A 24-hour stopover in Suzhou allowed enough time to visit Jinji Lake and Pingjiang Road, but rainy weather deterred us from visiting the classical gardens.
On our 26-day journey, we only scheduled 24 hours in Suzhou. The city is on the main train line between Beijing to Shanghai — actually only an hour east of Shanghai. We arrived at Suzhou North Railway Station, and had a long taxi ride to our hotel west of the Jinghang Canal. Thus gave us an experience of suburban Suzhou, with Yushan Lu station nearby the shopping mall.
With Jinji Lake a destination sight, we rode the not-very-busy subway at rush hour through the city centre to the east side at Dongfang Zhimen (Gate of the Orient) station. The building outside that subway stop looked to be a concert hall with no performances that day.
Jinji (Golden Rooster) Lake is manmade. Knowing that, the concrete shore is less surprising.
After dinner, we walked along the shore in the dark. Vendors featured lit-up toys.
Looking westward, the higher buildings in central Suzhou were prominent.
