The weather

 

Weather is getting better as you can see from yesterdays picture and todays picture. 

Better in that you can see a little further and there is no rain.

By the time I go back to school on Monday and Charlie and Beattie go back on Thursday it will be nice weather typical

 

Luzhi Ancient Watertown Suzhou

Luzhi Water Town is situated in Kunshan City, 18 kilometers east of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. With a history spanning 1400 years, it compares favorably to Zhouzhuang. Covering just one square kilometer, it has been awarded the beautiful name of 'the first water town in China'. Old stone bridges, limpid water, venerable maidenhair trees and old-style dwellings, as well as the traditional women's costumes, create an ideal 'civilized, rich, pastoral and harmonious' environment

 

A lovely day out with Charlie, Beattie, Dan Williams, Julie and Julies parents.  This town is an hour bus ride to the other side of the lake (cost of bus ride 29pence) and is a  little like Mudu where we visited in the October holiday and were the only western people.  Was a lovely day finished off with a Korean meal with everyone which was an interesting experience.  Unfortunatley it looks like Dan was pick pocketed and had his phone stolen.

 

However he did not let it dampen his spirits as he had it all backed up and it was a pay as you go.  Thanks again to Dan and Julie for inviting us to gatecrash their family day out and show us somewhere new and introduce us to a new type of cuisine.

 

 

Chinese New Years Day SIP

Came back to SIP (where I lieve more modern part of Suzhou) on the afternoon of chinese new years day.  But downtown and the shopping areas were absolutoely packed with shoppers and families and street sellers of food and crafts etc.  When we got back to Sip we then went out on the metro to the Expo and cultural centre and I have never seen so many people in one place since I have been in China.  The metro was packed and then you came out of it into what was like a Chinese version of Blackpool illuminations except better and brighter and bigger.  There are lots of displays like static floats which led over the bridge and to an avenue of lanterns and then to a market of street food sellers, selling anything from crabs on sticks, stinky tofu, multi coloured eggs, bbq meat of some description on sticks, squids on sticks and anything else you can imagine.  We then walked into Times Square (not the US one that would have been a long walk) to see the Sky TV running above our heads and then to Casa Zoe II for dinner.  Not as nice as the Casa Zoe we have made our local

Unfortunately I ten spent the night being ill .......from what I ahve no idea as I know better than to partake in the street food so I can only assume it was something from Casa Zoe II :-(

 

Charlie being stared at lol whilst Beattie gets his portrait cut in paper by a chinese FLOK artist and no that is not my usual bad spelling look at the sign

 

Cultire and Expo centre lit up

 

 Crowds and illuminations

Chinese New Years Eve in Downtown

Me, Charlie and Beattie stayed at a hotel in downtown Suzhou called the Suzhou Garden View hotel from 8th - 10th prior to and over New Year.  Weather was a little cold but it was very nice.  Lu by the way on all the photo titles means "street".  Charlie must have had more pictures taken of her than she took herself. Fireworks going off all evening but getting more and more the closer to midnight it got then at midnight it was armageddon and the city could have been bombed and you would not have known it  lol.

 

Garden view from my room

Pingjiang Lu in the snow

Lindun Lu

Pagoda at the top of Renmin Lu

Humble Administrators garden

Charlie and Beattie in the Humble Administrators garden

Humble Administrators garden

Humble Administrators garden

Humble Administrators garden

New Year dragon Guanqian Street

Hall way of the hotel

Taoism temple grounds, the Xuanmiao Temple at midnight

Taoism temple, the Xuanmiao Temple at midnight

Taoism temple, the Xuanmiao Temple at midnight

Remnants of a firework barrage on Guanqian Street

Remnants of a firework barrage on Guanqian Street

Empty streets

Snowy, cold Suzhou

 

 

Today it has snowed and rained and been freezing so we could not walk round the lake but did some walking after we took the metro to the expo centre and saw all the preparations for the chinese new year (picture with giant fish) and then walked over to Times square (picture of fake subway ) then went around there ..... Times Square is much better at night when the big overhead screen is on and all the lights are on making it try to look like New York..then a bit of shopping when Charlie bought a new pair of boots as she has almost lost the sole of hers and Beattie bought sunglasses (exactly what you need in rain and sleet) and charlie with her newly purchased snuggly fleece blanket as she was impressed with the one I had bought for their bed.