Fuddland
After the disappointment of (丁山) and (张公洞), I wanted to go somewhere I knew I’d enjoy, so I asked a few friends if they fancied taking a picnic lunch up to (虎丘), Tiger Hill. To make the day extra special, we decided to journey there by boat along the canals — on my previous [solo] visit I simply took a cab — little did we know that even arranging a boat would be an adventure in itself.
As we approached the docking area we were immediately accosted by an aggressive lady touting tickets for a tour boat to Tiger Hill, and after following her for a couple of minutes to another boarding area, we waited whilst she called over a second person to join the negotiations [it appeared she was simply the lookout, and the new person was the man to negotiate with]. This chap was decidedly dodgy, first promising us a boat no problem, then claiming there were no boats immediately available [despite the fact that we could see four boats right before our very eyes], but he could taxi us [“no charge” — yeah right] to somewhere close to Tiger Hill, where his “friend” had a boat that we could use for a short tour on the canals that surround the park. We were almost tempted, but the nagging distrust of the pushy man wouldn’t go away, and we agreed to go with our instinct, decline his offer and simply take a cab all the way there. The man stormed off in quite a verbal huff about not securing our business.
Once he’d gone, we thought we’d have one last try at getting a boat by talking to the captain of one of the boats that had just pulled up. He led us into a ticket office where we were amazed to immediately get hold of tickets for a barge leaving right that moment, with just the four of us on board. The thirty-minute cruise up to Tiger Hill was simply lovely, passing through some old parts of (苏州), by traditional housing and under low bridges, waving at locals, snapping photos and shooting movies like the unashamed tourists that we were.
Arriving at the main entrance to Tiger Hill, it dawned on us that visiting ’s top tourist attraction during a national holiday might not have been the cleverest of notions, for the place was teeming with thousands of people, but it turned out to be a fabulous day to choose to go: public displays of dancing, acrobatics, singing and traditional dress were to be found all over the place, and there was still enough peace and quiet in the bamboo forest to enjoy a sandwich. Photos from the day have been added to the Tiger Hill photoset on Flickr, and a couple of videos below give an idea of how busy it was.
Comments
irina | 2006 / 10 / 11 – 18:53
If you like travelling soooo much, I can recommend you another very beautiful place for a visit - Cyprus!!! There you’ll spend a great time for sure!!! :) I know this from my own experience!!! The fact is that it’s my favourite place to spend holidays!!! The only thing to decide is where to stay (and you know, it’s not the last thing to think of!) The hotels on Cyprus are suppper with all the conveniences, entertainments!!! I’ve stayed in many of them! But this year I’ve made up my mind to chose another place for staying and it is a Cyprus villa!!! How it was great: no noisy neighbours, crazy crowd, always hurrying somewhere and knocking you down!!! :) Silence, your best friends and almost empty beach!!!! That’s my way of spending holidays!!! :) Highly recommend such to you too!!! Best regards!!! :)
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