Adventures in Suzhou continued on Saturday when we explored Tiger Hill which is a huge park and gardens surrounded by canals. It is famous because it houses the tomb of the founding father of Suzhou, He Le (who is said to have been buried with a collection of 3000 swords and to be guarded by a white tiger according to both Andy and my Lonely Planet book).
Walking around the gardens was fun and there were many bridges (crossing a bridge in Suzhou is thought to bring you luck and wealth), moon gates (rounded entryways and arches) and also a giant leaning pagoda on top of the hill. The Cloud Rock Pagoda was built in the 10th century and started leaning around 400 years ago. Andy said that the tip of the pagoda has tilted about 2m away from its original position.
After exploring inside the gardens we walked around the hill near the canals. It was nice to be in an open area with lots of trees instead of the constant urban environment that is Changzhou. We even took a little boat ride during which Andy translated comments and stories from our strong and extremely fit 72-year-old oarman while he paddled us around Tiger Hill.
We had lunch in one of Andy's favorite restaurants that served traditional Suzhounese food. We had sweet, ginger-fried eel, sweet pork (tasted like ribs), beef (tasted like pot roast) and more common dishes like egg with tomato and cabbage.
After lunch we visited the Suzhou museum which was awesome. It is brand new and had impressive and elegant displays of artifacts from the area complete with English translations. Andy describes it best when he says he likes it because it "combines a modern building with history inside and nature outside". The museum is built around a garden (of course) with crystal clear pools, sleek bamboo and creative rock formations. The total effect is pretty stunning and we spent the better part of the afternoon there (especially because it was cold and rainy outside). Another thing that made the museum cool was that it was free.
After the museum we got dinner to go which were tiny cooked buns with a delicious sweet meat and sauce inside and spent the rest of the night hanging out and relaxing while Andy told us about our plans for Sunday, our last day in Suzhou.
WOW! What fantastic photos! love your blog!