Manors/ Gardens of Suzhou

Upon arrival in Suzhou, we went to a famous scenic area called The Humble Administrator's Garden. The size of the garden was huge, as there were waterfalls, dozens of pagodas, various buildings, and a multitude of plants. (There were even palm trees!) During our tour, we saw a huge bonsai garden, lots of ancient architecture, as well as bridges connecting the portions of the garden. Personally, I thought the garden was repetitive, though it clearly captured Eastern ideologies about Fengshui and balance/ harmony. Once again, we headed back to our hotel and ate dinner at a nearby restaurant. Headed to bed at around 10 as we were prepared to go touring all day the next day. (Suzhou is a very affluent city apparently, since over 50 of the top 500 companies in the world have factories in the area)

After we woke, we ate breakfast at a family street vendor (the food they sell is not only delicious, but cheap). Unfortunately, both my mom and brother felt sick, so they didn't go to all the spots on the tour. Meanwhile, my dad and I explored our first stop: the Lion Forest Garden (the last owner was I.M. Pei!). The design of the entire mansion is spectacular as all the paths are in a circle, and its impossible to reach a dead end. Furthermore, there are two large rock mazes, each containing 29 alternate paths. (The only way to get out is to either only go straight, only go right, or only go left- or "hurdle the rocks") Even so, it took me quite a long time to finally exit the maze.

Afterwards, we headed towards the famous octagonal nine story North Temple Pagoda. Before ascending the tower, we first stopped by the temple nearby. Since we came by on the first of the month (in the Chinese calendar), the monks offered us prayers and encouraged us to burn incense. In addition, one of the head monks blessed some holy relics and offered them to us. In addition, the head monk "commented/ determined" on our fates, and what he said was shockingly true. Next, we purchased a huge stick of incense that we burned. (The incense stick was at least 7-8 feet tall...and almost half a foot thick). By the time this finished, we had roughly 15 minutes to climb up and down the pagoda (no biggie, I've climbed mountains already). The interesting part of the trip was the fact that on the third, sixth, and ninth floors, we had to walk a loop outside the pagoda to ensure "good luck."

Next, we visited an old Ming Dynasty palace as well as an adjacent garden known as The Couple's Garden Retreat. Both featured lots of ancient architecture, as well as stunning scenic sights. Afterwards, we headed off to a water tour of Suzhou, which is remarkably similar to Venice. The canal system connects a large portion of the city (roughly 40% of Suzhou is covered by water). Passing by the junction of the old portion of the city and the new parts of the city, it was interesting to look at the skyline. (In the old city, buildings must be three stories or smaller, in order to preserve the ancient layout) As our tour winded down, we visited a silk factory, as well as a pearl factory. We ended up seeing the intricate methodologies used in those industries and were "encouraged" to buy their products at a discount.

Headed back to our hotel and ended up eating out again (every meal so far haha). Then we headed back and packed yet again to prepare for our early morning departure to the ancient city of Nanjing.

Note: Got caught up in some TMS/ ITASA stuff, so haven't been able to post in a while. Still working on putting up photos, but the computer I'm using keeps on freezing due to the sheer amount of pictures.