My first bus ride (on my own that is) .

Today I decided to discover a little more of Suzhou, but this time on the bus. This is what a unairconditioned bus looks like. There is a scenic spot in the Northern end of Suzhou called Tiger Hill which would take hours to walk to, so I decided to try taking a bus. The map I have of Suzhou shows the bus numbers on the streets they follow, but there are so many buses that it seemed impossible to find a proper route. Luckily there is a bus station close to Tiger Hill, so I checked the numbers and then started searching for those numbers near my house. I found one- #2 (I don't think it's actually just the #2 bus and there is some strange Chinese character before the 2).

I found a stop near my house (actually it's quite a walk, but its the closest one I could find) and got on the bus (it's only 20 cents, so I can ride it as many times as I want).

There is a Shell along the way.

This is only the 2nd gas station I have seen in Suzhou. Since most people use scooters (which get plugged in and charged for power), gas is not as integral as it is in North America.

Before I knew it I was at Tiger Hill....but I didn't actually go in.

This is the pagoda at Tiger Hill.

Instead of going into Tiger Hill I wandered around the area, which is a very old one. In fact, I walked down a street called Shantang Jie (street) which played an integral part in the development of Suzhou during the Tang Dynasty (618–906 AD), when a poet who was perfectorial governor organized people to dig canals and build road to connect Tiger Hill with Suzhou.

Shantang is a very old street that runs along a canal and houses several wonderful bridges, while giving you a feel for the real Suzhou complete with houses, people and food.

This is another piece of mystery food. I don't know what it's called, but I watched it being made. It is 2 pieces of tiangular shaped dough, deep fried with rice inside. It was a little greasy, but it did taste yummy.

There were a lot of children on Shantang, which is a good time for me to talk about children in Suzhou--particularly toddlers.

Now I am not judging, things seem to work out and I haven't seen anything yucky, but it you look closely you can see a little tanned bum here. Many of the toddlers in China do not wear diapers. Diapers are sold at the stores and the wealthier families do purchase them, but many toddlers simply run around in pants with slits in the crotch. None of us have seen anything in action, but we assume that when nature calls, the toddler simply sqauts down and does the business. (We have also not seen anything yucky in the streets, so presumably this gets cleaned up by the parents as would anything left by a pet in North America.)

You can even see a little bum peaking out here.

Regardless of how they do their business, they are still super cute kids!