Suzhou Youngor Leidisen Hotel

... train is being built between Shanghai and Beijing. It will cover the 1100 miles in 4 hours and will be quite an impressive structure. New freeways were being built all over as well. <br><br>Joe explained that 30 years ago, nothing was there except rice paddies. The city and the country have really changed since they opened their doors to the rest of the world in the 1980s. <br><br>It&#8217;s nice to have free internet in our Holiday Inn hotel!

... has changed through the years. We finally pass by the giant statue of Mao guarding over the school entrance as we pedal through the gates. Every morning we look forward to our bike ride down this fascinating stretch of road. A few weeks ago, as we were riding along taking it all in, we agreed that we had to give the street a name. Sesame Street seemed like the perfect fit. A bustling, teeming, energetic and happy place.

Suzhou<br><br><br><br>It is gloriously warm in Suzhou as we make our way to the central park. We find ourselves in "pet shop alley". I am tickled by a minah bird outside a shop which greets us with &#8220;Ni hao&#8221;, We understand the &#8221;Hello,&#8221; but unfortunately can't follow the rest of the bird&#8217;s chat. We meander past the fish tanks and flower sellers but then, unfortunately, our route takes us out of the pedestrian area ...

... this school is to go to university in Canada or the States.<br><br>The facilities are pretty good. The campus is absolutely beautiful. The school has an observatory (never used), a 1000 seat auditorium (hardly used), a great gym (never used), a fantastic outdoor field with stadium and track (definately used), outdoor tennis court, volleyball courts, and about 15 outdoor basketball courts (definately used). Our school is currently renting facilities ...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!! I'm dressing up *s * pir*te / cr*cked out gypsy loh*n, it's pretty legend*ry. Tonight were going to Pulp Fiction, who *re ridiculously nice *nd giving free beer to everyone who is dressed up. It should get f*irly rowdy. App*rently none of the chinese dress up so it's b*sic*lly drunk exp*ts flooding b*r street cre*ting *ll sorts of shen*n****ns. <br>H*ve *n *wesome h*lloween!!! <br>-B

... unique and were designed according to the tastes of the owners. Each garden has the same basic elements, water, trees, and buildings, but it is the different combinations and positioning that make them unique. The buildings in the Humble Administrator's Garden were more beautiful than in the Lingering Garden, but that is just my opinion. I thought the layout and atmosphere of the ...

... a curious looking contraption in the waiting room: a phone/USB charger vending machine, which appeared to have all the possible phone connections to work as a phone charger once you inserted however many coins it required. We sat, and a man across from us kept staring at us and began asking us questions. We lied to him about where we were going. We boarded the fastest train in China for our onward journey to the silk capital Suzhou. Upon arrival at ...

... Auchan. Jess had warned us about walking through Auchan, a giant European mega-grocery store. Even though I had seen the outside of the building and heard about her experiences about being swept away in the human horde that is Auchan, I definitely was not prepared for the chaos that was this grocery store. The behemoth parking lot outside the structure is only for mopeds and bicycles and it is packed. As soon as you walk through the door you ...

... Chinese people bring with them - not so watch luggage but rather their homes didn't add to the serenity when all the people moved 3) The smoking - enough said 4) The food trolley - imagine a train carriage in which there are so many people in the aisle that you can barely move - now add a food trolley - you get the idea So I got off the train and went to get a taxi to the hostel cause I couldn't be bothered trying to save $3 taking a bus ...

... The hostel was nice, big, and clean. We dropped off our stuff and headed out into town. We walked around the Bund area. It has a lot of nice, expensive stores that we went into. Our translator, Alliance, loves shopping and looking at clothes. Although none of us bought anything it was fun looking. In the late afternoon we walked to the Bund, which is a promeanade along the water. We took some pictures but heard it was much nicer at night. we walked around a ...