A day in the watertown Suzhou

After we flew like a bullet with 350kmh in the bullet train (while watching the results of the beautification project with newly-planted trees all the way along the train tracks which were attempting to hide the dirt, smog and poverty behind)

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we arrived in the beautiful watertown of Suzhou.
We started off by visiting the most famous site, the North Hill Pagoda, where we climbed hundreds of stairs to the 8th floor of the pagoda to catch a bird's eye view of the surrounding parks and canals. Meantime, Gulliver had a "belly contest" with the biggest Happy Buddha:

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- we let our readers decide who the winner was...

After a stroll on the streets of Suzhou

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...we changed means of transport and cruised on the picturesque canals:

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Suzhou has a large network of canals running through the city; along the canal, some luxorious homes and typical third-world neighbourhoods standing side by side, with some pagodas and skyscrapers in the background - a remarkable contrast between modern and very old, clean and very dirty, traditional and transitional. We had lunch in the market-area of town that housed a countless stalls, carts, and little stores selling fruit, meat, shoes, household goods... everything.
There, at the crappiest-looking and probably the cheapest restaurant we have been to, we had the best Chinese lunch during our entire trip in China. It was part of our adventure that the restaurant only had Chinese menu, so we made our choice just by pointing on two of the dishes...
Krisztina took care of our dessert afterward:

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... and with stuffed bellies (we could have entered now the belly contest with Gulliver and the Happy Buddha) we headed for the Tiger Hill Pagoda, our last destination in Suzhou:

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All our pcitures from Suzhou.