Had my 50th birthday party at a place called Barbarrosa, which is a great little bar/restaurant in the middle of the gardens in People’s Square. Exit 11 and turn left before the Art Museum. It has decorations and is themed what you would loosely describe as Moroccan with a menu similar to Coffee Club for lunch, sandwiches, pizza, pasta and wine and quite nice coffee. The staff are attentive and speak enough English to make ordering easy, and the food was nicely cooked. On the lower level there is an outside deck with heaters, bar and an inside dining room. On the top level is another bar and deck and a large lounge area. The gardens are not over stylized or formal in this area, so it’s a nice place to have a drink or coffee ... read more

Decided I needed some fresh air and country living so took myself off to Suzhou for a couple of nights and days. Suzhou is a small city of 5 million total but only 2 million within the city proper, 100 kilometres west of Shanghai. Compared to Shanghai it is like a country town, single level housing in some area, dogs and cats everywhere, old people out walking, kids playing and not a hint of smog anywhere. You get there by train, 45 minutes total trip, going up to 200 kms an hour if it is a D class train in luxury and comfort. Suzhou train station is the like all the Chinese train stations with many waiting rooms, a huge walk to the outside exit and then quite an orderly process to grab one of the ... read more

Today I played tourist on a weekday as I have finished teaching and await my last piece of assessment I am giving my students, which is a test on Thursday. The 993 bus was as crowded as ever, I swear the road works are getting worse in the new expo construction area and I had to stand almost the whole way, grumpy and tired to start the day. Got to Lujaizui and paid my 35Yuan to see the TV tower museum. You can choose to pay more and go up to the first level, yet more for the top and a meal etc. The museum is located under the ground in the basement of the first dome, along with gift shops, coffee shops etc. One of the bookshops has a wonderful collection of books on China ... read more

The University I teach at is winding down the semester for spring Festival that is starting early this year, on January 26. So festivities are underway already which include end of year parties. To start the ball rolling on Friday night we received tickets to a special concert held at the Grand theatre People’s Square Shanghai. This concert was put on by the municipality of Shanghai to honour all the foreign experts working and living in Shanghai and also to acknowledge the Shanghai Chinese students studying abroad at various universities around the world. There were thirteen items on the program ranging from Symphony orchestra works to modern dance and song, acrobatics, national folk singing, Beijing Opera, so extremely diverse. All of the artists were extremely polished and professional performers, the Shanghai Oriental symphony although young are ... read more

There are numerous other attractions in Hangzhou many along the lakes edge or easily accessible nearby. Some of them include: A small art gallery on the little island off the causeway, which seemed to specialize in the traditional water colour art works that most people know as Chinese art. People working and playing, scenes of gardens and houses, with very washed out colours, heavy black outlines, and the use of only 3 or so colours per piece. Very well displayed but very little in English to enlighten us as to the artist/s or the significance of the works. The Hangzhou museum, near the art galley, which had excellent written English commentaries throughout. This museum displayed the history of the local area, from the past, which the guide books say was a city in 221 BC, to ... read more