On December 29th, the day before we were to fly home from Shanghai, we took a tour to Suzhou, an ancient city about 1.5 hours west/northwest of the city of Shanghai. While there we visited two Chinese gardens as well as the No. 1 Silk Factory.

Phil took the above photo of a pagoda in Suzhou.

I just couldn't pass up taking this picture of a puppy on the street in front of one of the Chinese gardens. He was so cute. He didn't respond to my English very well, so I assume he spoke Chinese. :-)

Taxis in Suzhou...with advertising!

Gorgeous wood carving in the lobby of a restaurant where we had a genuine Chinese lunch. In the area of the carving where you can see the glare of the camera flash, can you make out the shape of a fish?

As we drove back toward Shanghai from Suzhou, we went through a couple of toll plazas. Couldn't resist taking a picture of some direction or information on top one of the toll plaza lanes.