Pressures brushed aside for a while

A young Chinese woman sits near a window in a tea house in southwest China’s Yunnan province.

What better place near Shanghai than the “oriental Venice” of Suzhou and its surrounding villages? One weekend with my girlfriend we decided to go to Tongli. It is not easy to reach but the trip was worth doing. We forgot the pressures of urban life and relaxed our senses with the scent of water, cheerful sunbeams, the touch of stone and wood and music of the wind in the flags and trees. A good coffee and a cigar gave the moment a glimpse of perfection...