Suzhou

Thursday, June 3 we took a van with a driver to Suzhou, a water town, located on the lower reaches of the Yangtze river in the province of Jiangsu, China. It is sometimes referred to as the Venice of the East, due to its canals.We stopped at a rest stop along the highway.

Saw these in the rest stop store. I didn't buy any, but Hui-Ling did buy some duck tongue.

First we went to Hanshan temple, a Buddhist temple and monastary which was originally built in 503. It was most recently rebuilt in 1896, after being destroyed and rebuilt many times. The literal translation of the name is "Cold Mountain Temple". We had guide who showed us around, but I couldn't understand anything she said. Unfortunately after 10 years, my Chinese is terrible.

There is a bell that may be rung by visitors, for a price. Three rings per ticket. I did it. The steps up into the bell tower were steep, but it wasn't very high, only one flight up. It was very had to get shots without people in the background, or foreground for that matter. Since I was with a group of people, I couldn't always wait around for a clean shot.