苏州／Suzhou

征服了黄山，下一站就是“天堂”的另一半，即苏州。坦白说，杭州虽然不错，但除了西湖之外，对我而言就没有太多的吸引人之处，因此对于苏州就没有抱太大的希望，以为它应该就是与杭州一样是另一个普通城市。但结果我以为错了，苏州其实比杭州更有魅力。
After conquering Huangshan, the next stop is the other famous half of Jiangnan, i.e. Suzhou. Frankly speaking, although Hangzhou was a nice city, but other than West Lake, it was not much of an attraction for me. As such, I had no high hopes on the beauty of Suzhou. I must say, it turned out to be way nicer than I expected.

一起征服黄山的“小黑团”中的其中两人冬梅和李跃正好也计划到苏州去玩，于是游说了她们一起上路。通过青年旅舍定的长途汽车原来不是公家的，而是私家的，结果居然出现了人比座位多的情况。上车的时候已经没有位子坐了，好在司机和助理会做人，告诉几个临时上车的当地人，我们是游客，而且早就订好车票，他们这些临时上车的必须让位子给我们，我们才免了一个不愉快的六小时车程。不过因为不是公家车，一到了苏州就随便找一个地方让我们下车，结果害我们无法搭到正确的公车，费了好大的功夫才终于到达落脚的地方。
Two of the girls from “Little Blackie’s tour group” had included Suzhou as part of their itinerary. I managed to persuade them to tour Suzhou together and then head for Hangzhou, instead of doing Hangzhou first, then Suzhou as they had originally planned. We booked the bus tickets through the youth hostel, only to discover to our dismay that it was a private bus, instead of the government run ones. As it turned out, there were more people than seats. But the bus driver and assistant had the sense to tell those who got on the bus without buying tickets in advance, that we three were tourists and had pre-booked our tickets, and made them gave up their seats to us and sit on the floor instead, sparing us six hours of uncomfortable ride. Still, it was unpleasant towards the end as the bus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere instead of the bus terminal, causing us much distress before we finally found our youth hostel.

入住的青年旅舍坐落在保护区内，是个从祖传屋子改良的旅舍。地方不大，也没有几个职员，但却非常有味道，也很有亲切感，是到目前为止最温馨的一家青年旅舍。因为是保护区，旅舍附近都是一些老房子和老街道。旅舍门外就有一条河，还有船只让游客乘坐观赏老街的风景。在天气炎热的下午，在河边这样地闲逛真的是很不错的感觉。
It was a very nice hostel that greeted us. It was located in the protected area; hence it was surrounded by lots of old buildings, with the youth hostel itself being the ancestral home of the hostel owners. It was a small hostel, with only one full time staff and two temp staff, but it emits a real cosy atmosphere. Without doubt, it is the most homely youth hostel I’ve stayed in so far. Right outside the hostel was a small river, with tourists taking boat rides up and down it. It was really nice to stroll along the river, taking in the old streets and buildings on a warm afternoon.苏州因为有很多花园而出名，可是这些都要收入门费，而门票又不便宜，所以我们就没有进去参观，就只在花园外拍照留念。之后我们就到苏州的购物区晃晃。就像其他中国城市的购物区一样，尽是大大小小的商店，五彩缤纷的霓红等招牌。当然，这些霓红灯也出现在小河边。
Suzhou is considered one of the top tourist spots in China mainly due to its many beautiful gardens. But you have to pay entrance fees to enter these gardens and entrance fees are not cheap. Hence, we satisfy our touristy urges by taking pictures outside the gardens. After that, we took a walk in the main shopping district. As all shopping districts in China go, you see shops of all kinds here, with the colourful neon lights lit signboards and all. Of course, it goes without saying that the river beside the shopping district is also lit up with neon lights. 走回旅舍的途中，我们还发现了一个像足了古代怡红院的房子。　　～伟
On the way back to the hostel, we discover a building with bright red lanterns hanging outside it, resembling the high class whore house in olden days. 　　～wei