Blogs from Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, Asia - page 2

We’ve got one day off every 5 days of teaching, but it’s really not off at all, since the University has planned a trip for us to Suzhou along with our TAs and Monitors. So, there’s no getting away from students on our day off. Suzhou is famous for its gardens. I visited the city during my first visit to China about 15 years ago. I remember at least one of the gardens we visited from that first time, the Humble Administrator’s Garden. What I remember most was that it wasn’t nearly as crowded that first visit as it was this time around. Maybe it’s the season, since my first visit was in November. But suspect it’s also because the growing prosperity here makes it possible for Chinese to travel more than ever. There’s a typical ... read more

Sammy is coming along in leaps and bounds. He’s putting on weight, his eyes are sparkling, he loves to joke around, he has learned to love water if his Jei Jei joins him, and he’s generally an easy kid. He has incredible patience for a three-year-old, which Kym attributes to his lack of mobility – you have to learn patience when you often can’t move anywhere unaided. He hasn’t (yet) manifested any behaviours relating to the sudden loss of his previous life, so I’m waiting for the hammer to fall, but right now, he’s a surprisingly normal kid. Tooh tooh (spits on fingers superstitiously). ... read more

I just want to say a great big thank you to my fantastic friend, Kym, who has been so incredibly supportive to us through what has been a very stressful journey, both physically and emotionally. We couldn't have done it without our amazing guide and mentor.... read more

OMG... ten days on the Yantze ... no WiFi ... and then on day nine the computer fries!!! Now sitting in hotel one and a half hours out of Shanghai very uncertain that this message will get thru. Plan A is to fix Notebook; plan B is to buy something new...i-Pad?why not? At the moment am very frustrated because the travel blog site has some errors, gemail is impossible and all I want is to let all know that I have survived so far with nine days to go with the group and eight days more of prisoner on the bus! All is well except for fried notebook and one day of engorged intestines which needed a day to clean themselves out. Too much food in; not enough eliminated and the intestines revolted. Same thing happened ... read more

Ye-ha, we board another overnight train to Suzhou. The enthusiasm has waned a little but we've come prepared. Armed with weird little butter filled coffee cakes, the packet looked like chocolate and custard to me, and bread with an unfathomable number of preservatives, we set off. We pass smoke stack after smoke stack...perhaps Mr Abbott should have ridden an overnight train in China, and press on. Day 7 A slight hurdle, our train terminates in Shanghai and we have to get off 80km before this in Suzhou. No English here, not a single word. And for some reason when they say Soo-chow its fine but when I say Soo-chow, I get a look of puzzlement. We wake the kids and wait and wait and wait, carefully decifer every station sign until we finally reach Suzhou. Shiny ... read more