We went with some friends to the Shanghai Zoo on Halloween, Saturday, October 31st. I told Leah that since she couldn't go trick or treating this year that maybe the animals would do some tricks for her ; -) - which some did! and she got a couple treats - a stuffed panda and an ice cream bar! We rode what they call the "subway" (not like our subways) for the first time - it's actually elevated, not below ground! We had to take 2 taxis to the train station because they are pretty strict about only 4 passengers in a [View Full Entry]

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Finally, after having spent about 9 weeks total time in China, we got to go to the ocean! It really was close like Jim said! We left after lunch on Saturday and took a taxi. I timed it and we got there in 22 minutes! It cost us 57RMB, or a little over $7USD to get there. We had reservations at the Howard Johnson's Palm Beach Resort, where Jim stayed on his first trip here. After checking in, we headed out to explore! We started out at the Long Teng Pavilion, which is a newer temple, but we figured we could [View Full Entry]

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Jim has had to work 8 days straight after the Chinese Holiday, so we have just done some local things. The last day of his vacation time, we went out with a couple of new friends, Julie and Tina. We went to Guhua Park, which I have written about a couple of times before. Leah wanted to go back and rent a boat. This time, Julie and Tina sat in the front with Leah while Jim and I "relaxed" in the back - actually, we didn relax a lot! It was quite crowded being a holiday, and Leah kept running into [View Full Entry]

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This will be the last entry for our stay in Suzhou. After our visit to The Lingering Garden, we had planned to go to the Suzhou Museum, but upon arrival found an extremely long line, which wasn't even moving, and we decided to just go back to Jin Ji Lake. We went back to Zapata's and this time got to sit on the outdoor balcony since it wasn't crowded. While looking around from the balcony, I saw another wading type area around the side where we hadn't gone before, so we went to check that out after lunch. I think the [View Full Entry]

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There were a few directions we hadn't walked from the hotel, we took one on our way to the Lingering Garden. We found there was a very nice pedestrian shopping area, with nice fountains and displays. At one end of it was a children's amusement area, which Leah will eventually post about. It supposedly wasn't very far to the garden, but we weren't exactly sure which street to turn down, so we decided to catch a pedicab. These are the bicycles with the seats in the back. Actually, the one we took was a scooter and I think they are called [View Full Entry]

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We were ready for a simpler day, so after having lunch at TGIFriday's, we walked behind it towards Guan Qian Jie, which I wrote about last time we were in Suzhou and called it "Walking Street." We found a fun little store which Leah liked and found some treasures to buy. At the end of the little street with this store was a Christian Church. We knew that there were some around, but didn't know where. Maybe next time we're here we'll check it out better. We spent quite a bit of time in a DVD store. It's amazing all of [View Full Entry]

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Jin Ji Lake is a fairly modern area in Suzhou. Ten years ago, the lake was surrounded by farmland and fishermen. The area around the lake has now been developed with business areas, beautiful parks, residence areas, and a 9 mile walkway around the entire lake. The Lake is inside of the Suzhou Industrial Park or SIP, which was developed with the help of Singapore. "There are eight neighborhoods with diverse water and landscape expressions encircling Jinji Lake. Each neighborhood has its own identity. Neighborhoods on the western and northern shores, closer to the city of Suzhou, feature broa [View Full Entry]

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There are many gardens in Suzhou and The Master of the Nets is one of the smaller ones, but we decided to visit it because of their special night party. We saw eight different performances of various types of ancient Chinese arts, including Chinese opera, singing, instrumental solos and dancing. Each performance was introduced in both Chinese and English, and lasted about 10 minutes. It was kind of odd, even the ones that were entirely in Chinese were enjoyable - even Jim enjoyed them! Chinese opera is not what we think of opera as - it is a from of drama [View Full Entry]

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Shantang Street is the most famous ancient street in Suzhou, said to be almost 1200 years old, built in the Tang Dynasty in 825AD. The founder was Bai JuYi, a famous poet of the time. The canal along the back of the shops and houses is called the Shantang River. The area has been home to many famous Chinese people in the past. It was - and still is - an important business center. There were some famous buildings along the street, but the signs were all in Chinese, so I have NO idea what they were! The street runs between [View Full Entry]

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Jim has time off for the Chinese holidays, so we are spending some time in Suzhou, which is a couple of hours from Nanqiao. Although, with the holiday traffic, it took us almost 3 hours to get here! The Chinese are celebrating their National Holiday and this year marks 60 years since the People's Republic of China was established, so it's a big deal to them. They also have time off for their Mid-Autumn Festival. Sometimes this is called the Moon or Mooncake Festival. This is supposedly the time of the year that the moon looks the biggest. I saw [View Full Entry]

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