China Suzhou

One day while in Shanghai we took an optional day tour by bus up to the beautiful city of Suzhou.

 The main attraction here was a boat ride on the famous Grand Canal of China.

 Suzhou is called the Venice of the East and features canals all through the city like streets.

 The guides propelled the boats by long poles along the narrow canals of the legendary Grand Canal. and it was a peaceful and beautifully scenic boat ride, but did not last very long.

 Afterwards we go to stroll down the Pingjiang Road alongside the canal and visit the tourist shops and enjoy lunch at a local restaurant with our tour group.

 We toured the Garden of the Master of the Nets next, a very wealthy rich man's estate with his own pond surrounded by open rooms of the estate on all sides.

 Inside one of the rooms.

 Across the pond you can see various room that make up the estate.  Each room had it's own building, but most did not have wall, just patios and porches.

Round windows were build to frame especially beautiful scenes.  The estates a UNESCO World Heritage Site.