Since yesterday in Shanghai was non-existent we spend the day today in and around Shanghai, then we drove to the city of Suzhou. This was a 90 min drive north west of Shanghai. It is home to a total of 9 Unesco World Heritage sites. We spent the morning in the Humble Administrators Garden. It was great to see some traditional gardens that are protected so future generations can see. However it was the wrong time of year as you can see in the photos. Not much was blooming, but it was still a great experience.
Next we went to see some embroidery, very detailed stuff in a factory. Yes it was a canned part of the tour but I have a MUCH higher respect for the folks who can do that. Mad props. Some of them looked like paintings, but they are silk embroideries.
From there we took a ride on the Grand Canal. This was built the same time as the Great Wall. It has also been referred to as the Venice of the East. It was pretty cool to see a water way that was used way back as a North/South trade lane. Since all the rivers in China are East/West this was heavily used to transport people and goods to the northern capitals.
We are having a good time. Oliver made me laugh. In most non-US countries you tend to have lots of streets vendors. We have taught Oliver not to reach out and take the item. Usually if you touch it you own it. Oliver made me proud. He told all the vendors today “My Daddy told me No.” It was pretty funny!
Tonight we head north in the East China Sea, and then day after tomorrow we will be at port again for a whole new adventure.
I will be constantly updating our photo gallery at http://www.brian.net/brian/asia
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