Suzhou, a little bit of luxury in gentleness

Because of COVID-19, recent outbound tourism from the province has been scattered into parts from October last year to April this year, choosing to choose nearby Shanghai, or Wuxi, Shaoxing, or Hangzhou, all of which are Jiangnan. Some ancient towns including Dangkou, Anchang, and Xitang are also drawn. As Yu Dafu said: The scenery in Jiangnan is lovely everywhere. But we always feel that something is wrong, as if something is always missing? People with discerning eyes remind that there is heaven above, Suzhou and Hangzhou below, and Jiangnan without Suzhou, will it be Jiangnan?

In Suzhou, we made up the gap and prepared for three months, 06-20, 21, and 22. We spent three days eating three bowls of noodles (Yuxingji, Yu Miantang, and Songhe Noodle House), visiting three streets (Xietang Old Street, Shantang Street, Pingjiang Road), admiring three gardens (Humble Administrator's Garden, Lingering Garden, Canglang Pavilion), checking in three popular sites (Expressway G2 Yangcheng Lake Service Area, Eslite Bookstore, Suzhou Museum), making up for Suzhou's shortcomings.

D1, 06-20, Sunday, we set off early in the morning. Ping and I drove for 45 minutes to pick up Ting and Zhang on Yindu Road. At 7:45, the four of us had arrived at the G2 Expressway Yangcheng Lake service area, an Internet celebrity check-in place.

There are also small bridges and flowing water, and there are also white walls and black tiles. Time and space seem to have been wrong. In the service area, on one side are the bright lights of prosperous commercial sales, and on the other side is the tranquility and loneliness in the old brick and wood alleys. Looking back and forth, we took photos to retain the cornices of the water pavilion and the wall that sealed off the fire.

There weren't many tourists, so we relaxed and took a trip, but we didn't spend anything.

It is said to be the G2 Yangcheng Lake service area of the expressway, but in fact it is already in Suzhou, and adjacent to it is the Suzhou Industrial Park. The Jinji Lake Hotel where we are going to stay today is located on the bank of Dushu Lake in the park.

After getting on the bus, I felt a little thirsty. Zhang handed over a hot drink of American ginseng at the right time. After brewing with boiling water, there was still a little coolness in the entrance. After that, we took a section of Changtai Expressway and a section of Dushu Lake Avenue. We took several big and small turns in succession. At about 9:20, we arrived at Xietang Old Street. Our car parked at the west gate of the old street, next to Costa.

Xietang is the gateway to Suzhou. A Xietang River runs through from west to east. The downstream is Shanghai's mother river, Wusong River (Suzhou River). Once Shanghai was just a fishing village on the East China Sea. It was a trickle of Xietang all year round. It gradually nourished and civilized the local flavor of Shanghai and became the famous little Suzhou. Of course, Shanghai itself worked hard enough to go through the opening of ports and the war of the Taiping Rebellion, and finally turned around brilliantly and became the modern magic capital, Greater Shanghai, and the center of wealth gathering.

Nowadays, Xietang is filled with catering and cultural creations packaged in antique buildings. We paid attention to the landmark legends and circled our preferences: sitting and forgetting study room, this can be; Yujian Pond, this can also be; Yuxing Ji, this can be even more!

Sitting Wang Study is a renovated old house. It is not high, just on the second floor. It was originally thought to be a village school for children to learn about Chinese culture and liberal arts. There are three or two seats in the outside door. The wooden door and window lattice are used to enter the house. After opening, you can see the reality. It is a bookstore, fresh and elegant, and its cultural and creative layout can really calm people's hearts. You can meet friends with documents or entertain guests with tea. It's just that I didn't like the red lanterns hanging on the white walls around the courtyard, so I took my leave and turned to the Yujian Pond on the side.

At this moment, ping, ting and zhang are already in the garden. I am following. Although the Yujian Pond is small, there are no basic elements of Soviet-style gardening: red leaves and white lotus flowers, rockery and water, pavilions and pavilions, verandah trails. There are many scenery and subtle interests in the area. We each take what we need and give full play to ourselves.

Yuxingji, near the west gate of the old street, we went west. After a hundred steps, everyone entered the restaurant and sat around a table. The waiter recommended three shrimp noodles with shrimp seeds and shrimp brains, but we had our own ideas. Two red and two white soup heads, remember that ping is red soup Luohan Jing Su noodles, ting is red soup, double mushroom stewed bamboo shoots noodles, zhang is white soup, shrimp shredded pork noodles, I am Fengzhen meat noodles, white soup.

Suwen noodle soup is the favorite of Suzhou people. When we go to Rome, we do as the Romans do. The noodle soup is exquisite. The noodles are thin, soft and chewy. The soup is delicious. My Fengzhen meat should be rarely fresh and moderately salty. The big meat topping does not cross the bridge. It is laid on the back of the fine noodles in the white soup. The noodles swoosh down, and the meat is crispy in the mouth. The meat is exhausted, and there is not much left of the white soup. This soup is good soup! Meat, good meat! Noodles, good noodles!

We just ate noodles, but in fact we also ordered soup dumplings. This mouth was full of soup and the taste was a little sweet. Ting said that compared with Yuxingji, which joined in Shanghai, the taste here is better and the price is higher!

After having a full meal, there was more space for walking. From the Starbucks at the West Gate, we talked about coffee, crossed the Xietang River, and on the other side, we saw a sitting book store. We forgot to sit and did not stop. We walked east, a covered bridge under renovation. We crossed it until we reached the Tangka Art Museum, and then turned back to the parking lot.

At 10:30, we left Xietang Old Street. Our next destination was our residence, Jinji Lake Hotel. It's a very short distance and it takes less than half an hour to drive, but it takes a lot of time to check in. While waiting, I walked around the garden and took a few photos. A piece of good news was that the self-driving pass issued by the Suzhou Internet Service had been properly obtained.

The hotel is quite large, with its own Lotus Lake. The most beautiful scenery is smooth and open, and the innocence is sincere, except for green lotus and red flowers.

At 12:10, we officially checked in and drank a cup of Pu 'er. While resting, we were still searching the Internet for lunch food. We looked too much, and what we saw was Li Gongdi's Deyue Tower and Jiangnan Elegant Kitchen.

It is said that Ligong embankment is a long embankment in the lake on the south bank of Jinji Lake. It has a total length of 1400 meters. It was built by Li Chaoqiong, County Magistrate of Yuanhe during the Guangxu period. It is a shortcut for travelers to travel. It leaves Suzhou, enters Xietang, heads to Shanghai, and connects Suzhou and Shanghai. Because of the lake and embankment that are suitable for Suzhou gardening, merchants from all walks of life flock to it, and capital gathers to add icing on the cake, forming a leisure and commercial district integrating sightseeing, tourism, catering and entertainment.

We checked in. At 13:20, we parked in the parking lot of South Beauty, took a short walk on Hamani Road, Hamani Bridge. Outside the bridge, there is the Oriental Gate Big Shorts. Near the bridge is the gold medal restaurant Jiangnan Elegant Kitchen, and Jinji Lake. An independent villa.

I also had to take a number to wait for a seat. The number given by the waiter stated that there were four tables in front of me. Ping, ting and zhang were waiting in the lobby, and I went to park the car into Jiangnan Elegance Kitchen.

When I returned to the restaurant, ping, ting, and zhang were calm and leisurely, drinking tea. Looking at this attitude, they had to wait if they admitted it.

Finally it was our turn. It was already 13:45. The waiter who took us to the second floor, to a large private room with a lake view. This was our table.

We couldn't fascinate the recipes no matter how we ordered them. We chose squirrel mandarin fish, fried three shrimps, marinated handmade fragrant dried meat, boletus grass head, garden square cake, plus a handful of Suzhou soda.

Garden square cake was the first dish served at the table. Maybe the waiter felt that we were hungry and rushed up. Anyway, it was a small square cake. In the mouth, we ate jujube paste, pine nuts, and walnuts from it.

As a special dish, Squirrel Mandarin Fish is sour, sweet and crisp. As long as the ingredients are fresh, it will not feel too outrageous. Of course, the presentation must be careful. Five grapes seem too much for the Squirrel Mandarin Fish, which is obviously smaller. When we were eating, this crispy, which was crispy when serving, turned to mediocrity in the future. As for the auxiliary dishes, there are not many shrimps, and diced water bamboo rice bamboo plays too many roles. Naturally, there is no need for pine nuts and a beak on both sides. This is the squirrel mandarin fish that our Jiangnan Elegant Chef has eaten.

The stir-fried three shrimps are put on the stage at the right time, which slightly makes up for the shortcomings of the squirrel mandarin fish. The seasonal shrimps, shrimp seeds and shrimp brains are white and red, and are laid flat on the lotus leaves that open and close, which immediately has the local scenery of the Jiangnan water town. A sense of sight. How's the flavor? Delicate and delicious, with a sense of jealousy, with a taste of intoxication. Ping said, serve it quickly and eat it while it is hot, and the taste will be better when it is hot.

At 15:00, I stopped drinking cups and chopsticks. It should be the time to pay the bill. I declared that retirees did not compete, but the one who finally paid the bill was Zhang, a retiree. I think this new brother has a mine at home!

There is a photo of Jinji Lake left here, and the distant view is the Gate of the East:

Plan the future path: Ligong Causeway-Oriental Gate-Eslite Bookstore-Moonlight Wharf. The attractions are the same, all surrounded by Jinji Lake.

Starting, the first stop of the bus journey is Deyuelou Jinji Lake on Ligongdi Road. It is a moment of time. In this yellow plum season, the clouds are cracking in the middle of the sky. With such clear scenery, anyone would feel happy and happy. Ting and Zhang wandered to the lake-center pavilion where Ligong embankment juts towards Jinji Lake, while ping and I released the drone.

Jinji Lake has enough depth to accommodate us looking from the lake. We can even use the vision of drones to look west to big pants and south to look at Ligong embankment. Even if the Jinji Lake Tunnel Project is under construction in the lake, we can still see the gold and silver future that Suzhou is facing.

At 15:45, we drove to the second stop of the Eastern Gate. Parking was not difficult. We chose the Hubin Xintiandi in Chuiliu Lane. The city square near the lake is the most ideal place for us to look up at the Eastern Gate. Unfortunately, some landscapes can only be viewed from a distance and cannot be played with. The Eastern Gate, as a landmark, is just a footnote and chronology between Suzhou's old city and the industrial park. In the east, we have a low vision and cannot see the old city of Suzhou in the west.

The sun cleared up too brightly, so we hastily left a photo of our big pants and hid in the Starbucks nearby to escape the heat. Ping is latte, ting is American, I am a coffee Frappuccino, and only Zhang, a foreign species of coffee, brings his own mineral water.

The cafe is full of people and noisy. We drank coffee while admiring the photos we had taken. An old man entered through the door with a clicker. We were afraid of high-profile decibels, so we left Starbucks. It was about 17:15. Teenagers are not frivolous, middle-aged are not greasy, and old people are not hooligans. We follow the set goal and bless Eslite Bookstore and continue our own cultivation.

This is the scenery on the road. The Old North Gate Hotel at Moonlight Wharf was originally a scenic spot that passed by in a flash, but the driving instrument was quick and quick, and had super execution. It followed me to take photos and captured them immediately with the click.

The car stops in the underground parking garage of Eslite Bookstore, goes up the elevator, and reaches the B1 floor. This is where our Eslite Bookstore starts.

The so-called extraordinary places are extraordinary people, and in very funny places, there are very funny little sisters. Is this a bookstore? But this is indeed a bookstore. The once binary paradox has been unified at the singularity of Eslite Bookstore.

Eslite Life Collection: Dolls full of childlike interests, Planet Bear's Snapper Roasted Panda, play fake, gamble, you can blind box blessing bags, and you can put them accurately.

The atrium is big enough. Here, the platform supports Suzhou Arts and Crafts Academy, Shen Delong Embroidery, Suzhou Museum, Taohuawu Woodcut New Year paintings, and even POP Mart and Maokong have opened shop-in-shop. The place is strange and the brain is full of open. It is like entering a market, where Kyoto is top-notch, fan art and Su embroidery are full of cultural creativity, and we are overwhelmed.

If you want to rest for a while, Pintai, Zhu Hongxing Restaurant, New Chaozhou Cuisine, Luyang, and a variety of restaurants can be served at any time.

Eslite Bookstore has a total of four floors. Floor B1 is a trendy living area. The first floor is a style and aesthetics area. Above the first floor, there are long page ladders. 72 levels lead to the second and third floors. There are paths on the book mountain. Books build a ladder of human progress. This huge activity space, diverse book types, thinkers, and trendy players, each have their own places to read and play. Readers are like that, immersed in the sea of books. At most, the space of 4A paper is a spiritual home for introspection and watch; The traveler has me and follows the flow of people like a crucian carp crossing a river, wandering between books and non-books, going to the children's library area, and then to the humanistic vision area, the vast library of literature, history and philosophy.

I once deviated from the mainstream of ping, ting and zhang and found a different kind of love. It was a temporary relief, but this was just a moment of shock.

After reading vinyl records, gift packaging, art album, travel picture books, and in the bestseller list of literature, history and philosophy, I saw the appropriate "Genuine Scenery·Suzhou". It opened its shelves and spent a moment reading. An idea suddenly appeared, completely subverted the original deep impression of Suzhou's warmth: Suzhou, gentle and gentle, is a place for fighting for victory and courage. During the Spring and Autumn Period of Wu and Chu, they fight for hegemony. They use a cadre sword, a scene of farewell to Yu Ji, and disciples of Jiangdong. They either chase deer in the Central Plains, or wrap corpses in horses. Even in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, local chronicles recorded that "the people of Wu were good at using swords and died lightly." As an unchangeable genetic imprint, the reverence for martial arts has always been the blood and blood in the bones of Suzhou people. Until the Song Dynasty, when literati ruled the country, Fan Wenzheng established Suzhou Prefectural School here. Since the beginning, Wu School has flourished in culture and education, and talents have emerged in large numbers. The book "Authentic Scenery·Suzhou" is filled with pleasant words and fragrant with paper and ink! The pleasure of reading was the moment I swiped my card to buy it. I quickly and manually checked Jingdong Good Store, RMB 35.4, guaranteed authentic product. Did I buy a book? What I buy is feelings!

A friend asked: Why is it a bookstore again? Buying books again? There is nothing wrong with the heart of a literati. This is a knot in the heart, also known as the literati complex. It is easy to break the thief in the mountains, but difficult to break the thief in the heart. At this moment, I am lying on the ground, with a hundred grass mud horses racing in my heart. It is really it!

In the third-floor open-air square open to Eslite Bookstore, looking around the tall buildings around us, we do not feel inferior at all. We are wandering in the sea of books. It is the books, and Eslite Bookstore that gives us the ultimate experience of being tall. We passionately revised the statement of Wu Qingyou, an old friend of Eslite. We can not have too much money, but we can have space where Eslite has warmth.

Ping was like bathing in the gorgeous evening photos. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave either. I just thought that ting and Zhang were still wandering elsewhere. Forget it, I'd better meet first and unify the pace.

After leaving Eslite Bookstore, at about 18:45, we walked through the Northeast Gate on the first floor of the book ladder. There were large banners hanging above our heads recording some major events at a specific time, as well as famous quotes. What we remember is in the silent place, but one moment we listened to the thunder, the other moment it was the deep water. We wondered, Zhang was even more confused, so that he ignored Nini, the art sculpture rabbit beside him. The photo was taken at 21:15 after dinner at Moonlight Pier, our Eslite Bookstore revisited.

Along the southwest, the lakeside is the Moonlight Wharf Pedestrian Street on Jinji Lake. On the middle road, there is a sculpture of "Return" with a unique hole. In our eyes, this is clearly a true portrayal of Suzhou today, its own circle and iteration.

At this moment, in Jinji Lake, the water line overflows the embankment, and the big pants on the other side of the lake are anxiously waiting for the moment when the sky is dark and the colors change. It was still light and the night was late, and we were walking around the Moonlight Pier.

The bricks and tiles here have obviously been Europeanized, and the grid road made of bread and stone allows us to adjust our stride into comfortable small steps. It takes a little time to browse. There are not only fountains and sculptures on both sides, but also some connected corridors or independent third-and fourth-story small foreign-style buildings standing on the shores of Jinji Lake. It is very eye-catching. A winding waterway comes and brings a moment of coolness. When the bridge is crossed, the wind blows, neon lights are lit up in front of the camphor trees, a cone-shaped tower, and a shining moonlight dock with big books.

We turned to the lake, where the big pants were getting better and better. We were possessed and performed a complete set of makeup, face-changing, and shape-shifting techniques. We were treated as a saucer that only looked at a pannyscope, but we also responded and even didn't lose the lead. Use all-round P graphics.

At 19:30, Big Underpants was still playing, but we were discussing where to go for dinner. We were scenery visitors, and we were also people who worked. Wu Yue Rongji in front? A Soviet-style restaurant that is popular on the Internet, you can drop it!

The boss introduced the door and saw that the center of the store was decorated in the style of a Jiangnan water town, with the right bank facing the water and the left bank facing the window. We just wanted to sit comfortably and lean against the window to choose an empty seat.

White water fish, steamed; braised old goose, cooked in a pan; crab powder tofu, deep water; celery and lily, water spinach, home-cooked stir-fried; hollow hemp balls, fifteen moons and twenty rounds.

That's enough, people who want fish, geese, vegetables, snacks, and finally a bowl of Zhang's hand-ordered white rice.

It was delicious, old goose + fish. I just encountered an accident. I, who was far more ferocious than white water fish, was severely stabbed by a fish bone. I choked and coughed for a long time. As a last resort, I swallowed half of the bowl of rice dry!

In terms of proper rules, celery lily + water spinach. In fact, rules are equivalent to moderation, and moderation is mediocrity.

Marijuana balls attracted people's attention. Even Lan, who was lying flat in Shanghai, was shot deeply. The so-called Suzhou moon and Shanghai moon were full. You know, this was the result of our efforts. In the end, the boss had no choice but to transfer it from the second store. He put his index finger in front of his mouth, shh! Don't talk to outsiders!

Crab meal tofu is a hollow head and a bad review. One bowl turns into a vast ocean. There is no substantial thickening. They are all hooligans. The water is too deep! There is too much thunder!

We had a very hard meal. We filled holes every time we encountered lightning, dug for lightning, and always guarded against possible plots. After the meal at 21:00, there was still a lot left on the table.

Let's go. In the future, we will go to Eslite Bookstore again, pick up the car, and quickly rush back to Jinji Lake Hotel to rest after settling down.

2021.7.24