Suzhou Bamboo Grove Hotel

... enough.

an hour of tossing the apartment later, i went back to work with three boarding passes. (thank god i travel so much.) got one from my trip to japan, singapore and taiwan. the one for taiwan was over 8000 rmb so that should be good and enough, right?

wrong! went back to the accountant and she said that the one for singapore was from a long time ago- she said a year and a half ago. the others were also old- japan was a year ...

... 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 ...

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 ...

... be found snaking their way all over town. The buildings along the road are of the old traditional style. At night, watching the reflections of the red paper lanterns off of the water accompanied by traditional chinese music coming from one of the several a teahouses beside the canal creates a really quaint atmosphere.  Since being in Suzhou I visited the "Humble Administrators Garden". It was really an amazing garden. It is reportedly the best garden in Suzhou ...

... you're a stupid foreigner. so we waited in first-class instead of cramming into the regular waiting area.

in first class, you have cushy couches with classical music pumped in. for the smokers, there's a nice waterfall that empties into a clear lake. benches surround the lake along with standing ashcans. the regular waiting area is similiar to herding cattle. the only thing they're missing are the cowpokes.

Suzhou, Jiangsu, China maymay1980

... shop drinking hot chocolate and it was one of the loveliest night's I've ever had! I explored the outskirts of Suzhou on the third day, namely Lingyang Shan which was a very foreigner-free affair and took me back to Hefei-style stares weaved among acts of excitement and hospitality. I planned to go to another mountain but got lost and ended up in another little pretty pocket of China called Mudu which was a water town = a town built on water.......

... an adult can be done. With the right teacher (like a Carolyn Ho), you could learn a lot more. Once you start to learn the tones and characters, there is a reward in that the grammar is very easy (unlike English). I've known several waiguoren (foreigners) who have become fluent in speaking and writing Chinese as adults. Peter Hessler, who I don't know personally, came to China in the later 1990s to teach English at a rural college. In two years time he became fluent. He ended up ...