The gardens are planted by government officials hundreds of years ago as a place for retreat. The one we visited is called "Humble Administrators garden" but apparently can also mean "stupid Administrators garden". We marveled at the lotus flowers and enormous koi carps, butterflies and little pavilions. But most of all we were a little taken back by the hundreds of tourists in the garden. These masses of people make it harder to find peace of mind. The concept of tourism has definitely settled in here: bus loads full of people with a red cap on, a tour guide with a flag, ten highlights in a day, a camera or two and off you go...
Later we became an attraction ourselves when we landed at the lake side for a bit of a breeze. Nelson made friends with another baby (note the handy trousers that are common here) and they posed for all the people who came by with their cameras.
Our friend Li took the opportunity to look around for single girls in the park, trying his luck in Suzhou as he complained that Shanghai girls are too arrogant for poor boys, and too intimidated by the rich ones. All in all it left him single and on the outlook for someone nice.
Two days later I went back with Godert's mum for a visit to the Silk Museum, the pagoda and lots of getting lost in the pouring rain. We're in the middle of the Plum Rain Season these weeks and high heels have been replaced by rain boots. We realized we get lost because you hardly get to see the sun around here, even in less polluted Suzhou. The smog is so thick that it takes an iPhone4 or a compass to find our where you are on the map.
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