Suzhou

Suzhou is known best for its gardens, pagoda, and river canals that flow from the Yangpu river. The canal forms a square moat around the town and is nicknamed the "Venice of China" or "Venice of the East".

Suzhou is located about 100km away from Shanghai and is easily accessible by train. For students studying at Fudan, the office to purchase a ticket to Suzhou can be found on Handan/Guoding Road which is just a block or 2 away from Guanghaulou.

Alternatively you can go to the Shanghai Railway Station which is just 4 stops away from People Square. If you don't like dealing with people/teller, you can use the vending machines to get your ticket, just make sure you buy the right ticket.



(1) Ticket Office (2) Inside the Train, TIP* you can rotate the chair so that the chairs in front can face you!!

TIP**: Try not to buy tickets from the place between 11.30 and 12.30 because thats when everybody is on their lunch break and lines can be pretty long.
Plan your trip in advance because tickets do sell out very quickly, espacially when public holidays are close

Travel time from Jiang Wan Stadium to the Railway station takes about 45 minutes.

Items to bring
Passport or 300yuan for bicycle deposit
Student card for discounts
Cameras!

Tour or Cycle?
Once you get off the train, you'll be greeted by dozens of of tour guides trying to push their services onto you. If you can't speak Mandarin, they'll drag you to their stall and get their laoban to speak to you in English.


Some Examples

Mao Tze Dong's cultural revolution combined with years of street sales have made these people really thick in the head and oblivious to EQ. This behaviour is even more apparent if you have caucasian travel buddies.

Though don't be quick to brush off the tour even though it looks and smells like a con because it can be pretty good value for money. Consider this for 150yuan (or 125? I can't recall) you get a van ride to 7 different locations in Suzhou and entry into all locations up until 6pm. If I am not mistaken you get commentary as well.

Alternatively, you could choose to cycle around Suzhou which can be more fun than a guided tour.

TIP**: Plenty of people sell maps, you can get it for about 2yuan, no English ones to be found though. We used to maps to help us get to Yu Yuan and Beisi Pagoda, everything else was found by random luck.

To get to the city. Don't go to cab drivers. Take a bus
Cabbies aren't very honest as one of them told us nonsense like how you need a license to ride a bicycle. He went to insist that he takes us somewhere else because the places we wanted to go to were packed despite us telling him that we don't really care and just want to be taken to the bicycle rental store. At least he was "kind" enough to tell us which bus to take.


(1) Bus stop pay 2yuan or use Metro Card (2) Bike sign (3) Buzz the guy (4) Bicycle Gang

Hop onto Bus 1 and get off at Renmin Road between the Beisi Pagoda and Silk Museum. Look out for the Bike Rental Sign as you travel along Renmin Road as you might have to backtrack a little bit as the bus stops a little ahead of the rental store.

**NOTE** Bicycle rental is 20yuan till 6pm BUT there is a deposit of 300yuan PER bike or 1 passport for all bikes. If you had not brought enough money, there is a Bank of China just opposite to the pagoda.

AGAIN Sounds, looks, and seems dodgy but we went ahead anyway because we really wanted to cycle!! (He did give us back our 300yuan without any hassle even though i broke his pedal.......)

**WARNING** if you are a bad cyclist or get nervous easily,
DO NOT CYCLE, it is not for the faint-hearted as the sheer number of cars, pedestrians, electric scooters/bicycles, motorcycles, and other bicycles can be quite frightening.

When you cycle be sure to stick to the bicycle lanes (unless you are confident),
Cycle in a single file,
Check your back when turning
Keep to the right if you are not over taking or aren't going very fast.

**BE VERY ALERT OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS,
just because the light is green it does not mean you should cross.
If in doubt, always shield yourself with a chinese biker; at least the car will hit them first.

Follow these rules and you'll find biking in Suzhou a rewarding experience .

Places we stumbled into.
Beisi Pagoda (15yuan for student 25 for non)



Yu Yuan Gardens (70yuan no discounts)



River and Canal Photos



Random Sights


(1) Stinky Tofu, really bad smell...(2) Face Clay Sculpturing (3) Steps at YuYuan (4) Porn Store LoL

Words for the day

自行车 zixingche bicycle
地图 ditu map
小心 xiao xin becareful
快点 kuai tian hurry up
下车/上车 disembark/embark car

Up coming stories,
stay tuned by clicking on FOLLOW on the right!
WORLD EXPO!!
Fake Market at Nanjing
Handy Websites
Useful Information