Blogs from Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, Asia - page 6

Suzhou was never on the itinerary. I had actually never heard of it until I got to Shangahai (... read more

So... as of tomorrow it will have been exactly 1 month since I have left the United States. Time does seem to be going pretty quickly here. Every day has been some kind of adventure, be it getting on the wrong bus or acting as a tourist and seeing the sights. Yesterday I had some friends come in from Shanghai to see me and the town. We had a good time but I felt terrible because on several accounts I led them the wrong way or took them on the wrong bus. I did my best to plan ahead of time and things just kept going wrong. It's very difficult because the buses are not in English and there are no maps! It's a terrible system but it is the ONLY system so you have to ... read more

I'll begin with the cliche. There is and old Chinese saying 'In heaven there is Paradise, on earth there is Suzhou and Hangzhou'. I spent the last weekend with Teresa exploring the so called Venice of the East. We cruised the canals, cycled the cobbled waterways and explored the city in true backpacker style. With the sun blistering, the humidity threatening to melt us like wicked witches we arrived in Suzhou worse for wear but early and wanting to get out and about and eat! The hostel, Suzhou Mingtown hostel, part of the YHA was too perfectly situated. It sat on a quiet stretch of canal in the city centre, there was a steady strean of human traffic strolling up and down the canalside and occasionally the tooting of a moped horn or the tring of ... read more

Today I went to the train ticket office near Mike's place to get the first 2 of the 4 Chinese train tickets I'll need. I already have my 2 of my 3 Thailand tickets, booked online, (the third is a short hop that I can just buy at the station) and I'll get my Malaysia ones later this week, also online. Last year we went to this office to get tickets to Beijing and attempt to get tickets for Cory, Lacey, and me to go to Qingdao. It was hot, crowded, and due to Expo the availability of tickets was very sketchy. Today, I walked in to find a total of 3 people inside the building, and I strolled up to the counter and was able to clearly, cleanly, and without error, request the tickets I ... read more

It’s strange how, when you are leaving a place, your thoughts change but often your feelings don’t. I’m filling my last days in Suzhou to the brim. Brimful time. Everyday, on the roof of my kitchen, for two hours, my TaiQi teacher tries to teach me the basic steps. I’m rubbish. It’s hard to even learn the basic eight steps when it’s never been a part of your way of thinking. And, until I learn these steps, there’s no way forward. My teacher is a gentle woman called Ginger; though, she’s not. She’s uncharacteristically divorced and her 17 year old son lives with her parents in North East China where the temperature is now minus28. I’d hoped to have 3 months learning TaiQi but that’s not going to happen so, like the last days in Beijing, ... read more