, we got our bags from the luggage storage and taxied to the Suzhou train station. About 1.5 hrs later, we arrived in Shanghai at our hotel.

The Sofitel Hyland Hotel may have an impressive location, but their amenities suck. Internet access goes for 4.00/minute, up to 160RMB per 24 hour day, and everything else is really expensive (compared to just about every other hotel I've stayed at in China).

Moving on...
Kevin