Suzhou

All of these photos are of Tiger Hill in Suzhou.  It's been visited for its beauty for thousands of years.  It is thought to have gotten its name because the hill looks like a crouching tiger.

Shopping opportunities abound!

 

One of the canals at Tiger Hill

 

House along the canal

Gorgeous path going down the hill

Watch those greens you're eating!  Washed with "fresh"canal water!







Wahhhhhhh - our blog isn't accessible, at least here in Suzhou!  There is no wi-fi for my ipad either!  Our trip so far is awesome!  We took a bullet train from Shanghai to Suzhou on Thursday and got to our hotel in the morning.  It poured rain all day on Thursday so we just walked a little around our hotel.  The kids took a BIG.......LONG....nap in the afternoon and then we walked around again, looking for a place to eat dinner.  We ended up at a food court in a huge mall and the only place where we could decipher a menu was at a pizza place.  Some restaurants have picture menus but we couldn't find one........ not to mention Frances as literally falling asleep in her chair!!

We woke up today, ready to make up for the rained out day.  We hit a jackpot!  We took a cab to Tiger Hill - a beautiful park that is 100s of years old.  It is surrounded by canals and has several pavilions.  After climbing LOTS of steps we got to the top - another pavilion that was about 10 stories high.  After we hiked back down we took a ride on the canal in a kinda-gondola style boat.  When Lisa saw a woman washing greens in the canal, she decided that maybe it WAS a good idea to avoid eating uncooked greens!!  She has been dying to have a salad! 

We came back to the hotel for lunch (shhhhh - McDonalds) and then set out for the silk museum.  Suzanne stayed back at the hotel so the 6 of us crammed into a cab!!  We didn't give the cab driver a chance to say no!  He drove like a maniac.....as all cab drivers do in China, cutting people off, constantly blasting his horn, going though a red light, and driving on the wrong side of the road.  The silk museum was very cheesy - creepy mannequins tending the LIVE silkworms..........strange!  On the way out we were accosted by the usual assortment of people trying to sell SOMETHING.  As we were trying to hail a cab, 2 guys with bicycle rickshaws offered to take us!!!  Lisa screamed "NO" as I said "SURE!" so we had a pleasant ride though Suzhou in rickshaws!  Those dudes earned their money!!

The kids are really enjoying themselves.  Frances loves the hotels and the breakfast buffets, Analise is writing down everything we do, Elizabeth is looking for every buying opportunity, and Lewie........... he's pretty much whining a lot.

Thanks to Jeff for posting this for us!