Suzhou

Bamboo flutist the Lingering Garden PHOTO Monique Burns

By Monique Burns I’m in Suzhou, the cultural heart of China, only a half-hour bullet-train ride west of high-tech  Shanghai.  Led by local tour company More Fun Asia, I and four other women, including two New Yorkers, a Canadian from Vancouver and an American living in London, are exploring Suzhou,

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Kunqu operas The Peony Pavilion COURTESY Suzhou Tourism

By Monique Burns I  wander as if in a dream.  I am in China, 7,200 miles and a world away from home.  Through spring’s early-morning haze, I stroll lush gardens, exploring pagodas and pavilions adorned with Ming Dynasty vases, landscape paintings and mahogany furniture.  I cruise rock-girt canals and rivers

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The WOOBAR Courtesy W Hotel Suzhou

  By Monique Burns I’ll admit it. I’ve fallen head over heels in love with the W Hotel Suzhou, one of China’s newest, hippest and most high-tech retreats.   If that sounds surprising coming from this lover of crystal chandeliers, marble columns and old-world charm, imagine how surprised I was.  Suzhou,

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