“Did you know Wuxi’s only 10 minutes away on the fast train?”

My friend, 9 months into me living in Changzhou, Jiangsu.

If you’ve read my about page, you’ll know that I lived in Changzhou in my first year of living in China. Nanjing, Wuxi and Suzhou were all neighbouring cities taking 10-45 minutes to reach on China’s swift bullet trains. But something I am (and I can only assume many others are) guilty of is putting off exploring what’s right at our doorsteps because, you know, “I can go there whenever.”

We had discussed visiting Wuxi plenty of times and finally, one bored weekend, my friend pitched jumping on the fast train and spending the afternoon there. We didn’t even sit down on the train it was that near! I felt a little ashamed I hadn’t done so before.

Arriving at Wuxi Railway Station, the walk to Nanchang Pedestrian Street was just under 4km. We caught a glimpse of the city and soon saw the famous canal homes. Not to sound pessimistic, but having lived in China for four years and seeing many big and small cities, you can’t help but note that Chinese residential architecture isn’t anything to write home about. It’s grey, usually an unimpressive shape and pretty dreary.

So when coming into Wuxi from Changzhou, the city itself closely resembled the one we just came from. I guess the rule of thumb in (most of) China is not to expect the cities to take your breath away, except maybe places like Shanghai, but to go beyond them for the magical scenery.

I had heard that Jiangsu was considered the Venice of the East and was very curious to see how much this part of the province resembled the Italian city I’d visited so long ago. Now I can’t say that it has the same beauty to it, but this is definitely a little gem with a pleasant vibe to it.

Nanchang Street had a relaxed aura to it, so we took that on board and strolled through the alleyways in no rush. We found a restaurant with a decent looking foreign menu (a delicacy when you live basically anywhere that isn’t Shanghai or Beijing in China) and proceeded with our lazy afternoon.

Wuxi 2.0

The next time I visited Wuxi, I had the luxury of being driven by a friend in his brother-in-law’s fancy Mercedes. The plan? Changguangxi National Park blossom viewing. Jiangsu is home to some of the best cherry and plum blossoms in the nation! Naively, and probably because of the way it’s commercialized, I wasn’t aware that anywhere outside of Japan had the blossom scenes that Japan is so well known for.

Arriving at the national park, after spending a ridiculous amount of time finding a parking spot, I was pleasantly taken by surprise! In true China style, the place was huge. The paths were lined with white, pink and purple flowers growing in every direction. Petals littered the floor making a floral mosaic along the path.

After living out my fairy dreams amongst the flowers, and battling the crowds to get a good spot for taking photos, we headed further into the park. Changguangxi boasts a beautiful pagoda after a short hike through tree lined paths. If you shut out the chatter of the million tourists there for the exact same reason, the scene of blossoms surrounding ponds with a backdrop of a traditional Chinese pagoda was something out of storybooks.

In the evening, we of course had to stop by the pedestrian street. Seeing these canal towns in the daytime is a huge contrast to the night scenes. The lanterns hanging from the ancient homes reflect on the water and cast mesmerising red ripples. Finding a spot along the bank, the hum of the crowds on the main street fades into the background and you can witness the locals who still reside there going about their evening duties.

But where in Jiangsu is the Venice of the East?

By this stage, if you’re at all familiar with what people specifically refer to when they say ‘the Venice of the East’, you’re probably wondering why I haven’t mentioned Suzhou. For those of you not familiar, Suzhou is another city in Jiangsu Province that has world-famous water towns.

In September, China celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival. With a few days off work, but not wanting to go too far from Shanghai, my boyfriend and I decided that Jiangsu Province was a safe bet. Suzhou here we come! My boyfriend and I have a personal desire to seek out the more questionable sights on our travels. We arrived in Suzhou and, naturally, headed straight for the The Tower Bridge.

Yes, like in London, but in Suzhou, China.

China’s obsession with fakes goes beyond designer handbags and clothes – it also applies to sight seeing spots. You can find a fake Paris in Hangzhou, Thames Town in Shanghai and Venice in Dalian. All are weird but entertaining and often deserted. After spending the afternoon at the very questionable replica in a random spot outside of downtown, we decided it was time to see what made Suzhou’s canal towns so special.

Just beyond Suzhou’s city wall lies Shantang Pedestrian Street. Admittedly, Shantang looked very similar to what I had seen in Wuxi. This pedestrian street, however, was bigger and had a lot more exciting food options. We found an awesome street food corner with delicious tofu and some local treats. After four years of living in China, I can’t honestly say that I ever get sick of a stroll through a town on a canal!

Tongli was stunning, and as these canal towns usually are, very peaceful. Being a common tourist spot, the entry fee was 100rmb, and I believe it was totally worth it. We found an awesome vintage shop rammed with old books, paintings, furniture as well as trinkets. When I travel, I collect rings and art – and I found both! I scored a beautiful silver ring and a few palm-sized picture books with intricate illustrations on frail brown paper.

I’m a sucker for street food and rarely find myself sitting down for a meal when I’m traveling like this. We decided to choose walkways to explore at random. Down one we found a less than appealing cheese stick (China loves sweet cheese… enough said). The next lane was much more of a success – deep fried tofu, followed by ice cream! You don’t necessarily need to sit at a restaurant in this area. We perched on one of the many short stone pillars and enjoyed our cheap goods alongside the canal.

Now you can’t visit a water town without going on a gondola. We found a square in Tongli where some performers were entertaining the crowds. Just by that was the dock for the canal gondolas. The ride was peaceful under the umbrella of foliage. Unlike our experience in Dalian with motorised gondolas, these ones were rowed manually making the journey slow and enjoyable. It was a perfect end to the afternoon before we headed back to Shanghai. More on Suzhou here.

Wuxi and Suzhou, alongside other Jiangsu cities, will always hold a place in my heart purely because of their proximity to the cities I called home for so long. I guess that’s why I neglected visiting them for so long – I always felt like they were as familiar to me as a home feels.

– Tash