Night Cruise

 A couple of weeks ago, Kathy Hansen and I were invited to go for a night-time boat ride around Suzhou.  Kathy, if you remember, was visiting on a business trip from Indianapolis.  The invitation came from a couple of Suzhou colleagues - Jessie and Sherry.  Jessie, you may remember, had a wedding back in February.  Sherry has been my Chinese Guardian Angel...she brought me a hat and gloves when she thought it was too cold for me and brought me tea when she thought I was getting sick.

The old city of Suzhou is shaped like a knobby rectangle surrounded by a combination of river,canal, and moat.  In the old times, this waterway (along with the city walls that ran all around the inner banks) provided a formidable defense for the residents..  Today, the waterway is dotted by remnants of the wall on the city-side and flanked with parks along the outer perimeter. On this night, we took one of the many tourist boats that tours the West, South, and East sides of the city.

 The boat left at dusk.  The city lights were on full display and the views were quite nice.  Unfortunately, its not easy to get good photos when it's dark and your on a pitching, rolling motor boat.   Above and below are a couple of photos that came out looking ok....a bit like impressionist paintings, I think.

 Below is a photo of Jessie (at left), Kathy, and Sherry.   Our boat is in the background.