A visitor to Tiger Hill in Suzhou offers prayers at the hilltop Buddhist temple on Feb 8, the Lunar New Year's first day.[Photo by Siva Sankar/ China Daily]

New Year's Day

Destination: nearby Suzhou, "Venice of the East". I am stunned to see thousands of Chinese visitors in Tiger Hill, the key tourist attraction, a hilly terrain with a granite-and-brick ancient tower on the hilltop. Appears people prefer some outdoor fun after the New Year's Eve family banquet the previous evening.

I chance upon a pavement performer dressed in a golden monkey costume, complete with a monkey mask. His monkey-like antics delight kids and adults alike.

Red-and-yellow arches, with drawings of monkey cartoons, greet visitors on the red lantern-lined pathways, with "Happy New Year" signs in Chinese and English. Kids and grandparents seem to love the place.

In the Buddhist temple atop the hill, visitors offer prayers, bow in front of three giant golden deities, take pictures, slap the huge metal bell outside that hums dull, muted sounds, and hit the drum with a wooden hammer. A wayside solo harp performance by a female musician dressed like a Santa minus the stocking cap, captivates many.

The tall tower at the center becomes the key backdrop for many family pictures. The vanilla ice-cream cones sell like hot cakes.

At nearby Lingering Gardens, "one of China's four most famous gardens", visitors appear mesmerized by the ponds, the tea house, rock gardens, antique furniture, bonsai, jade and porcelain on display. The budding cherry blossoms on the backyard tree fascinate many who take close-up shots with their mobile-cams or top-end Canons and Nikons.

Shantangjie is a beehive of evening activity as locals and tourists mingle in narrow, decorated lanes on either side of the main road along the boat-rich canal. The shops in the old-fashioned buildings, with intricately carved wooden balconies, glow in their golden illuminations.

Wayside fast food, especially fried crisps, steamed rice cakes and caramelized fruit salad on sticks, feeds many. I notice young dads carrying their little children on their shoulders so the latter could enjoy the sight of the crowded, colorful, balloon- and lantern-filled bazaar from a height.

The Lunar New Year's Day, I sense, is all about going out to meet friends and extended family, exchanging red envelopes containing cash as gifts, bonding and cementing ties.