suzhou vlog 🌊 lotus markets, water village, everything i ate 🍜 matcha lake, taro mochi

6 30 a.m and it is 6 30 a.m. I am in Suzhou right now. I caught the first train out of Shanghai this morning since I'm doing a day trip and I wanted to make the most of it. Since it's currently lotus season, my first stop is the lotus market. There are so many people selling beautiful lotus flowers here. Everything is freshly picked. I really want to get a bouquet but I am gonna be walking outside the whole day and I'm scared the flowers are gonna wilt. So I don't know, maybe I'll pick it up somewhere else. Suzhou is known for their traditional style pastries. Every single piece is like a tiny little work of art. It's so beautiful. We also have samples here. Here for my morning tea. I got a very nice latte that has fu on it which is a character for fortune and prosperity. And then I also have my two pastry picks. This is the peach blossom pastry and this is the asmanthus flower pastry. So beautiful guys. Look at that. I haven't eaten since last night and I feel like I've just been up since forever. So it's high time I had a bite to eat. The inside is asmanthus paste. It's a really nice light floral flavor. If you guys haven't tried Chinese traditional pastries before, you really need to try it. Like you know French pastries, they have a little like like a crunch. Chinese pastries are super flaky as well but they're completely soft when you bite into it. It's just pillowy layers of flakes that are soft in your mouth and don't make a sound. But delicious either way. I also just realized I don't think I've ever had Chinese pastries with coffee before. It's always with tea so this is a nice little fusion. So moving on to my favorite. This is a peach blossom pastry and the inside filling. I believe this is a rose and red bean paste filling. Now this is what I call a proper start to the day. I know quite a few of you guys wanted me to try the qipao rentals and also do like the qipao photo shoot and there's like so many of those shops on the street. I thought about it but it's so hot guys. I'm like so sticky right now. I genuinely cannot see myself trying the qipaos on one by one, getting full hair and makeup done and then having everything melt off in the sun as I try my best to control my expressions for photos. Like for the past two hours I've just been squinting like this because it's just so sunny. This Chinese style top that I thrifted the other day is going to be the closest I'm going to get to a qipao for the time being but I will try it I feel energized, I feel refreshed and we are off to explore a garden. Aside from Suzhou's canals it's also super famous for its gardens. There's a lot of really beautiful traditional Chinese style gardens and courtyards here and the most famous ones are always filled with tourists so I decided to come to a slightly more niche one. It's a lot more peaceful and quiet and I can just enjoy the garden. Look at all these stunning details in that tiling. This garden is like a playground. This is so fun. Now to go down here. There's actually no way out. Oh my gosh guys I think I'm stuck in here there's like no way out. Oh my gosh wait. Oh look at that tree. They even set up scaffolding to support the tree because it was just like growing so weird. It's 40 degrees, my face is melting off. I'm trying desperately to stay hydrated with my Mi Xue Bing Cheng. This is literally just lemon water. This garden is actually one of the smaller ones but it was still so much bigger than I anticipated like I thought it would just be the size of maybe this like one courtyard. There was so much to explore in there guys. I actually got lost amongst all the mazes. I am even shocked myself. These gardens are so well maintained as well. In the short time that I've been here I've seen so many groundskeepers tending to the plants, wiping the windows and even people in boats making sure that the water is clear and the lotus flowers are growing healthily. It's just like so nice to have this little sliver of history preserved in modern day like this. It's such a nice place to come chill. Just arrived at a restaurant and they have outdoor seating. It is so freaking hot outside but I'm gonna sit outside because it's right by the canals. I can't not. It is lunchtime. I ordered myself a feast. I have no idea how I'm gonna finish this much but I wanted to try a little bit of everything. So we have the Suzhou style noodles over here. Noodles usually come with some sort of topping but because I couldn't decide I got the set of which means that I get to try nine different toppings on my noodles. I'm guessing this is like fried fish, some sort of stinged meat, maybe tofu. These are like little baby shrimp. Very popular topping here. Mushroom, probably some sort of veggie, braised pork. I don't know what it's called in English but I think in Chinese it's very fresh and crunchy and then I don't know what this is but it looks delicious. They also gave me a little plate of grapes and a pot of tea. Yes, this is hot tea. I'm like sweating buckets here but I shall drink some tea when in Suzhou, right? Suzhou style noodles are on the thinner side. The shrimp is coated in sesame oil or something. It's so fragrant and delicious. Try the fish. This piece of meat actually melts in your mouth. Delicious! The staff keep standing by the window and checking if I'm okay because it's like really so hot outside. They're poking their heads out every five minutes asking if I want to move inside to eat but even though the indoor seats also have a really good view of the canals I just want to be right on the water. Am I weird? I probably am. No one else in this restaurant is sitting outside. Walking by the canals after lunch. We're exploring Pingjianglu. All this yummy street food on both sides. Cute! I'm 90% sure I put this contact in the wrong way around. Today it's just been spinning around in my eye all morning. It feels so uncomfortable. This is such a nice street to browse though. There's a lot of little shops on both sides and because everyone's dressed up it's like a very nice view on the streets. These alleyways are like full of hair and makeup stores so that you can get your entire look done to match your fit. So convenient. Also just like photographers roaming the streets just waiting to take photos for you so if you want to get nice photos definitely come to China. Look at these gorgeous teacups. They have teacups here with surnames on them and I found mine. Jasmine ice cream to cool down in this heat. The outside is coated in like dried jasmine flowers I think. It is melting so fast. Actually fighting for my life right now like look how much is dripping. It's all over my top. Just imagining myself in the background of everybody's photo shoot with ice cream down my shirt and on my chin. Not a pleasant sight. Okay I just cleaned up a bit. Hopefully this doesn't stain right now. I just have like a huge wet patch at the front of my shirt. That was the most stressful ice cream eating experience I've ever had. Like it's never melted on me that fast before. I got a jasmine flower bracelet to lift my mood. It smells so nice. These are real jasmine flowers and the grandma said that once it dries out it'll last for 30 days. So we shall see about that but I'll be happy enough with just one day. The doorways here are all so pretty. I've just been walking in the sun the entire day and I feel my skin is burning up. I sunburn so easily guys which is why even on the sunniest days I usually have my entire body covered. But today I didn't have anything that would match this top and I also intended on bringing sunscreen but obviously I forgot. So instead I have brought out my mini sunbrella. Give me a sec guys. I'm currently trying to find a cafe. Right now it's like the hottest part of the day and no person in their right mind should be outside. I think it's down this road. Okay. Do you see what I see? Look at that. A secret matcha lake hidden right in the middle of Suzhou. This place is so cute. Ordered a pistachio latte. It also came with some pistachios and a little intro card. It has pistachio butter, pistachio cold foam on top, coconut cream, coconut milk, normal milk and espresso shot in it. I drank half of it in one go. Very good. A little more savory than I expected. Like I think there was a pinch of salt in there or something. I'm literally eating ice right now. But I also feel like I would have preferred a matcha latte. Second miniature of the day. This time I got an orange juice. This is so refreshing though. I found another place to sit down. Already know more of this. Going to rest for a bit and then go check out Cheng Ha Shi Ji. These are like local markets but they've been nearly renovated so everything is really nice and pretty. Came up for the food section and specifically for this bowl of taro mochi balls. Look at this. So this is like a taro and probably sweet potato puree and they have added this like gloopy mochi in the middle as well as these tiny little glutinous rice balls. It is the perfect level of sweetness which is just like very lightly sweet. Enough to bring out the natural flavor of the taro. Samantha's flower. Amazing. Not hungry at all. I'm so full from lunch and also all the liquid I've just been drinking. I'm pretty sure I can kill this bowl. Guess what I see. Should I get a bunch? Should I get a bunch? 都是这样手动掰开的吗? This huge bouquet was 28 yuan. It is sunset right now and I have made it to the iconic Qilishan Tang Qu. This is another place with like really pretty canal views. It's super beautiful lit up at night. I just need to figure out how to cross the road right now because the side with all the lanterns is on the other side. I do not do well in places that are this crowded. I'm trying to kill time right now because I want to film the lanterns lighting up at night. There's a lot of really cute shops here but my hands are full and my tummy is also full. Let's have a look around. There's a lot of really yummy food.