Water, water everywhere.

Stone bridges crossed and causeways lined the canals, which themselves split into a labyrinthine series of waterways separating some very interesting architecture.

A Word From Our Sponsor, Baked LoL's.

With exciting flavours like 'Italian Meatball', 'Hot & Sour Fish Soup', and even 'Blueberry', who could resist stockpiling a few bags of tasty Lay's Chips? Certainly not sihing Mike (below). 'Barbecue Chicken' is not what you would expect it to taste like as all of the snacks here have been 'adjusted' for distinctly Asian tastes. Now that I think about it, I wonder how disgusting or terrific our friends in China would find 'Sour Cream n Onion' or 'Dill Pickle' chips.

Grand Canal Boat Tour - Suzhou, China

Next up on our exciting tour-de-force was a trip by boat through the Grand Canals of Suzhou. Narrow waterways and ancient stone bridgework marked the beginning of a historical passage. Long ago, dignitaries, merchants and nobles alike traveled these waters in boats of similar make and now we were to do the same.

(Below) One oar? Really? Hahaha, our boatman had no problem manouevering the sturdy craft along the narrow canals though (years of experience), although we did spook him a couple times getting off the boat quickly in certain spots. He thought we were going to fall in, not knowing we were Chiu Lau's students and thus more nimble than that. ;)

All your ducks in a row.

At one of many toll-booths along our route, I sat up from my slouched, headphone-lovin', man-i'd-love-to-sleep position at the back of the bus and saw this. Bound for a plate of Peking duck perhaps? All sorts of livestock; pigs, ducks, etc. could be seen on our journey in a similar state of transport. It looks uncomfortable but you can be certain this stack of dinner isn't long for the road as their destiny lies on a dish.

Kung-fu is in everything...

Who needs scaffolding when you have Kung-Fu? These guys had no problem. Balanced precariously and still working like it aint no thang, lol. I hung my head out the bus window as we left  the tea plantation, photographed the scene and marveled at the ingenuity (that is what's going on here right? ...ingenuity? ;) ).

 Workers Compensation Board in Canada would have a field day with this place, but somehow I doubt there has even been one accident on this site as workers strolled casually and confidently across walkways no thicker than a child's wrist.

The Tea Plantation, cont'd...

As we entered the plantation complex, the first image to greet us was the golden statue you see below, nestled in the center of a beautifully landscaped courtyard.

(Below) An ornate and massive teapot. One can only imagine where this may have been used to serve tea at one time or another...or perhaps simply for decoration. Either way, it was interesting and I photographed it.

(Below) The nice ladies at the tea plantation show us an amazing technique for packing a very large amount of tea into a much smaller canister. After a brief tea ceremony in which we learned not only some history and cultural details surrounding this magnificent beverage, but also proper serving and flavouring ot the tea itself using added natural ingredients such as dried hawthorn berries and orange peels. One for sweet, one for slightly bitter and aromatic in this case. We indulged of course and several people picked up 1 or more canisters of the finest grade Dragon Well Green Tea we could buy. After all, and here's the bad news folks; they do not export the first flush grade-A tea, for any except the emperor (at the time) and for political dignitaries and such. Even within China, supplies of the tea are in limited quantity. Henceforth, we stocked up. ;)