THE HILLMAN 2013 ASIAN ADVENTURE
100s of Photos Documenting a 6-week tour of
Malaysia ~ Singapore ~ Thailand ~ China
Section II: China
www.hillmanweb.com/china2013/china28.html
Photos by Bill and Sue-On
Captions by Sue-On (expanded from our FaceBook pages)
.
Gallery 28: Suzhou: Venice of the East ~ II
Boat Tour of the Grand Canal in Suzhou
.
Click for full-screen images

A great view of arched cross-overs from the back of our tour boat.

A kiosk?! Would they be selling products "Made in China"?

Laundry hang side by side with good luck couplets around the door.

Canal boats full of tourists must be so common that locals don't even look.

But, perhaps even locals play the tourist in the rain.

All along this stretch of the canal are various businesses,  mostly bars, tea houses, and restaurants.

There may even have been souvenir shops!

The giant opera masks add splashes of colour to the rustic shades of the buildings. In the olden days, warriors painted their faces thus, to frighten their enemies.  Today, there are performers who are experts in  "changing face" with split second undetectable movements.  They wear masks such as these.

As the rain had slowed to a mist, some of our group,  the non-Chinese, went onto the back deck of the boat to have a better view.  This apparently brought about some curious stares ;-)

The graceful sweep of the oriental roof line.

Lunch or break time, and men folk and police officers enjoying a smoke or tea...

Going through another archway / cross-over,  into more of a residential area.

Being residential, there are no "landings" as with the businesses along the canal.

Our pilot - forever watchful of the sides of the buildings.

The houses are build right adjacent to the water.  No wonder Suzhou is called the Venice of the East.

The co-pilot endured the rain at the back of the boat.

The steps leading down to the water's edge.  In the old days, perhaps the housewife did her washing up on the bottom step... Or used a small dingy as transport before cars and scooters?

The laundry and drying fish!  Notice the satellite dish beside the plants.

The suspended greenhouse

.

Miss Suzhou Opera did two performances. Being musicians, we had to have a picture with a kindred spirit.

The pipa is plucked by two finger wearing picks  while the other three fingers are used for a "flourish" or a chord.

A statue along the bank of the canal.

Our tour is at the end, heading back to the dock.

Like little ducks all in a row, waiting for the next tour group!

Miss Maggie led us back to the bus and onto  the next segment of the tour in Suzhou -  Garden of Master of Nets.

.
BACK TO CHINA CONTENTS

Hundreds of Photos with Captions

CHINA	MALAYSIA / SINGAPORE

..



.
Web Design:  Bill Hillman
Bill and Sue-On Hillman Eclectic Studio
hillmanweb.com
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada