Model Garden
(Model posing in Ornamental gardens, Suzhou)
During my first week, I was exploring the Old Town intermittently between bouts of illness. I went for a wander in the gardens next to the hotel and they were what I assume to be traditional Chinese gardens. There were lots of oddly shaped rocks that the Chinese seem to be very fond of. There are a few shops in Suzhou solely trading in funny looking rocks; I can only imagine they are Fung Shui related and people like to keep them in gardens or in their homes in a cabinet.
This day was exhaustingly hot; some women must have been cajoled into posing in the gardens in various silk outfits. I caught this when the photographer wasn’t looking – he was speaking animatedly to the lady posing, probably the Mandarin equivalent of “the camera loves you, baby” or “yeah, give me more! More! That’s it!” She is leaning against a meeting hall claiming a past use for various functions including welcoming dignitaries from other towns and provinces. (I gleaned what I could from pictures and the short roughly translated English on the wall)
