Golden Dragon Hotel Suzhou

... The sites, sounds, and smells were a real eye opener. Children ran up to us to practice their English and have their picture taken. Other Chinese tourists and locals enjoyed waving to us and Denise and I bought Oreos, Lays potato chips, and a Dove chocolate bar for about $2.50 at the local market. <br><br>Joe had us climb up one of the old bridges to take pictures as the lights came on along the canal. When we got back to him, he had an ...

... station table in front of her shop. There are always fifteen to twenty people milling around buying their breakfast from her. She has a couple of small wooden tables with four chairs each set-up beside her cooking station for people to sit and eat. They are always full. Right next door is a small shop that sells fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as bottled water and juice. Two or three times a week I'll stop to ...

... right by your shoulder!<br><br>Suzhou is sometimes called the Venice of the East apparently. Certainly the City centre is surrounded by the Grand Canal which goes all the way to Beijing, And there are plenty smaller canals criss-crossing the city but many of them peter out as they have been filled in or built over during a wave of Communist reconstruction. I believe moves are afoot to resurrect them. But the number of scooters certainly ...

... Lois teaches English classes and an ESL class. Our biggest class has about 25 students. <br><br>Lunch is at 11:30am. Here's the big difference between teaching in BC and teaching in China. The lunch break here is 2 hours long. When I first heard about this I thought it was crazy!!! But all of the BC teachers, including me, love having the long lunch break. After the first 30 minutes of lunch the campus becomes a ghost town because all of the ...

... priced brand names in this little shop that may be 10 feet wide. Just a guess though. Patient Al spent his day walking three steps at a time. He would walk three steps, and we would dive into the next store. We emerged, he would walk three steps, and we would be gone again, searching the racks for some good deals. Everything isn't cheap, but you can find some good bargains if you look.<br><br>Cheers from the Bookworm<br><br><br><br><br>

... Some bits were quite touristy, but then you could suddenly turn a corner and find yourselves the only ones on the road. We also got to check out some more historical sights and the China Sex Culture Museum- woot! But I thought the town itself was really beautiful, and somewhat more of the stereotypical stuff you expect from China when you come to visit :) Sorry this is a short entry- no crazy stories or anything from this trip, but it was nice to get away and relax ...

... The best part? There were only three songs we all knew: Baby One More Time, Winter Wonderland and Old McDonald. Yup... AMAZING! I added a short video of us singing Old McDonald.... classic. We had quite a great time until we realized we had 30 minutes to get back to campus to make our 11:00 curfew. (This makes me bitter everyday). The second best part all the gates close at 9:30 except the one at the front of campus which made it like a 2 mile walk from the KTV bar. We ...

... neither mentioned on my LP nor marked on my Chinese map. How strange! It really was a beautiful place to walk around and full of bars and all things touristy. Pretty much like a small version of West Street in Yangshuo. <br> <br>The thing that made it so beautiful was the canals that ran throughout. <br>So where am I now? <br>Once again I have no idea ...

Oh dear..... We had another over night train last night and it was 16 hours. I didn't sleep as well as I did on the other train and it was raining so bad that the train actually stopped for an hour. We arrived safe and sound though at our hotel, which is where I've just sat and updated this as I haven't had internet access in about a week now i think..... lol Keeping track of the days is still ...

... 71 metres tout de meme, dominant le fleuve, encastre dans sa falaise. Malheureusement,j'ai ressenti un peu la meme chose qu'a Khiva : l'Unesco fait du bon travail, mais trop de renovations finissent par tuer l'authenticite. J'ai passe un bon moment dans les jardins et temples environnants, mais sans aller vers les pagodes en haut de la colline. C'etait encore tout plein d'escaliers et la, mes genoux ils ont besoin de se poser quelques siecles avant de repartir. A ceux qui ...