The
Western Hill scenic spot is known for the natural beauty of its islands and
historical relics, such as Shigong Hill, Linwu Cave, Mingyue Bay, Baoshan Monastery, and Piaomiao Peak
.
Take a train from Shanghai to Suzhou and take No.69 bus to Western Hill.
The local restaurants serve good, healthy cuisine featuring fish and wild
vegetables. Most of the restaurants provide accommodation with clean bedrooms
and parking space. You can spend 80 to 100 yuan (US$10 to 12) for one night.
Although it was the early morning when we rushed to a shuttle to Xishan
(Western Hill) at Taihu Lake near the city, the lunch time had passed by the
time the roaring bus arrived.
The three-hour journey was a challenging one, sitting on the hard plastic
seat in a shaking bus. Yet the last hour of the journey through islands near the
hill was quite an experience, with cottages peering from behind the rocks and
blossoming peach trees and warm spring wind whistling past the window panes.
Surrounding the Western Hill, the 36,000-hectare Taihu Lake is highlighted by
the mist-covered water and the scattered islands.
Green hills were everywhere. Yellow Chinese cabbage flower and white wild
chrysanthemum flowers lay like a blanket of silk embroidery on the vast wildness
scattered with tranquil lagoons.
The clicking of mobile phones and flashing of digital cameras started.
Passengers time and again asked the driver to stop the bus so they could snap
pictures. When we arrived at our stop in Shigong Hill, half of the passengers
had already left.
As we went off to buy tickets for Shigong Hill, a farmer with coffee-coloured
skin stopped to tell us, in his local accent, that it was not worth spending 80
yuan (US$10) each to go there.
Qing Weikang, 43, standing by his three-wheel motorbike, said Piaomiao Peak
is OK and said for 50 yuan (US$6) he would take us there and act as guide.
