A quaint little Tongli

Tongli is easily accessible from Suzhou, an easy option to see one of the canal towns around Suzhou. I took a bus back from the Humble Administrator's Garden to Suzhou bus station, which is just outside of Suzhou train station. Buses to Tongli depart Suzhou bus station via the long distance bus station.

Bus ticket inclusive of entrance fee to Tongli Old Town costs RMB 80 for two days (the day I arrived and the day after). This entrance fees includes admissions to the exhibition houses around this little town. Of course, I read somewhere that if you enter after 5 pm, entrance fee no longer required if you just want to walk around the old town. There is also an alternate entrance somewhere but of course there are separate checks for each attraction entrances. RMB 80 is not cheap, a local who took the same bus as me (he got off the bus before Tongli) also commented that it is expensive, so I tried to make the most of the exhibition houses. *kiasu-ism at work*

Bus from Suzhou to Tongli takes about 30 minutes, and stopped in Tongli bus station. The bus station is not inside Tongli old town, one can take a shuttle to the old town but it is about 20-30 minutes walk away. Please be mindful not to travel with the touts hanging around the bus station. I didn't see any shuttle upon my arrival, and I avoid haggling if I can, so I made my way there walking. It really isn't that far away.

Walking to Tongli Old Town

Tongli is an old but well preserved water township with more than 1,000 years history. Once you crossed the archway to this canal town, there are many shops selling pork knuckles and some asian cake/biscuit. Those pork knuckles are big, and not something in the line of food I like, so I didn't get any, didn't want to throw it away if I don't like it. I tried some of the biscuits though.

I get one each

This was the hidden one on the photo above

The elongated one is 袜底酥 (wa ti su), literally translated as 'bottom of socks' flaky biscuit. So named due to the shape of the biscuit. The round one is 退思饼 (tui si bing), not sure if it is associated with the Tui Si Garden, a famed classical garden in Tongli. The elongated one taste has some salty taste to it while the round one is like regular biscuit, on the sweet side but just mild. Not overly sweet. This last one, with sesame seeds on top, is 松子枣泥饼 (I translate it as Pine Nut Jujube/Date paste biscuit). The paste is like what one finds it mooncake. The strange thing with food in China, they taste ok in China but the one packet I bought home tasted different, somehow subpar compared to the one I had in Tongli.

I checked in to Jingyitang which I booked after asking Paul for his recommendation. After much contemplation, I decided to only get the standard room due to cost as I was traveling solo. He wrote a good review of the hotel here. By the time I reached Tongli and ready for a stroll, most day trippers have already left, or on their way to the bus station. I visited one of the preserved traditional residences, 耕乐堂 (Gengle Tang, Gengle Hall). Gengle Hall once owned by a Ming Dynasty nobleman.

A leisure stroll around this little township, I can see how it would be a nice short weekend getaway.

On my stroll, I found two different shops with similar concept - sending mail/postcard cum cafe.

Maybe I shouldn't use the word found as they are easily noticeable. The reason why one of the shop caught my eye the in the first place was because of the shop's name. In English, it is just simply - Momi Cafe, but the mandarin name, 猫的天空之城 (my direct translation as: Cat's Castle in the Air) reminded me of Studio Ghibli's movies - The Cat Returns and Laputa. I checked out the shop, just because of the name. Haha, I'm so gullible like that.

It has nothing to do with the water canal township, but it's a cute little shop selling postcards and help to post them out at a cost. So technically, you could write to yourself and set a receive date that you wish. I didn't post any, but got a couple of postcards.

Dinner was one of the supposedly famed 3 dishes of Lake Tai (太湖). The eateries has similar menu, and one of them would be 太湖三白 (Taihu san bai, or Three Whites of Lake Tai) referring to 白鱼 (white fish), 银鱼 (silver shrimps, this refers to whitebait) and 白虾 (white shrimps). I had the simple stir fry eggs with whitebait and soup for a cold night.

After a night stroll to walk off the food, the portion was quite big and I stuffed it all down myself. I called it a night and aimed to wake up early to enjoy a quiet morning before it got busy again. :)

Side note: One week in Kansai... should I, shouldn't I, should I, shouldn't I? *pull hair*