Suzhou Canal Boat Ride

The Venice of the East; that is what the boat ride today made me think of this town, Suzhou. Our new tour guide, Joe, brought us on a tour through Tiger Hill and then on the canal ride. My initial expectation was all to clamber onto a small boat and rush through a small portion of a dimly lit waterway and have to swerve constantly to maneuver around oncoming boats. Although it was a little hectic getting out of the docks at first, the ride was incredible. Each business had rope-lights lining it's doors and waterways and each seat had an incredible view. They even had a man in front with a pole like in Venice, but instead of steering he was avoiding other boats and had a hook on the end of his pole to latch onto shore when we came back.
Another thing I enjoyed about the trip was passing the other boats and seeing all the people wave at us. I don't know if it's because we're Americans or if that's common but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. Joe says we get an extra point when interacting with people for being a foreigner, another point if we're pretty. That kind of random kindness towards foreigners is very rare in the US but I don't know why. If the Chinese are so friendly to us and people from other countries and cultures, it only makes sense that we treat everyone that way as well. All I know is, after this trip, I look at the world and it's people in a much different and better way.