Study Abroad Blog | Blogging From Abroad | 狮子林和网师园- Lion's Grove Garden & Master of The Nets Garden

28 Sep

狮子林 (shizilin – Lion’s Grove Garden) and 网师园 (wangshi yuan – Master of the Nets Garden) are two of the other most well known gardens in Suzhou. Two out of 250+. Seriously.

网师园 is actually on the World Heritage List, along with that other famous Suzhou beauty spot, The Humble Administrator’s Garden.

We actually managed to hit both in the same day one lazy summer afternoon… 狮子林 by day for the incredibly involved rockeries and 网师园 by night for their “Night Entertainments” (a selection of traditional song/dance/performance styles being conducted in the various halls and rooms of this rambling garden complex.)

First, some photos of 狮子林...

How can anyone get that kind of detail out of a wood carving?

I love these droplet-shaped doorways…

John attempting to kiss the girls and make them cry…seriously, he knew what was going to happen…

...totally, totally asking for it…Natalie is a sweet woman, but she definitely knows how to draw the line…be it with a gentle reminder or her palm against your face… ;)

Akatsuki conquers the rockery…

Yuki leads the way through the rock maze back into the light…

Julia looking forever cool, calm and collected…

Pavilion!

Hall inside of the pavilion…

Trees…

This is such a rip…but fruit stands and sellers abound on the streets in China…some, like this cherry seller, play up the kitsch factor by doing things like individually binding cherries into small bunches and selling them from faux bamboo baskets and such…it’s funny sometimes to see the store bags and boxes tucked away somewhere so things can appear fresh of the vine…now that I’ve said that, I have to confess that this marketing ploy gets me almost every time…

After 狮子林, Julia, Jillian, Yuki, Wendy and I went out to dinner. I had the opportunity to consume frog again (which is very good, surprisingly) in addition to trying fresh bamboo shoots and sprouts. Honestly, I have never eaten anything like fresh bamboo. The canned things we sometimes eat here in America in no way compares.

A close-up of the soup…this was so good, with tofu and Chinese sausage and quail eggs and everything…that’s a change for me, because normally it seems like Chinese soups are made from raw (and often whole) ingredients being boiled together in a huge pot of water with some salt and MSG thrown in…

We met up later that night at 网师园 (wangshi yuan = Master of the Nets Garden) for their inafamous night entertainments. Basically, they do a show at night in the halls of this former residence that’s a mashup of various traditional and regional performing styles. Groups move from one hall to the next to partake of singing, flute music, theater, puppetry, dancing and other performances.