The Famous Tingling Park of Kunshan

Tingling Park, Kunshan

Last weekend, my husband and I visited the infamous Tingling Park in Kunshan.  It is an incredible multi-attraction, encompassing a wide range of entertaining activities, including a bonsai garden, zoo, opera museum, park, and haunted house.

Here is the grand tour...

Entrance

This is the entrance to Tingling Park, which is within a 2 mile walk from our apartment.  It is located towards the north of town in a popular shopping area.  On most nights, Chitrak and I will take our evening walk to the gate and then return home.

Here is our first exploration inside...

After entering the park, you walk down a beautifully landscaped sidewalk to view the mountain.

 After paying a minimal fee of 20 yuan per person, or $3.20, we entered the gates to see a well-manicured, recreational area.  Weathered pagoda buildings stood as bilingual museums to retell the history of Kunshan.  We walked down the path until we reached an open area of a lonely mountain overlooking a pond.  (Kunshan is known for its high rises and industry, but NOT for its natural land formations.)  We were quite taken away with the breathtaking views!




The Mountain

It's a long and steep climb to the top of the mountain.

 We knew what we had to do next, CLIMB!  It was a scary hike, as there is very little railing or fences on the path up.  At a leisurely pace, we climbed the mountain within 15 minutes.

It's worth the climb!  You can see the entire city from the top.

As we neared the top, the city skyline revealed its beauty to us.  It was then that I realized how massive Kunshan really was.  I stood atop the threshold and scouted for Yong Jing Wan, but never found it.

A small oasis sold drinks for a couple of bucks.  Picnic tables filled with resting visitors scattered around a scenic spot and the gazebo.

No trip is complete without some excellent "Engrish."

We walked down the other side of the mountain, and saw this stunning view.

This is the highest point in Kunshan, so as you walk around the mountain, you can see in all directions.
We found a new lake we never knew existed.

The water looked inviting for a romantic boat ride.

There are many things to do once you enter the park.  I especially liked the water ball!

The Haunted House.... Err Mountain....

The entrance to the haunted house.

I noticed a pyramid jutting out the side of the mountain...  It's one of those moments where you think, What in the world? What could it be?  Your right, a haunted house!  I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner!

We bought tickets for this unkown thrill at an additional 20 yuan fee.  We entered an underground tunnel, with heavy sealed doors swung open welcoming us.  This place was definitely eerie, straight out of a drama movie recapping the events of a nuclear holocaust.  The building was far scarier than any "ghostly creature" that was in the place.

The structure was the scariest thing about the haunted house!  It looked more like a dungeon or bomb shelter.

On your walk into the haunted house, the spooky pig greeted you with the song, "Hello Barbie, Let's Go Party."

It didn't take us very long to realize how foolish this haunted house was.  Teenagers followed us in with excited squeals and trembling white fists.  Our first encounter was of a creepy pig, dancing and singing to Barbie Girl by Aqua, a song reminiscent of my childhood.  (Barbie Girl Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyhrYis509A)

While everyone else screamed, we giggled to ourselves.  

We continued on to the next room, where badly constructed Styrofoam "demons" lurched towards you in the dark.  It wasn't too difficult to understand the contraption:  the figures were attached to some sort of garage door opener that would swing them forward and back again.

Towards the end, there was a closed, impassable door.  The tunnel didn't end.  It was sealed shut.  I am so interested in what might lay behind it... Batman's secret lair? An undercover army operation?  I have my own conspiracies, but as luck might have it, we had to turn around and exit the haunted house the same path we had come in from--through shrieking teenage girls clinging to their boyfriends.

But hey, at least I got a picture of the creepy dancing pig!



 The Bonsai Garden

The most incredible bonsai trees can be found in this garden.

This was the most impressive.  I wonder how old this one is?

The Zoo

The map of the zoo.

 I was on such a high, especially when we learned there was a zoo!  I couldn't have stifled my excitement for all the money in the world.

Many animals had some scar or mark.  This wolf had part of his upper lip torn off. 

We had seen the above poster near the entrance gate.  I giggled a little to Chitrak, do you really think they have a bear in there?  It must be some typo, or the person who created it loved clipart, because this place was far too small to house even one tiger.  This should have been my first clue...

We walked in and saw rooms no bigger than the animal inside of it.  All animal dens had concrete floors, with a green metal gate to keep the animal contained.  To make sure no guest put their hand inside the cage, the zoo had built a waist length railing a few feet in front of the confinement.

When I tell you the cages were small, I want you to imagine this same-size cage holding a big brown grizzly bear, or 4 young playful tigers, or an adult zebra.

Animals were kept in small cages.

Never in my life have I been this close to a wolf, tiger, or even bear.  They were quite literally only a few feet away because they had no where else to go.  No tree to seek shade in, nor rock to lounge. 

The animals were used to human interaction.  I distinctly remember a family that was infatuated with the four tiger cubs.  One child had a bubble machine, and blew bubbles into the cage.  Another little boy threw some crackers to them, and their father, who was just as excited as his kids held up a toy on a stick to see what reaction the cubs would have.  

I took only two pictures to show you how small their rooms were.

It was too hard to watch the animals endure these poor conditions.  We left shortly after arriving.

Many visitors liked playing with the animals by throwing food to them in their cages.