Suzhou Binhe Crown Hotel

... a menu already!!!! Drives me CRAZY!!!!

... weather around the world (any where that matters
anyway, Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton and Houston) and I am wishing that I
was with mom and dad visiting Di in Houston right now. I must stop
complaining though. I have been bragging about the wonderful fall we
have been having and it seems over night it has changed. I am hoping
to have some warmer days again soon.


At home we try our best to make sure our students are ...

... region that you can't enter without paying a hefty fee.

Still, there are neighbourhoods here that have survived, retaining their ancient charm without trying or making a big deal out of it. Their narrow cobblestone streets buzz with activity, as pots steam, fish flop in buckets, and laundry drips dry from above. But these gems are hidden among the tourists zones and overshadowed by cloud-touching condos.

In conversation with young Chinese people, I have told ...

The day began very early; 4:30 am. We headed to the airport and took off for Shanghai. Denise and I weren't so sure that this part of the trip would be anything too great. After all, we hadn’t really heard of any of the places we would be going in Shanghai. It certainly didn’t have the ring to it that the Great Wall and Forbidden Palace did.

We arrived in Shanghai and were met by our new tour guide, Joe. Joe helped us to ...

We went off the hotel at 7:10am heading to the train station. It takes almost 30 minutes to reach the train station if there is no traffic. It's my first day at Shanghai, almost quarter day and it was cloudy as usual. You can imagine what a city looks like at night but Shanghai is really different. It's like wedding day at my country when you decorate house with colorful lights. That's is Shanghai! I said to myself: "I will come back! Never mind now I have adventures to ...

... and gave us the key and the run of the place. After Kevin indulged in some Fifa action on the X-Box it was time to get serious and get out. The next few days in Shanghai involved this: meeting Dr. Myers whom Laurie had baby-sat for at Lehigh and who has obligations with the Lehigh in Shanghai program for breakfast at Element Fresh, Pearl Shopping (the penultimate!), and lunch at the Brewhouse providing a good chance to catch up ...

... father of Suzhou, He Lu, was buried, apparently along with 3,000 swords for protection but these have never been found. Legend has it that a white tiger came down from the mountains to protect him which is where the name comes from. Tiger Hill is the "Number 1, AAAA Rated" tourist spot in Suzhou. Later we checked into our hotel, an extremely comfortable Holiday Inn where I have sat all night updating our Blog. Finally ...

Suzhou is famous for its gardens. One of the best is the Humbles Administrator Garden. But be aware that all chinese know this, too. Be the first in the morning (difficult), be the last in the evening (also difficult) or go at lunchtime. This garden is always ...

... for our teacher. She began by teaching us the numbers and some basic questions. One thing I found funny was our attempt to learn tones. She kept having us repeat after her so we would hear the difference between tones. However, when Americans (and most other romance language speakers, I think) are unsure or hesitant about something (like beginner students) they tend to raise the pitch of their voice to make it sound like a question. This is not good ...

... we only paid about $12 a ticket, we got pretty good value for money. Today we went to the Shanghai Museum which was quite interesting, lots of Chinese sculpture, bronzes and calligraphy. We also went to the Urban Planning Exhibition which shows how they plan to develop the city over the next ten years. It's definitely a growing city. We are now starting to get a bit tired of Shanghai, and glad that we are moving on to Beijing tomorrow. One thing that has ...