Blogs from Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, Asia

I woke up pretty early, but after having had a very early start yesterday, I lazed in bed for a while longer not wanting to move. Eventually, I got up and we headed out. Our first stop of the day was breakfast. After returning our key card and being given some bottles of iced tea and breakfast recommendations from the hotel reception staff we were on our way. We passed by the first place they recommended and decided to see what the other places looked like. Pretty much as soon as we saw the second place, we decided to go in. Dumplings for breakfast! Definitely one of my favourite meals. The restaurant was pretty busy inside, lots of people enjoying a late breakfast or early lunch. We ordered at the counter, the menu on the wall ... read more

Unfortunately, no matter where you live in China, (and I assume anywhere else abroad) you are bound to have what we foreigners call a 'Bad China Day'. This is where essentially everything will go wrong. It will be the biggest thing like missing your trains to the smallest thing like having to re-walk stairs in extreme heat just to switch a gondola ticket for a ticket you already have to get your gondola ticket.... a system that seems completely void. This blog post is to enlighten you followers on what it is like to go through a Bad China Day, best way to combat it and to know you're not alone if you plan on coming to China. First off, I don't want what seems like a life time of struggles to put anyone off coming ... read more

There comes a time when you need to just buy all your stuff in one go for your apartment and what better way to do it than to IKEA? Sounds like a fun day out, super chill, no stress, local right? One critical factor to this story is that it happened in China so of course, it was yet another adventure for us foreigners. So if anyone reading this blog is not a kiwi and never been to New Zealand, we have nothing to even compare ourselves to the wonders of IKEA. Going to IKEA was just another trip for the American's that came along. For Tim but more so for myself, it was like having a second Christmas in a year that no one pre warned me about. IKEA IS LIFE. But because we were ... read more

I have finally decided that because lately, well for the past two years eight months, has been such a whirlwind of adventures and hilarious moments of the ups and downs, it was time I shared them on a blog because then years later if I'm not sitting alone at home with 28 cats and actually have managed to find a guy, settle down and have kids, then I have a place they can read about my time in China. So where to start? Well let's start with how I actually got here. This is the most common question I get asked when they hear about China; "why China!?". Well, just like Ash chooses his Pokemon, China basically said, "I choose you Maria!". I was all set to go to the UK. I had my primary degree ... read more

8th Oct: Since we had the whole day ahead of us, we decided to head in a different direction to yesterday. Instead of going to the main area, which has all the gardens in it, we took the subway in a different direction, near to where the Tiger Hill Scenic Spot is. Looking on the map, we figured out that we could walk there via Shantang Street, which is another walking street, similar to the street we had been on the day before. I had expected this street to be more like the one we had visited, however it surprised me as it was quite different. While the street yesterday was definitely geared towards tourists, this one was more for the locals. The shops sold normal everyday things and we able to get some fruits and ... read more