Suzhou Shopping

Backtracking to our Suzhou trip while my parents were here... just a couple of shopping photos. This one of Gwen and the little mannequin cracks me up!
Madelyn is the bargaining queen!
The little stalls are so colorful, with all the silk scarves, clothes, table cloths, painted parasols and bright toys.

Tiger Hill

Walking in the garden at Tiger Hill.

Tiger Hill pagoda through the trees.

Well, the pictures just really don't do this garden justice! It is quite large, and very wooded. I loved walking through the large trees here, probably because it's something we don't see a lot of in downtown Shanghai.
The pagoda, which was completed in 961, and just added to the registry of historic buildings in 1961, is noticibly leaning to one side. It is on top of the hill, the high point of the garden.

Tiger Hill pagoda, as seen from a lower spot in the garden.
This garden had various waterfalls and wonderful, interesting rock formations. The girls loved climbing about in precarious places! Here they are with Scott down by a little waterfall.

Boats at Tiger Hill

This scene was right inside the gates at Tiger Hill, the large garden containing a pagoda that was built on a hill on the outskirts of Suzhou over 1000 years ago, completed in 961.

In the Lion's Grove Garden

This Suzhou garden was built in 1342 during the reign of Emporer Zhizheng of the Yuan Dynasty. It's famous for its artifical hills and caves of different styles. It was fun to climb up the narrow rockery stairs and in and out of little caves. Do you see the lion's mouth open in a roar in the picture below? It was so neat to be back in Suzhou with my dad and mom!
Checking out a bonsai display in one of the little courtyards.
The parents of this cute little guy wanted a picture of their son with Madelyn... nothing new to her. Chinese people are always touching her face (they love light skin) or hair and admiring her, and she has been asked to be in photos a number of other times. Gwen jumped right in!

Beautiful carved wood inside this building in the garden.

Scott was having fun with the zoom lens...

Another roaring lion!

Girls In Suzhou

Yesterday we took my parents to Suzhou for the day. We visited two very different gardens. This picture was taken in the Lion Grove, where many of the rocks supposedly resemble lions.

Fun "Taxi" Rides in Suzhou

Both Gwen and Madelyn wanted to ride in these several types of bike taxis the minute they saw them. Scott and I were doubtful, but it turned out to be really fun. Nothing like being in the thick of the traffic... these guys wove in and out of it. We were inches from buses many times, in fact Caleb make a game of seeing how many he could touch.

This one was motorized, and had room (barely!) for all six of us.
This one was just a bicycle, and had room for just two. We squeezed into two of these between us, and had quite a wild ride through the city. Here I was trying to take a picture of Scott, Seth and Gwen in the other "taxi" while riding with Caleb and Madelyn in the other one... thus the blurry outcome!
Worn out from the day!

Scenes From a Canal Ride

One of the things we were really looking forward to in Suzhou was a canal ride. Portions of Suzhou have homes built right on the canal, with little stone steps that lead right down to the water, presumably for washing clothes or whatever. I realized that I don't have a picture of the whole boat that we were on, but you can see below that it had a covered portion in the middle with seating, then flat open area in the front and also in the back, where the operator stood. He was a lovely older man, brown and lean, and he rowed like a champ with his one long angled oar.

Madelyn rode out on the front of the boat like the river queen!

Passing another boat, one without the covered middle, but a similar model.
These children were catching fish in the canal and were happy to pose for a picture as we passed.

Scott took a turn trying to row... it was not as easy as it looked!

This sweet local lady waved to us as we passed her window.

Toward the end of our ride, our boat operator asked us with gestures if we wanted him to sing. We were agreeable to whatever it was he was asking, and were so pleased when he began to serenade us in Chinese as we floated along! We applauded loudly for him, then we sang "Amazing Grace" to him, which he seemed pleased about. After a few moments, he broke into song again, and after that we took turns singing back and forth. It seemed to me like a moment suspended in time... like I couldn't believe we were actually there to experience it. I wish we could have understood what he was singing!

In The Humble Administrator's Garden

I know, it's a funny name! This garden was actually more of an estate, with many different buildings, some for bedrooms, some for entertaining, etc. We had an English speaking guide take us through the garden, so we were able to hear some little interesting tidbits about the garden and buildings. It seems that the Chinese are very deliberate in the planning of the buildings and courtyards... they will face the builidng a certain way so that the fragrance of the lotus blossoms will come in a specific window, for instance.

We learned from our guide that Chinese bridges are constructed with all these turns in them because the Chinese believe that ghosts can only walk in a straight line... so the curving bridges prevent the ghosts from crosssing!

Many of the building were furninshed with period furniture, from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

This covered walkway can be seen from another building, where I stood to take the picture. The intent was for the men to stand in the building adjacent to the walkway in order to watch the women cross through the walkway... the women's reflection could be seen in the water below, thus the men would have double the enjoyment!

Our guide pointed out the tiny, almost nonexistent armrests on these chairs, which were intended for ladies. The women were never to have their elbows out on an armrest, but rather to keep their arms tucked in close to their bodies, hands in their laps. So the armrests were sort of a reminder about the correct posture for a woman.