Day 4 – Exploring Times Square
The rains stopped and the pollution dropped to the lowest level since moving here…which means it’s a great day for a long urban hike and exploring a new part of Suzhou!
The view across Dushu Lake （独墅湖）without pollution, just normal, fluffy clouds!
According to the map, it would be a 4.5mi/7.2km walk from my apartment to Times Square, almost a straight shot up Xinghu Street (星湖街), which is a pretty major thoroughfare but it does have separated sidewalks. So why not!
Along the way there was some nice public art installations, including a tribute to Albert Einstein which proves that math *is* the universal language!
Times Square is a fairly nice, if not bougie, part of the city. Lots of restaurants and cafes of varying prices, an art museum, events center, iMax movie theater, and both an indoor and outdoor mall with tons of shops. I even found a pair of hair clippers in the mall for 460rmb, which was twice the price I’d expect to pay so I passed them by.
This area of Suzhou features what I would call the iconic building of the city. You can see it in the picture after a few more paragraphs below. Apparently it may be called East Door Exhibition Center (东门展览中心, though a few characters are missing from that translation). As it’s across the Jinji Lake (金鸡湖), and it’ll be explored another day.
Overall impressions of Times Square:
- Seems to attract a lot of tourists, but not nearly as many as the NYC version
- Plenty of restaurants and shops to keep one busy
- Being a subway stop is nice
- Would be a long commute, ~ 1 hour, to get to work each way via bus (a transfer would be involved) or subway (at least one transfer)
I’d love to see this place at night as I have a feeling it will be lit up beautifully! Also, once it’s open, I’d love to visit that new W hotel near the East Door Exhibition Center; I do love me some W hotness! (It’s the smallest of the three “stair step” looking buildings over my right shoulder.)
Today’s word of the day is what will help me get home from here: 地铁 (dìtiě), meaning subway.