Escape from Shaoyang

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Hi All,

Ah it's good to be back out and about. After a long journey, 22 hours, we arrived in Suzhou. Unfortunately I got my dates a little bit wrong and we only had 2 full days here we could of done with staying for another day. We didn't get to see Suzhou museum which was a shame. We went there on Monday but it was closed and I would of liked to visit the other pagodas but there you go.

We really enjoyed Suzhou. I wouldn't describe it as the Venice of the east but there are some lovely canalside alleyways if you ramble around the city. We had a lovely walk back to the hostel along a deserted, well deserted by Chinese standards you're never alone in China, canal.

So we visited a few gardens, a buddhist temple and we went on a boat ride up the river. On the boat ride there was a young girl dressed in traditional costume and she gave a commentary, no English so we didn't know what she was talking about, although we did understand the lesson in Suzhou dialect, and she played a pipa and sang Suzhou songs.

On our last night we went to Shi Lu to a small market. We got to see a part of the city from the land and the water.

I must say to anyone going there that we didn't like the Mingtown Hostel very much. The double rooms were tiny the staff rather occupied and zero contact with other travellers. This hotel has no common room. You have to use the Mingtown cafe down the way. The only thing going for it was it's position. It was in a beautifully restored canal district. We missed the quater final of the Euros because there wasn't a TV in the hostel!!


Well Enjoy the photos and Jah Bless

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