After Beijing and Nanjing, it was time to go further east.

We took a highspeed train to Suzhou, where we were going to stay three days. We arrived at the brand new Suzhou train station, took a mini-van, and off we were into the old canal streets of Suzhou. Our hotel looked promising in pictures: beautiful rooms, nice lobby, bathroom with a tub….We arrived at the address on our contact forms and saw, instead of a brand new shiny hotel, an old building under renovation.

Nobody was there, besides some workmen, who off course couldn’t help us. We dialed the number on our contact sheet, but this too was no help. I ended up asking our driver if he knew another hotel, for the same night, for six people, for three nights…

10 minutes later, we were in the Shi Lu neighbourhood in a very “Chinese” hotel. Wall paper was hanging from the wall, plugs didn’t work, the toilet barely flushed and the shower door didn’t close, but best of all… our hotel was right in the middle of the karaoke-bar district! Chinese men and women were singing their hearts out and as the night progressed, together with the amount of alcohol they consumed, the songs worsened and got so bad it hurt my ears. At around 2AM, the noises faded out and got some sleep 🙂

The next day, I had arranged for a minibus to take the six of us to Wuxi. Wuxi is a two hour drive from Suzhou and known for a giant 88 meter statue of Buddha (the ninth tallest statue in the world).
The park surrounding the statue of buddha, is amazing. It is entirely devoted to Buddhism and thus, surrounded by palaces, more statues, incense burners and lots of trees and flowers. The entrance fee on the other hand was quite a shock: 180RMB without student discount! But, the entire trip was lots of fun and despite the hordes of Chinese tourists, quite relaxing as well.

After our Suzhou adventures, we left for Hangzhou. We had a very nice boat ride on the west lake, did some shopping on Hefang Street and went to Feilai peak to visit the monasteries. My company was impressed by the beautiful lake and the contrast with Hangzhou City. From the lake you can see the city’s skyline. Pretty impressive! We spent our last three days in Shanghai, were we visited the old neighbourhood, the Shanghai Museum (which is free and really worth a visit!). At night, we went up the Oriental Pearl Tower to get a view of the city. The city is one big neonlight commercial!

Two weeks had gone by so fast, it was time to say goodbye again.
The part I dislike the most about having people come visit me, and by now, I’m getting tired of having to say goodbye all the time. Three more months and my china adventure will be over… I’m definitely going to miss China, but I’m also looking forward to going back to the people I love and the food I’ve missed.

Stay tuned for my trip to Vietnam!

Magali