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At the end of Ping Jiang Lu is a big modern street heading east towards the new business district.
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The Twin Pagodas are 7 storeys tall each and are believed to date back a 1000 years. You can't climb the towers, so the admission fee is to only enjoy the small gardens that wrap around them. A huge wall makes them almost invisible from the outside.
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My main objective
for Suzhou was to visit the gardens. I arrived at the Temple of Mystery and
pondered whether the 10 yuan admission would be good value for money since it
was just one building that didn’t look particularly interesting or different
from other Chinese temples. In the end, I opted to look from the outside and
walked around the market street that surrounds the temple, which now sells
mostly tourist gadgets.
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The
Lingering Garden also has rock formations to mimick artificial mountains, but
on a much smaller scale than Lion’s Grove. Perhaps it was later in the
afternoon and the tour groups have left Suzhou already, so I got some more
peace and tranquility that rightfully belongs to any garden.
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With tired feet, I headed to the bus stop and searched for a route that would take me to
the Blue Wave Pavilion further down the main thoroughfare. It was a quick trip but
the 2 yuan was well spent. The Blue Wave Pavilion is the oldest existing garden
in the city, dating back to the Song Dynasty some 900 years ago. The design is
simple, with lots of greenery to shade the paths.
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Ruigang Ta
is a 37m-high pagoda in the southwestern part of the old city. With a steep
admission of 40 yuan plus 6 more to ascend, I opted not to get ripped off. I was
quite satisfied with the views earlier that day from the North Temple Pagoda.
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Nearby, the
city walls are still visible fronting the canal that surrounds the old city.
However, plenty of construction is now happening on the other side of the bank,
which renders Pan Men, which was once a water gate and fortress, inaccessible.
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It was a 30
minute bus ride from just outside the southern end of the old city back to the
main railway station. I had just enough time to find my bearings for my 1820
train back to Shanghai. It was not easy to find my train, as there were 2
departure floors and the main signboard apparently only showed departures on
the first floor, while 2nd floor departures were displayed on small
monitors off to the side.
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