Tiger Hill
Tiger Hill is a man made hill with a big Pagoda at the top surrounded by lovely gardens. The Pagoda is chinese version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it was constructed in the 10th century and has been leaning for about 400 years. This place is the final resting place of He Lu one fo the founding fathers of Suzhou. There is an impressive bonsai garden, waterfalls and a lovely tranquil feel to the place.
North Temple Pagoda
We visited this temple on a lovely winters day with our friends The Bell family. The 9 Story Pagoda is pretty impressive and if the smog is not too bad the views around Suzhou are pretty awesome. The Pagoda is the tallest of its kind south of the Yangzi. The grounds are nice and not too big so as to bore the easily tired (so the children were entertained). We found the rather rotund Budha near the entrance most entertaining and the little bridges also worth seeing.
Sometimes the journey to the garden can be just as entertaining as the garden itself.
West Garden Temple
Yet another garden however had its own personality with mustard coloured surrounding walls. There is a museum inside housing 500 statues of monks which was pretty impressive. There is also a lake with some pretty cool turtles. We were lucky enough to be joined on this excursion by the Bells who always make any outing entertaining.
