Arrived Suzhou

Hello everybody,

Last night was a great experience! After one stop, a family got on and shared our cabin. In our actual compartment we had nine people sleeping in the six beds - me, Sam, Emma, a man, then a Mum and her two kids and another Mum and her kid. As far as I could figure out, the two women were sisters and the kids were cousins. The kids were 2, 10, 8 and 14. 

We passed the time teaching the kids how to count in English, pointing at different items and asking what they were in Chinese and writing down all of our names. They also wanted to see photos of my family and loved the photos of our rabbits and Melbourne!

Overnight was ok. I got a fair amount of sleep but wasn't exactly comfortable. The 2 year old boy only woke up crying twice. All things considered the kids did really well. Near the end of the journey they started to get quite restless, the little boy roaring like a dragon and thrashing around. His sister kept grinning and mucking around. They were hilarious!

We arrived in Suzhou (pronounced Su-jo) about 10am, had a quick breakfast at the train station and then caught the metro to the hotel. It's beautiful!! We all had a laugh when our guide, Howard, pointed to the club over the road and said "do not go there. It is not for decent people!" Haha. 

Suzhou has often been called the 'Venice of the East' and has a 2000 year history. It's a very picturesque town with lots of canals. I love its vibe, it's much more chilled out than the other places we've been to. Generations of artists, scholars, writers and members of high society were drawn to its beautiful gardens and canals. Unfortunately since 1949 a lot of the beautiful parts of the town have disappeared and ugly skyscrapers have appeared instead. 

It started to spit with rain lightly this afternoon and everyone on bikes took out these hilarious raincoats that covered them and also had hooded parts for their handlebars! We caught the local bus and a woman grinned at me touching my arm to indicate she liked my pale skin. She stared at me the whole bus journey, which might sound creepy, but I could tell she was friendly. I gave her a big wave goodbye when she disembarked and I think I made her week!

Then we had lunch at a place called Pingvon which was absolutely beautiful in terms of its interior and its food. We ate like kings and queens, paying just 55 yuan ($10 Aussie) for endless chicken, beef, prawn, tofu and veggie dishes with delicious sauces as well as some dumplings. Whenever I told someone at home I was travelling to China, most people would say they thought I might go hungry here. It's been quite the opposite - I love the food!

After admiring the toilets at the restaurant (just like ones at home, very clean!!) we went to the Master of Nets Garden. Originally it was built in the 1200s but was restored in the 1800s as part of the home of a fisherman (hence the name). Howard told us all about how Chinese gardens feature a lot of rockery (representing mountains) alongside water (representing rivers), keeping balance like ying and yang. It was very picturesque and had beautiful little rooms as well as a pond filled with fish. Considering the garden was smaller than others in Suzhou, the space was used well to make it feel bigger. I sat for a while in our free time and it was very chilled out. 

We caught the bus back and now I'm in the room relaxing. Later we are doing a canal cruise followed by some markets and a karaoke night. I'm pretty tired so am enjoying the opportunity now to rest. I'm looking forward to four days (three of them at my own pace) in Shanghai to unwind and just wander around. The tour is fantastic but very full on as one would expect when going to so many places in just a week!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox