China - Suzhou

I've visited Suzhou some years back but since my husband has never been there, we jumped on the idea to join Bibi and John on one of their business trips.

There was an old saying "Paradise in Heaven, Suzhou and Hangzhou on earth". Suzhou, about 80 kms west of Shanghai, is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens. Streets and alleys extend side by side with canals.

We flew on AirAsia to Hangzhou and drove to Suzhou. Upon reaching Suzhou, we were given a massage treat by Bibi and John at the Dragonfly Spa. A great way to loosen up after landing followed with dinner where we get to eat a very special dish called Squirrel Fish, a dish not to be missed in Suzhou. Another must try dish is the pau like dumpling from the shop "Tar Ah Er" in old Suzhou town.

While Bibi and John are working, we visited the Humble Administrator Garden. It was originally built in 1509 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as a private garden of Wang Xianchen. The name of the garden came from the humble life of Wang who intended to build a garden after retirement, planting trees and vegetables.

Humble Adminstrator Garden consist of 3 sections; Eastern, Central and Western sections. It was created upon the old relics of a resident and a temple. Water feature and its natural landscape including small forests, hills and rock formations formed the main background with man-made pavilions, halls and parlors.

Some of the garden's attractions are; Cymbidium Goeingii Hall (Lanxiang Tang) which has the map of the entire garden on its south wall, Celestial Spring Pavilion (Tianquan Ting) which is named after an ancient well whose water tastes very sweet, The Hall of Distant Fragrance (Yuanxiang Tang) which is named after a lotus pool nearby, designed with oversized glass windows on all sides for easy viewing, Small Flying Rainbow Bridge (Xiaofeihong) a rare type of bridge and the only one in the garden you can walk across, The 18 Camellias Hall (Shiba Mantuoluohua Guan), The 36 Pairs of Mandarin Duck's Hall (Saliu Yuanyang Guan) and the Pagoda Reflection Pavilion (Taying Ting) an optical illusion where the pagoda seems to be lifting when all we actually see is the reflection of the pavilion. Ghee and I had a great time walking around The Humble Adminstrator Garden.

Our next stop Tiger Hill, got its name after a white tiger came and sat upon, as though guarding the grave of King He Lu, 3 days after his funeral. Tiger Hill is also known as Surging Sea Hill and is a large hillock with a number of historical sites some of which can be traced back over 2500 years to the founding of Suzhou.

Tiger Hill Pagoda, Suzhou vicinity's oldest pagoda stands on the hill's summit and has become a symbol of the city. It is a seven-story octahedron, built during the Northern Song Dynasty after the style of the timber pagodas built during the early Tang dynasty. It is 48 metres high (158 feet) and for the past four hundred years has leant 359' to the northwest. Italy has leaning tower of Pisa, Malaysia has Telok Intan leaning clock tower and China's Leaning Tower is right here in Suzhou!

Sword Testing Stone and Sword Pool is said to be the testing stone used by King He Lu, a zealous collector of rare swords. The crevice made in the rock is the only evidence of the existence of these swords as it is believed that they were buried beneath the Sword Pool as funerary objects. Another mystery that surrounds the tomb is the whereabouts of the remains of the 1,000 workers who built it and who were put to death upon completion of the task.

Thousands of bonsai tree is on display in Wanjing Villa. The miniature replicas of full sized gardens are sure to amaze and give an insight into the skill and artistry of Chinese master gardeners that has been handed down from long ago.

There can be little doubt that Tiger Hill is a wonderful sight with its leaning pagoda (China's Leaning Tower), waterfalls and landscaped paths. It will never cease to amaze and enthral visitors with its heritage and it is hard to believe that the hill was man made to be the burial place of a king.

42% of Suzhou is covered with water including a vast number of ponds and streams. So, how can our trip be complete without a visit to Tongli, an age-old but very well preserved water township with a history of more than 1,000 years?

Tongli (originally named Fushi, also known as Little Venice) is famous for its bridges of various styles and has a reputation of a "museum of ancient architectures".

15 small river lanes crisscrossed the town, over which spans around 49 stone bridges in variety of styles. The most notable are Peace and Tranquility (Taiping) Bridge, Luck (Jili) Bridge and Lasting Celebration (Changqing) Bridge, also known as Ternate Bridges as they cross three rivers at their confluence and form a natural ring road. Whenever there is an important occasion, such as wedding, people would like to walk through the three bridges, which is supposed to bring peace, fortune and happiness in their lives.

Houses and temples dating from the Ming and Qing Dynasties are built along the riversides and decorated with flying eaves, carved windows, porcelain furniture, figured clay bricks, dapper gardens and small stairs leading down to the water.

Tongli can be easily explored on foot (we did that) or by taking boat cruises. We stopped for lunch in one of the little cafes along the river but Ghee could hardly eat anything and kept telling me he is not hungry. I only found out why he was not eating after we departed Tongli and he asked the driver to stop at McD for burgers - he could not put any food into his mouth because he saw some villages washing laundry upstream and downstream, some other villages were washing vegetables and chicken! Wonder how our food was prepared?