Suzhou Changmen Hotel

... is not allowed people smoke regardless. If you are eating at any restaurant you will be surrounded by smokers. Here is what drives me crazy though. Starbucks is supposed to be non-smoking, but you will still have the odd smoker inside. The change room at my gym is supposed to be non-smoking, but many Chinese men seem to like to have a smoke in the change room after they workout. Come on, what's that about! The train is supposed to be ...

... in small rooms with many students, the pressure to do well is
enormous and yet these students greet me every morning with a cheerful hello,
they tell me they are fabulous with a smile on their face. They laugh,
joke and learn all the things our students learn in a second language.
They are amazing.


I will put my layers of clothes on again tomorrow with a smile on my face and greet my students with a warm "hello"

... region that you can't enter without paying a hefty fee.

Still, there are neighbourhoods here that have survived, retaining their ancient charm without trying or making a big deal out of it. Their narrow cobblestone streets buzz with activity, as pots steam, fish flop in buckets, and laundry drips dry from above. But these gems are hidden among the tourists zones and overshadowed by cloud-touching condos.

In conversation with young Chinese people, I have told ...

... tourists, so we returned the favor and pulled them into our pictures too! The entire place was great, and many of us said it was our favorite destination so far.

However, that sentiment changed pretty quickly as we took to a "Chinese gondola" for a tour of the Grand Canal. The century old homes that lined the canal were really interesting. Before the light faded, we hopped off of the boat and wound our way through a neighborhood ...

... any airport/or train stations. In my way back to Dubai I was carrying a spray painkiller of knees and muscle in my backpack. I was carrying it all my journeys to avoid knee pain while hiking.I checked in many airport luggage check at Guangzhou (2 times), and Sichuan at Jiuzh-Huanglong Airport (2 times) and they never take it off except at Shanghai. Actually I hadn't knew that it's not allowed to carry it until I was at Shanghai heading back to Dubai.

Back to our ...

... there were no other passengers, just May and I. The boat cruised very slowly down the canal and it was very nice. It turns out that the Shangtang Street that we walked down yesterday was located along the canal, so I got to see the buildings from the back. That was neat. The stage had what appeared to be a full opera being performed on it. I also saw the man whom we got the ...

... our room and realized that it really was a former Chinese style mansion. There are little garden-esque areas in both areas where rooms are situated with trees growing. Pictures will be taken of this place. We fell to sleep with a promise that I could take a bath in the morning! We get up and I put on wool socks in order to go to the bathroom to start my bath water. This isn't too bad until I realize that with the water ...

This weekend was, as Barney on "How I Met Your Mother" would call it: Legendary. No better word for it. Honestly. It actually all started early last week when Ben and I came to the same independent conclusions that we should visit Suzhou this weekend after our marathon 12-day teaching spree. Then of course, we'd invite Daniel and Ruby to tag along. So while the internet was out all week (Ray thinks it was a "hicker" aka hacker, who brought our entire school's server to ...

... economy. Interestingly the walkway is anchored by the Temple of Mystery. This Daoist temple (major tourist attraction) dates back in one form another - 1,800 years. Much of it though was built around 1200 during the Song Dynasty (a high point for Suzhou). The compound contained four main buildings and we only had time to tour two of them. Influences of Buddhism are seen with the art work and some of the statues. One facet of Daoism is to try to live in harmony with your ...

... and the ex-pat), which was a bit out of the blue. Had some really good nights out in between being at school from start to finish. Every now and again we have a western meal (had the best lasagna the other day - cheese is pretty expensive here) though. Where we were living was pretty nice - sharing with a Brit who we got on well with. It was brand new - we could ...