The name says almost everything. Tuisi Garden, the Garden of Retreat and Reflection, was built in the 1880s in the water town of Tongli by an official named Ren Lansheng after he was dismissed from his post, and he called it after the old idea that a man out of office should withdraw and think about his faults. What he actually created was one of the most graceful small gardens in the region: pavilions and halls arranged around a pond as if they were floating on it, with rockeries, covered walkways and windows that frame views like paintings.
It stands among the classical gardens of Suzhou on the UNESCO list, and it rewards a slow visit. Tongli itself is a canal town of stone bridges, whitewashed houses with black-tiled roofs and boats nosing under willow branches. Early morning, before the tour groups arrive, it can feel genuinely peaceful, with the smell of steamed buns drifting from the doorways. The surrounding lake country south of Suzhou is flat, watery and green, laced with canals, fish ponds and the bigger lakes such as Taihu.
As a riding destination, the area is more about atmosphere than corners. The roads are flat and straight, the towns busy, and in many places motorcycles are restricted while electric scooters swarm every lane. Foreign riders on their own bikes need permits and usually a guide, and expressways are off limits to motorcycles. If you do ride, the lake roads around Taihu and the canal country towards Zhouzhuang and the Jiangnan water towns offer gentle, scenic cruising, ideally on weekday mornings.
Food is a big part of any visit. In autumn the region is famous for hairy crab from Yangcheng Lake, steamed and eaten with ginger and vinegar, and all year round you can find sweet-braised pork and freshwater fish. Fuel is no issue anywhere nearby. Spring and autumn are comfortable, summer is humid, and the plum rains of June can soak you for days, so pack accordingly and give yourself time to sit in a garden pavilion while the rain falls.