Jinhong Hotel Wujiang

... on each arm in the middle of the road and absolutely no one would stop for you to let you finish crossing the road. Pedestrians have absolutely no right of way whatsoever and must be incredibly alert when crossing the road. Last year in China 80000 people died in traffic related deaths. I can't imagine how many people were maimed or injured in traffic related accidents. It's just STUPID.

Today I wore two pairs of socks, boots, long johns, pants, two long
sleeve shirts, a fleece coat, a scarf and a long lululemon raincoat. I
wore my gloves and mitts with a hat on our bike ride to school, but
took those off for class. I didn't take any of my other clothing items
off for the majority of the day. Oh, I suppose that is not entirely
true.

I have been the door nazi today. The students don't really
think ...

Suzhou is home to China's famous gardens, where poets, artists and philosophers spent their time during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Ah, the good old days. Sitting around drinking tea, shooting the ****, and attaining moral perfection.

But the Chinese have no trouble moving on. Like most of the North, the history of this city seems covered in a thin layer of dust kicked up by progress. What remains seems to exist exclusively for tourist dollars, evidenced by whole towns in ...

... the outer condition of their homes. In fact, the only time many of them are painted or repaired is when the building it first completed. After that, no attention is paid to it. However, the interior is often the rival of 5 star hotels, even out in the more rural areas. It’s just a different mindset.

The juxtaposition between the new construction and the rubble in the same city block is something to behold

A new ...

... br>

The owner crash into collecting rocks from all over China especially from Suzhou lakes. You can see many white rare rocks full of holes and groves. Hence, this garden has the most famous rock in China which is 7m high.



You can enjoy drinking tea at teahouse and walk in the garden. I recommend to spend of 1-2 hours at this garden. There is also a shopping room where you can buy some souvenirs of Suzhou.
...To be Continued

... to try to come to this intriguing country again (in the program: going for a long hike on the Great Wall and discovering rural China). I will head back home tomorrow after a brunch in the French concession. We'll meet up with Aude, who is my cousin's long time girlfriend's cousin (yeah.... a little complicated) and it will then be time to get on the plane for 13 or 14 hours (much shorter than the 16-hour flight to get here).

... is renowned for it's beautiful silk, beautiful women, and beautiful gardens. I was able to go to one of the gardens last week, which was calm and beautiful and in the center pavilion served as a meeting ground for the local elderly people, who spend their afternoons drinking cha (tea) and talking. The food here is fascinating, as Feng laoshi (my professor from SeattleU) has been taking us to all of his favorite restaurants the past week. From fine ...

... brought a halt to proceedings! I DID try it, but for me, a oncer!! After dinner it was back to our hotel, where we wandered around our little part of Beijing. 7 or 8 degrees tonight, a little chillier than the Christchurch Summer which I've just left, but if 16 million Beijing residents can put up with it, then so can I. Tomorrow, it's off to the Great Wall (of China, stupid!)and a Peking Duck dinner tomorrow night.

... patterns. The view from the dining room window was out to a small shopping area. It featured shops with clothing seconds (only 19 Yuan for tee-shirts that had a delightful "Chinglish" statements that gave one pause...what could they possibly have been trying to say?), pirated cds and dvds for only 4 yuan each (about 50 cents) and alleys that were busy with food markets or women washing clothing in a shared laundry sink. Every residence window was festooned with drying clothes ...

... then marched a dozen of his finest girls around the corner from which Phil could choose. As it transpired Peters politely declined, as far as I know, but the event shall go down as an urban myth amongst the pages of the legendary tale of our travels. On Thursday morning Phil and Montags visited an infamous local DVD store to stock their collection, whilst I fed my mind with a visit to the Shanghai museum with Emily and Alex. We learnt about ancient Chinese pottery ...