Our October “holiday” didn’t turn out to be as eventful as I had hoped. There was some odd problem with our bank, and lo-and-behold, nobody at the school was paid … until the day before school started back up again. Needless to say, I was a little miffed, but …
Siobhan, Stu and I made the best of it though and got in some good exploring of Suzhou. We took a long stroll around the city, following the main canal that borders the city center, and visiting many gardens along the way. Its a bustling city with a long history and I’ve still got much to see there, and many museums to visit.
Did you check those out? You back? Okay, here is something real pretty.
One of my favorite places was the Northern Buddhist Tower. A little temple area located and preserved nicely within the city, it was a nice place to relax and take in a little beauty.
It was well maintained, and naturally, a bit of a tourist trap. But, you could go all the way up the giant pagoda you see here, giving you a wonderful view of the city and surrounding landscape, err, more city.
Happy Buddha.
Climbing, a nice view of the temple grounds below and city behind.
Higher.
Watch out!
Higher still.
Made it to the top! I don’t know what this look is about.
Views of the endless cityscape.
“Nuclear pagoda.”
Twilight visions. (… or, a polarized view through my sunglasses.)
After making our descent, we checked out the rest of the temple grounds.
Giant black frog.
Serious Mama Coy. Two feet long.
If they don’t pay you, at least you could cook up some of those huge black frogs for frog legs
With some help from Bucky I finally can send you a note. It has been fun and most interesting reading about your adventures and looking at the pic’s (they are great). I hope you can keep this up for the whole year. I think I need to get a good map of China so I can understand just where you are. Or maybe I just need to get with Google maps.
Mike (and kids) are coming home for Christmas and should be here for 10 days, so the olde phart is happy as is the Grandma.
That’s all for now.
Take care Nate.
luv ya
The adventure continues! Thanks for the pictures dude. I hope China is still as exhilarating, and you still have that crazy feeling of “whoa, I am in another country, the subtle differences are making my senses buzz” – I say this because looking at your pictures I can almost feel it seeping through! Stay cool my friend.
Z
Nathan! I’m so glad I got the word on your blog…gorgeous photos! I’m going to read more of your entries now, but wanted to comment and send you my love…
Em