Tiger Hill in Suzhou

---

We went to the train station and bought our tickets to Shanghai and then stood in line to catch a cab to Tiger Hill. We translated the word tiger and hill but the taxi driver still didn't understand... so then another guy took our map and showed someone else and someone else, who finally said "tiger hill?" and then translated to the driver. Its always chaotic to go anywhere!

Tiger Hill, also known as Huqiu Mountain (Tiger Mountain). According to historic records, Fuchai, Emperor of Wu State during the Spring and Autumn Period buried his father Helu here. It was said that three days after the burial, a white tiger was seen crouching over the grave, hence the name Tiger hill. Later during the Song Dynasty the name was changed to Yunyan Buddhist Temple, and during the Quing Dynasty it changed to Hupu Buddhist Temple.

We walked around Tiger Hill for a bit, and the surroundings before heading back to town to find wrapping paper for our gifts for the gift exchange. We had a Christmas party to attend. We found a flower shop and he agreed to wrap our gifts. We also decided on buying a flower arrangment for our hosts to say thank you, and because of this he didn't charge us for wrapping the presents 😊

We ended up getting really lost after this. After finding some food we jumped in a taxi and came back to the house to relax.

Jos cooked a fantastic pasta meal for us, so we filled up then headed out to the Drunken Clam for the party. There were lots of foreigners, spiked hot chocolate on special, Christmas carols and the gift exchange. We were allowed to spend up to 25 rmb ($4). I bought a electric heating pad, and Tris bought a rubix cube and bottle opener. We recieved a pair of earmuffs and a plain white coffee cup and saucer. We ended up giving the coffee cup and saucer to our hosts because we really don't want to carry it around for 2 more months. Overall we had a good time.

Pretty sure Tris woke up today with my cold 😞 Coughing, sniffling and not feeling to hot. Hope it passes!

---