Saturday 14th October 2017

Reach for the Sky In total contrast to the old part of Suzhou, with its tranquil gardens, canals and narrow, winding streets, the modern part of the city seems to reaching for the sky, with skyscrapers going up at an astonishing rate. I took the bus from my accommodation to the modern city centre (a journey that costs the princely sum of 1 Yuan; about 10 pence), and then walked most of the way back, curving along the western shore of Jinji Lake. From the wildlife point of view, there was little to be seen, other than a few egrets, and a number of skipper butterflies nectaring in the flowers of a shrub whose flowers look like hollyhock, but which appears much more bushy than that.