Today was a beautiful day in Suzhou with bright sunshine and temperatures in the 50's. After lunch, Kathleen left for an urgent gel nail application appointment, Juliana went to a birthday party in the neighborhood, and the boys took off to play with their friends. That left Maria and I to roll out the canoe and head for the open water.
Today's destination was Dushu Lake, the lake adjacent and just south of Jinji Lake. From our dock at Jin Shui Wan, it was nearly an hour of paddling (me paddling forward and Maria paddling backward). We took the southbound canal out of Jinji Hu, underneath three overpasses, through one bamboo barrier, and finally to the open water of Dushu Lake. Dushu is much less developed than Jinji Lake, but there is a brand new, huge Kempinski hotel that opened up recently which we hear has a golf club with a $100,000 (USD) initiation fee !
Like everything in China, there are many contrasts of the old and the new. On properties adjacent to the Kempinski golf course, there are people farming the land and living along the canals with very basic shelters and no utilities.
Maria and I brought along a snack which we tried to enjoy alongside the golf course but were attacked by some swarming bugs which are apparently driven into a frenzy by the smell of graham crackers and gummy bears. We headed back out to sea, passed by the shores of Dushu University and speculated about what geodesic dome on a pedestal in the middle of the lake could be - maybe a weather radar station ?
We ended up spending most of the afternoon in the boat and were returning near sunset. I caught this nice shot at sunset of a typical Suzhou work boat on the lake.
Today's destination was Dushu Lake, the lake adjacent and just south of Jinji Lake. From our dock at Jin Shui Wan, it was nearly an hour of paddling (me paddling forward and Maria paddling backward). We took the southbound canal out of Jinji Hu, underneath three overpasses, through one bamboo barrier, and finally to the open water of Dushu Lake. Dushu is much less developed than Jinji Lake, but there is a brand new, huge Kempinski hotel that opened up recently which we hear has a golf club with a $100,000 (USD) initiation fee !
Like everything in China, there are many contrasts of the old and the new. On properties adjacent to the Kempinski golf course, there are people farming the land and living along the canals with very basic shelters and no utilities.
Maria and I brought along a snack which we tried to enjoy alongside the golf course but were attacked by some swarming bugs which are apparently driven into a frenzy by the smell of graham crackers and gummy bears. We headed back out to sea, passed by the shores of Dushu University and speculated about what geodesic dome on a pedestal in the middle of the lake could be - maybe a weather radar station ?
We ended up spending most of the afternoon in the boat and were returning near sunset. I caught this nice shot at sunset of a typical Suzhou work boat on the lake.
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