Landmark Skylight Pearl Hotel Suzhou

... a Hotpot. Hotpot is very popular in China. Basically your table has a small stovetop burner on it with a pot. When the water, or broth, is boiling you add the various vegetables, tofu, and whatever else (meat) into the pot, cook it up and take it out when it's ready to eat. This meal usually comes to about 80-90RMB which is about $14CAN. We walk out of there feeling stuffed to the gills. <br><br>We haven't really eaten ...

... we took time to see the Sex Museum, perhaps the only one of its kind in teh world. Our leader, Marion had been to China 46 times and never gone to teh sex museum. The outdoor sculpture garden was neat... and tranquil, most people didn't want to pay the $3 to enter the museum, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. No there wasn't anything we wanted to buy from the gift shop! Fittingly enough ...

<br>Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya, <br> <br>Mate, am I buggered! <br>And by that I don't mean I've had a wonderful day with Boy Wonder! <br> <br>It's now nine in the evening and I've finally sat for an ElcheapO Coffee at KFC. <br>What an excelled day today was and full of beautiful Suzhou Gardens. <br> <br>After saying good morning to Luo Wei I headed ...

Today we went to Zhouzhuang a water town near Shanghai. It has old Ming buildings and canals that run through the town. We hired a gondola and went for a ride through the canals. That was lovely, really peaceful. We stopped to watch the Chinese Opera when we first got there and got mobbed! You'd have thought we were celebrities with the attention ...

... Daniels a big fan of 'footy' and I'm a big fan of beer. On the way we dropped into Judy Q's for dinner. Another expensive choice but hey, we were in Shanghai! I had the Tom Yum soup which is my most favourite soup in the world and this one was close to being one of the best Tom Yums ever. Along with my soup I had a huge mug of Tiger Beer. Lurve Tiger draught on tap ...

... around for a place to get a drink. "Do you speak English?" "No," a woman answered, "do you speak Chinese?" "Bu," I said. I mimed chugging a beer. She led me out the door and pointed down the street. There is this one functioning pub (which on the inside looks like a posh club-VIP room) and it charges English prices (3.50 pounds for a lager). Up until then I was wishing I was back in Europe, and then that shocking reminder of the difference in prices ...

... to it - until half way there he quietly grabs a handkerchief and puts it over the meter!! Unreal!! I guess I didn't negotiate a low enough price to beat the meter. So I snapped a picture, and we headed to the airport. At the airport, I asked to see the meter price, which he said was 260, but who really knows. I was a little ******, but gave him the 300 anyway. Goodbye Bangkok cabbies. My flight to Shanghai ended up being a 3 hours late, so I didn't get in until ...

... as most of them have been blocked up now. The gardens are gorgeous even though the rain was absolutely torrential for about an hour before our train was due to leave and we were soaked to the skin but got some beautiful photos. Back to Shanghai to take it easy before heading to Hong Kong x

Arrived in Shanghai on the 9th after a 17 hour train journey, after checking in at our hotel we got down to the serious business of sight seeing. Had a stroll along the Bund and had a japanese meal in a fast food type place - v nice! then took a taxi across to the other side of the river and visited the aquarium - it has the longest underwater tunnel in the world - over 150m long and full of big sharks. also saw the biggest fish in the world, straight ...

... what - you mean Little China?" "Nah - like that place with those river things" "Fish?" "Nah - those canal types things all over the city" "Oh yeah - you mean like that place in all those movies and ****..." "Yeah - it's in the Bond where he blows up stuff..." "Yeah - i know the one you're talking about..." "Yeah - what's the city's name?" "New York" "No - not New York ya idiot (there's always one of the two complete idiots who is still significantly ...