GreenTree Inn Suzhou Wuzhong

... thailand, india and japan. she said it'll have to be in rmb.

she just came over. they're all too old. it has to be from 2009. *groan of frustration* what to do now??? she said that an option would be to call the booking company and ask for a receipt with a red official stamp on it. so i immediately called and they said that it's going to take a week for them to mail it to me. i only hope that after a week, this will finally be resolved.

... s, walmart or walgreens (lil had forgotten which one it was). you put your credit card in these machines and it'll tell you everything about your account: which movies you've watched, suggestions for movies, etc. and you can return the movie at any place with one of those machines!

so i know it doesn't sound that amazing- esp if you were in the states when all these changes happened. but honestly, if i mention blockbuster, it's going to date me?! how bizarre is that?!

Today us canadians celebrated Thanksgiving! you must be thinking, "rice on thanksgiving? that's ********" but no my friends we had a TURKEY! And stuffing and potatoes and gravy, oh my god i'm the fullest i've ever been in my life! It was one of the best nights i've had so far actually, I really don't think i've laughed as much as i did tonight since i've gotten here so thats always a plus =). Celebrating thanksgiving with friends is quite ...

... the source. It was a beautiful girl wearing Tang Dynasty style clothing and playing the pipa. There were musicians located throughout the garden and they were there simply for the enjoyment of visitors. Some were singing, some were just playing, and some were duets. It really made the garden come alive. The cool thing about these Suzhou gardens is that they are designed so that ...

A rainy day today due to a typhoon but didn't hinder our day. We visited the Master of the Nets Garden and the Humble Administrator's Garden.
The Humble Administrator's Garden was established in the 16th century by a retired magistrate, Wang Xianchen, and developed over the years as subsequent owners made changes according to the fashion of the day. A 16th century painting shows that originally the garden was less decorative than ...

We leave Shanghai at 9am for Suzhou on the way we visit a water town established about 700 years ago and check out some of the old homes of the wealthy people back then that are surrounded by water canals. We then take a boat ride along the canals.
Had a lovely traditional dinner including a pig hock cooked and marinated in like a soy sauce, it was very nice.
We check into our Suzhou Hotel - Suzhou is about 1 and a half ...

... story - basically, the loud noise and fire is supposed to scare away evil spirits) and then went to a Buddhist temple where we lit a bundle of incense sticks each and made a wish before throwing it into a kind of furnace. It was quite scary, there must've been around 10,000 people in this tiny site and every other person was pushing through the crowds with lit incense sticks! We finished everything at 2am and I managed to drag myself out of bed at 5.30am in time for my bus to Shanghai.....

... As soon as we entered the hotel, we were greeted by our new friends Jason and Elle. What a relief! Jason attends Suzhou University and is the brother-in-law of one of my employees and Elle is a Chinese friend who teaches Chinese to Jason and his wife. Elle took us to Tiger Hill Park. Legend has it that in 496 BC, King He Lu was killed in battle and his son had him and his treasure buried there on the highest hill around. Three days after he was ...

... with tones in pronunciation (the word "ma" depending on the voice inflection can mean mother or horse) and characters instead of an alphabet. After the orientation we head to downtown Suzhou on the No. 501 bus. Like most Chinese city buses, it is beyond crowded. All the clichés apply. Half of the city seems to be standing on the bus and we bend our bodies in ways not supposed to be possible as more and more people get on with each stop. (Rides at Disney are nothing like this ...

... in the humidity of Shanghai it is hard to imagine the clothes every drying. The heat was oppressive even in the morning, and everyone had a fan to try to cool themselves. I became acquainted with the custom that some Chinese have of wearing their pajama pants on the street... I would too if it would have helped me stay cool. I checked weather.com on the computer in our hotel room when I finally had to retreat to coolness. It read "96 degrees, feels like 106." That said it all.