Suzhou is a Great Little City
Last night we arrived in Suzhou at the bus station at about 9:00 pm. We were welcomed by the wonderful people trying to convince us to use their cabs. I do not know if I will get used to that part of travelling. Anyways, onto the better stuff.
My Suzhou Photos
The five of us, Ji Maike, Tai Li, Liu Laoshi, Zhai Xi and took cabs to a hotel that our friend had booked rooms for us in. Our cab ride was fun because we were all able to feel like foreigners, even the Chinese girl that was with us. This was because the cab drivers were speaking a dialect of Chinese specific to Suzhou. It is different enough from standard mandarin that we hear in Beijing that we could not understand anything. It was really interesting listening to them speak because it was so different from standard mandarin. I wish I could hear because we had two cab drivers and they were talking the whole time. I think the driver who was in the passenger seat had a lot of cab driving experience while the driver who was driving did not have much because it seemed as though he was being by taught how to drive by the older woman.
Arriving at the hotel we were going to stay at gave me a sense of relief because it was a fancier hotel than the one we had stayed in the night before. The prices were a lot different as well. Rather than paying 180 kuai for a three bedroom room, the price was 640 kuai! Luckily the friend of our teacher who had booked us the room has connections to the hotel through her dad, so we only had to pay one third of the price to stay the night. It is great to know people who people, especially when travelling. The best thing about the hotel is that we have our own bathroom with a shower.
Once we checked into the hotel we got into cabs once again, we take cabs a lot here in China because they are so plentiful. We went to a part of town with lots of clothing stores and restaurants, much like Fuzi Miao in Nanjing. The difference was that there were not a lot of people because it was late on a Tuesday night. We found a restaurant and got to try the renowned Suzhou cuisine. I thought the food was excellent, so I was glad we stopped in Suzhou. The one dish that stood out for me was a sweet soup that was like a bowl of kix, but there was no milk, only a thick sweet broth. Also, the little balls of something were not crunchy. So then how was it like kix? I thought it tasted almost exactly like kix. Haha, maybe I was missing America.
As cities go Suzhou is really nice. The architecture is nice in the older parts of town. Everything seems clean and the people are nice. The food is good also. I guess if I was to come back to this area I would regret if I didn't stop here again. The bus stops are really neat because they are built with old style architecture. They even have seats based upon a seat designed by King Wu for his Xishi.
Today we are planning on heading to Tongli, an even smaller town to the west of here. Some people call it the "Venice of the East" because there are so many small canals. People often use these canals to commute from one place to another as well as just sightsee. I was reading a magazine in our hotel room with articles about Tongli. It showed lots of nice little gardens. I hope we can make it to one of them.
My Suzhou Photos
The five of us, Ji Maike, Tai Li, Liu Laoshi, Zhai Xi and took cabs to a hotel that our friend had booked rooms for us in. Our cab ride was fun because we were all able to feel like foreigners, even the Chinese girl that was with us. This was because the cab drivers were speaking a dialect of Chinese specific to Suzhou. It is different enough from standard mandarin that we hear in Beijing that we could not understand anything. It was really interesting listening to them speak because it was so different from standard mandarin. I wish I could hear because we had two cab drivers and they were talking the whole time. I think the driver who was in the passenger seat had a lot of cab driving experience while the driver who was driving did not have much because it seemed as though he was being by taught how to drive by the older woman.
Arriving at the hotel we were going to stay at gave me a sense of relief because it was a fancier hotel than the one we had stayed in the night before. The prices were a lot different as well. Rather than paying 180 kuai for a three bedroom room, the price was 640 kuai! Luckily the friend of our teacher who had booked us the room has connections to the hotel through her dad, so we only had to pay one third of the price to stay the night. It is great to know people who people, especially when travelling. The best thing about the hotel is that we have our own bathroom with a shower.
Once we checked into the hotel we got into cabs once again, we take cabs a lot here in China because they are so plentiful. We went to a part of town with lots of clothing stores and restaurants, much like Fuzi Miao in Nanjing. The difference was that there were not a lot of people because it was late on a Tuesday night. We found a restaurant and got to try the renowned Suzhou cuisine. I thought the food was excellent, so I was glad we stopped in Suzhou. The one dish that stood out for me was a sweet soup that was like a bowl of kix, but there was no milk, only a thick sweet broth. Also, the little balls of something were not crunchy. So then how was it like kix? I thought it tasted almost exactly like kix. Haha, maybe I was missing America.
As cities go Suzhou is really nice. The architecture is nice in the older parts of town. Everything seems clean and the people are nice. The food is good also. I guess if I was to come back to this area I would regret if I didn't stop here again. The bus stops are really neat because they are built with old style architecture. They even have seats based upon a seat designed by King Wu for his Xishi.
Today we are planning on heading to Tongli, an even smaller town to the west of here. Some people call it the "Venice of the East" because there are so many small canals. People often use these canals to commute from one place to another as well as just sightsee. I was reading a magazine in our hotel room with articles about Tongli. It showed lots of nice little gardens. I hope we can make it to one of them.
posted by Jon Keto at
8:30 AM
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