First stop was at the Garden of the Master of the Nets to check out the sites. The garden was first designed during the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) as part of a residence that was used until the Taiping Rebellion in the 1860's. It was later restored and now is a popular site.
This was a reallly old tree in the gardens.
After the gardens, We stopped to see the twin pagoda's on our way to the next stop. We didn't stay long or go inside but there aren't a lot of twin pagoda's to be seen in China.
We head to Hanshan Temple (Cold Mountain Temple). This is a Buddist temple, one of many that we would be seeing on our journey all over China. It also had a bell you could ring- 3 times for Good luck, longevity and happiness (or something like that). Of course we had to ring it.
They had a bunch of Buddah's in one section. You could count along and find the Buddah for your age. Each were different.
Next we traveled over to Tiger Hill.
A few of the sites and facts from Tiger Hill...
The Tomb of King He Lu: In 496 BC during the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC), He Lu, King of the Wu perished during the war fought against the Yue. His son buried him within the hill and three days after the funeral a white tiger came and sat upon the grave as though guarding it. From that time on it has been known as Tiger Hill.
Tiger Hill Pagoda: The pagoda stands on the hill's summit and is the Pagoda of the Yunyan Temple. As the oldest pagoda in the vicinity of Suzhou it has come to be a symbol of the city and has the distinction of being China's Leaning Tower
That evening, after we had toured ourselves out (and after we spent all our money at the Silk and Pearl Factory) we took an evening boat cruise down the river in Suzhou. It was such a lovely ride and the canal was very cute with all the lights at night. It was a wonderful way to relax after our first full day in China.
Back on land we walked into a few of the shops on this main shopping street and finally cabbed it back home for dinner and bed!
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