My Suzhou Trip: Left Feeling So Disappointed...
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Hello everyone! I just came back from a business trip in Suzhou, and managed to spend a few days exploring the city. Frankly speaking, I'm feeling a little disappointed.
These are all my genuine feelings, both positive and negative, with absolutely no bias!
I stayed in Suzhou for three days:
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Day 1: East Taihu Lake Suzhou Bay Resort (a relatively new lakeside area)
- Accommodation: Found an affordable lakeside homestay, less than 200 RMB per night! Being a weekday, there were fewer guests, and my landlord upgraded my room at no extra cost, awesome!
- Scenery: Got some amazing sunset shots, and felt my stay was well worth it!
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️Note! Small incident about accommodation: Although I thought the first day would be over happily, around 10 o'clock the next morning, my landlord kept urging me to check out! When I didn't make any move, he had the housecleaning staff enter my room to clean up! We were supposed to check out at noon 12! -
- I assumed it might have been due to my room upgrade offered free of charge, so I didn't say much about it. However, I would rather not receive any room upgrades than be treated like this….
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- The landlord later offered me a small red envelope (an apology gesture or goodwill in China) as compensation, but I refused. I was about to grab my takeout food and then leave, however, things went south as they started cleaning up rooms and I didn't want to stay around and disrupt them, so I had lunch hastily at the reception...
- Overall, this area by Dong Taihu Lake is very relaxing with fewer people, lined with cherry blossom trees, and quite a few modern skyscrapers. The design of the East Taihu Lake Museum is excellent, and every snap looks great!
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Next two days: Gusu District (Suzhou’s old town, where many famous gardens are located)
- Felt it was necessary to relocate to Gusu District to visit popular attractions.
- Yi Yuan (a classical garden): This garden is more extensive than I imagined and is quite interesting too. The rock garden (landscaped by stacking stones) is intricately designed, and I had to go back and forth several times; highly recommended!
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️ Caution: The Humble Administrator’s Garden (another incredibly famous garden):
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- Not much extraordinary flowers: there aren’t any particularly eye-catching flowers. Everyone is crowded around magnolias (a tree that produces big white or pink flowers in spring) taking crazy photos. But honestly, aren’t magnolias pretty common along Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai regions? We have a few trees in our school, so why do I need to wait in line to see it?
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- Too many visitors: even on a quiet weekday during off-peak season, I still couldn’t find a spot! Every nook and corner was jam-packed with people taking photos, and unintentionally getting into other people’s frames.
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- Shoddy photo-taking behavior: so many people in traditional Chinese attire, shooting wedding photos and professional photography teams occupied public spaces. It’s not like we don’t spend money to buy tickets to enter; why do we have to wait indefinitely for their photos?
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- Impolite visitors: some elderly visitors went ballistic if they found their photos being blocked, but what could I do with people everywhere around me? I was quite helpless about it...
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- Closed rock gardens: closed all the rock gardens for climbing, no trace of any fun experience...
- You Yuan (another classical garden): After visiting the Humble Administrator’s Garden, I headed over to You Yuan; I was exhausted by then and could barely walk down those stone paths, which were painful. Going downstairs was extra slippery too. I just strolled around aimlessly and vowed never to visit Suzhou gardens again!
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Jinji Lake (Suzhou’s futuristic new district) had quite a bit of criticism as well:
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️ Tips for Cycling/Walking around Jinji Lake:
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- Hardly any bike-sharing bicycles (the kind of bikes you can unlock with your phone): really rare and few in Suzhou! I had planned to ride around the lake starting from Jinhu Station, but couldn’t find any!
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- Heavy walking alert: finally forced me to trek all the way down to Times Square just to get a close-up shot at that notoriously big 'Jacket' building (local nickname for “Oriental Gate,” it’s shaped like pants), over 20,000 steps!
- That said, the night view along the Jinji Lake is genuinely beautiful.
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Hey everyone, I recommend visiting Beisi Pagoda, Yi Garden, Pingjiang Road, and the East Taihu Lake Resort area – fewer crowds and beautiful scenery. Qili Shantang has great night views, but it's way too commercialized and crowded. I'd definitely steer clear of Guanqian Street and the Humble Administrator's Garden. Next time I'm in Suzhou, I'll do more research to find some lesser-known gardens and spots. Locals, feel free to recommend some places!
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Honestly, Guanqian Street isn't really worth visiting unless you have childhood memories there. It's just like any other pedestrian street you can find anywhere. Now that there are so many modern shopping malls, these kinds of places (like Shilu) have lost their appeal. Most of the shops have changed, though there's one bookstore called 'Slow Bookstore' that I quite enjoy. If you want to shop, go for places like Suzhou Center or Tianjie. Eslite Spectrum is also great for browsing, and next to it is the older high-end mall, Jiuguang (though Jiuguang isn't great for shopping)... I feel like the most interesting parts of Suzhou are the hidden gems in the old alleyways and traditional shops in the old town. There's a Suzhou dialect channel on Bilibili called 'Chang Yuan Wu Jian' (Long Time No See); you can check out some of the old Suzhou customs and joys mentioned there.
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I've got one thing to say: you expect a bit too much from strangers.
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Maybe it's because I've always found people from the south to be easygoing.
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Another thing is the coldness of people in Suzhou, which I felt even more keenly than in Shanghai. I was at Qili Shantang when an auntie selling lanterns called me over. I thought I'd support her business and bought one. Then, a second auntie rushed up asking me to buy a fan. After I bought the fan and walked away, a third one chased after me trying to sell flowers, then a fourth... They saw I was an easy target and kept pestering just me. Every tourist spot in Suzhou has vendors like this who resort to aggressive sales tactics. I understand needing to do business, but getting a rude look after refusing is really unpleasant... I haven't experienced this kind of atmosphere elsewhere.
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Which city are you from? I was taught by my parents since I was young not to randomly accept things from others without their permission. What you see as 'coldness' seems like good manners to me. Except for the person who didn't say thank you after taking it; normally, one should say thank you. Or perhaps they were just too surprised by your gesture to react.
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The gardens are so crowded nowadays. It's frustrating to see so many people. When I was a kid, the gardens were practically empty, incredibly beautiful, and you could even climb and explore the rockeries. So my earliest impression of the gardens was that they were both beautiful and fun. Now, don't even get me started – the moment I see a long queue at the entrance, I just turn around and leave.
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Help! Where are the fun rockeries? [facepalm] I really need to find some.
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Thanks for the reply.
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A Suzhou local here to tell you: the things you encountered do happen, but the people involved were likely not locals. Suzhou is a tourist city, and it's packed this season, which affects how you see the city. Suzhou is beautiful; you need to stay for a few days, slow down, wander into the old town, have breakfast, listen to Pingtan storytelling, and stroll through the small alleys. Many gardens in Suzhou don't require an entrance fee and are beautiful with fewer people. Hope you can come back to Suzhou for a leisurely visit.
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Thank you, I absolutely love Suzhou Pingtan. I'll leave some things to look forward to and enjoy next time.
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When I first came to Suzhou, I felt that people here were quite fierce. When I complained to my Suzhou friend, I said, 'The cleaning lady was so fierce.' My friend replied, 'She's not from Suzhou.' I said, 'The auntie selling things was also fierce.' Friend: 'She's not from Suzhou.' I said, 'The taxi driver was also fierce, he kept scolding us when the GPS led us wrong.' Friend: 'He's not from Suzhou.' Me: '???'. Friend: 'People from Xiangcheng are Xiangcheng people, people from Wuzhong are Wuzhong people. Some from Gusu are old Suzhou natives. They're not all 'Suzhou people'.'
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People from Jiangsu have always been rather indifferent; they're quite united on this point, and they're not ashamed of it, but rather proud.
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I've definitely felt this. They can be extremely snobbish. You have to dress well to get good service.
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When visiting the gardens, it's a good idea to hire a guide to understand the stories behind them and the clever design details; it makes it much more interesting.
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I didn't specifically look for one because time was limited. I'll try next time.
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Your planning is a bit off. Just a friendly reminder, from Times Square, it's only 2 subway stops to the Gate to the East. You can also walk there along the Jinji Lake trail, or even take a boat.
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I walked the Jinji Lake trail; it seemed like there were no boats at night.