Blogs from Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, Asia - page 20

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Asia » China » Jiangsu » Suzhou March 22nd 2007

We decided to take a trip to Hangzhou, a historic city 2.5 hours south of Suzhou. When Marco Polo visited this city, he called it the most beautiful place on earth. ¡°Above there is heaven, below, there is Hangzhou and Suzhou.¡± Hangzhou also has a grand canal that conveniently links this centralized city to the north, Bejing. Parts of the grand canal were constructed in the 5th century BC. It is the longest man-made canal in the world. After doing a little reading, we were excited to take the trip. We bought bus tickets on Tuesday and were off bright and early at 9 AM Wednesday. Around noon, we arrived. The bus stop was nothing less than chaotic. People were coming up to us with advertisements, trying to get us in their taxis, and trying to ... read more
The Famous silk Street.
small silk shop
The old musician

Asia » China » Jiangsu » Suzhou March 20th 2007

Suzhou Vervoer: We bereikten Suzhou per bus vanuit Jiaxing. We kwamen toe in het noordelijk busstation (qiche beizhan) en namen daar een taxi naar het centrum van de oude stad (10Y vaste prijs), je kan dit ook per fietstaxi doen voor 5Y. Vanuit dit noordelijke busstation reisden we later verder naar Wuxi (21.5Y - 1 uur). Ook hier zijn alle bussen express bussen: via autostrades rijden ze zonder stoppen recht op hun doel af. We logeerden in het City Star Business Hotel (Chengshi zhixing shangwu jiudian) Adres: 49 Yinguo Road (xiang), 215000 Suzhou Telefoon: 0512 - 8210 3868 Ligging: op een zijstraat van de Renmin lu, helemaal in het centrum van de stad, vlakbij de Bank of China. Prijs en wat inbegrepen: 180Y voor een tweepersoons- en 160Y voor een éénpersoonskamer met badkamer zonder gebreken (uitzonderlijk ... read more

Asia » China » Jiangsu » Suzhou March 19th 2007

Maandag 19 maart. Berna had gisteren naar haar broer gemaild dat het weer hier soms redelijk fris was, maar dat we nog niet veel geplaagd werden door regen. Dat had ze natuurlijk niet mogen schrijven: deze nacht begon het te gieten en ook de hele voormiddag regende het aan één stuk door. Om 12u verlieten we het hotel en klaarblijkelijk hadden de weergoden medelijden met ons want het hield gelukkig op met regenen. Het busstation lag tegenover het hotel en we zaten bijna direct op de bus die ons in een dik uur naar Suzhou bracht, dat in de provincie Jiangsu ligt. In de Jonge Steentijd zijn in Jiangsu verschillende culturen ontstaan. De vruchtbare bodem, de overvloed aan water en het gematigde klimaat zorgden voor een ideale leefomgeving. In de tumultueuze periode vlak vóór de ... read more
De indrukwekkende Ruigang pagode.
Panoramisch zicht vanuit de pagode over het park.
Hier kan je het een beetje zien: de Panmen is in feite een kleine burcht.

Asia » China » Jiangsu » Suzhou March 14th 2007

Bonjour vous tous, Merci mes filles pour les beaux messages. Joanne j'espere que vous etes tous mieux. Je vois que vous avez fait un beau voyage. Merci a Billy pour les informations sur le hockey, s'il en a d'autre Normand cela lui ferait plaisir. J'espere que mon Zachary est mieux. Tu dois avoir hate d'aller a Montreal avec les enfants. Joanne tu aimerais vois le mur de Hangzhou qui est de 14 km long et tres haut qui contourne la vieille ville. Il est rectangulaire et c'est la qu'il font des marathons, ils font le tour 3 fois je crois. Apparamment tu peux t'inscrire sur l'internet et probablement le voir aussi. En tout cas c'etait toute beaute. Aujourd'hui nous avons pris un train d'une duree de 3hrs. J'ai joue au scrable avec deux femmes de PEI, ... read more

Asia » China » Jiangsu » Suzhou March 13th 2007

Earlier this week, we decided to take a 2 day stop to Shanghai. It is only 1 hour away. We have been fortunate enough to befriend a wealthy student of ours, Paul. We helped him pass an English certification course so that he could travel and study in Australia. He is very generous. His father owns a tea company, and apparently he owns a foreign currency trading company. He is 22. His father is very influential, and his uncle is the head of police in Suzhou. He said if we ever get into trouble, let him know, and he can get us out of trouble. Anyways, his father's partner let us ride with him in a car early on Wednesday morning. Very convenient. We arrived in Shanghai and went right to the Shanghai Museum of Science ... read more
Indoor rainforest
The famous mouse.
The crazy health ride

Asia » China » Jiangsu » Suzhou March 12th 2007

I went in for my first haircut last week. It was another great experience. There is something very odd about the salons here. They stay open until 11 PM, some even later. I inquired to a Chinese friend about it, and also read a little in a newspaper as to why this could be. Apparently some (in truth very few) hair cutting businesses are real ambitious businessmen…they use the salon as a cover for running a black market prostitution business. There are salons on every block, comparable to a Starbucks shop in Seattle (by the way, I am ironically typing this e-mail in a Suzhou Starbucks…who serve burnt and expensive lattes), and who don’t open until 9:30 AM. Supposedly the salons with dual prostitution businesses have the retro style spinning candy cane looking decorations outside ... read more
Shampooing
Mohawk
The cutter

Asia » China » Jiangsu » Suzhou March 2nd 2007

Part 1 of our trip We had a great trip. We started in the afternoon in Suzhou and took a car to Shanghai. We then paid 450 RMB per person each way for our bus ticket. Joe (our boss) said that usually it costs around 150 but since it was the peak of travel for China prices were much higher. This didn’t make sense to me, because I had read in the newspaper earlier in the week that the government was not allowing travel services to charge higher prices during the New Year. This was in direct violation of government regulations. We thought either, 1) the people organizing the bus ride were simply violating government restrictions or 2) we were purchasing a ticket through the so called “black market.” We arrived in Shanghai around 5 for ... read more
The Black Market Bus
A Little Nervous
The 2 Guards

Asia » China » Jiangsu » Suzhou February 14th 2007

Hello, We are leaving shortly for the Fu'Jian province. It is in the south. We take a car to shanghai and then bus for 13 hours. The weather is beautiful, as is the scenery (so I'm told). We have met some Chinese friends who have taken us out. We saw our first garden, named "Lingering Garden." It was very peaceful and relaxing. I will post some pictures when we get back (10 days). And yesterday I also tried duck's tongue, a real delicacy according to our Chinese comrads. Not the case, not the case at all. It reminded me of 11th grade Science class when we disected cats. It had the scent of famaldihide. Ikk!! We did try a traditional kelp dish. It was cured in salt and herbs for 30 days, then served cold. It ... read more

Asia » China » Jiangsu » Suzhou February 10th 2007

Heading Suzhou is the first city I have been to.Many people think it is a very old city because it has a lot of gloriettes,courtyards,gardens,rivulet...& is one of the old city in China.This is the very time I have been to Suzhou.I enjoyed myself there.But I can't express myself clearly with my poor English. ... read more
a tree beside the river
a old bridge
 a river across the town

Asia » China » Jiangsu » Suzhou February 9th 2007

Hello!! We had a fantastic dinner on Monday. It was in celebration of the lunar new year. I think it is some time around February 18th. As you can tell, celebrations start many days before this time. It was pretty great. 4 of the foreign teachers attended, as well as 20 or so important clients. These clients were the HR managers of big companies, like Sony, Qiomonda, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, etc. It was interesting to meet different people. It is a tradition here to toast and say "cheers." Ely and I raised our glasses at least 20 times in 3 hours. It was all in good fun. There is also a gambay. Gambay is similar to "cheers," but it means that you need to finish your drink. It could translate to "bottom's up." Aaron might ... read more




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