Hangzhou. Natural Beauty.

I had signed up for a one day tour of Hangzhou. My guide Helen arrived promptly at 7am and met me in the hotel lobby. I had made it downstairs just a few minutes earlier and had not eaten breakfast. With Helen’s help, I darted across the street and ordered 4 pan fried dumplings and a soybean milk to go. Breakfast cost me 5 RMB (about 70 cents). I got in the car and Helen told me that we had one other passenger to pick up – there would only be the two of us in the tour group. A few minutes later, we pulled up outside another hotel and a man got inside the car. He introduced himself as Lennart (sp?) from Stockholm, Sweden.

Shanghai....the furnace of China.

L

ei warned me that Shanghai would be swelteringly hot and she wasn't kidding. I thought I had packed light enough clothing but it looks like I forgot to bring along the icepack :-)

It is hot here with daytime temps in the high 90's F but what makes it unbearable is the humidty. It is s-o-o-o humid that the Shanghai sky is constantly gray and hazy. At first I thought it was smog but my lungs would have choked if it was. Andrew confirmed it's just humidity.

Suzhou. Silk and Garden.

A

fter our morning visit to Zhouzhuang, we headed down the road towards Suzhou, about a half hour drive. Suzhou, in addition to being famous for its gardens is the *Silk Capital* of China. So, naturally, our first destination when we arrived into Suzhou was the No. 1 Silk Factory. Conveniently, the factory has a restaurant that caters to the masses of tourists that enter its grounds. So that’s where we had our lunch – a buffet of western style food. No offense to the Chinese but they should not cook western style food. The food filled the belly but there was definitely some funky tasting food. I was grateful, however, that the restaurant was air-conditioned. The heat and humidity is killing me. Ugh.

Zhouzhuang. Going to Venice in China.

My first day in Shanghai started with me waking up at 7am. I hadn’t slept well partly because of the 12 hour time zone difference, partly because the room was too hot and partly because the bed was very firm. The air conditioner had been turned off all day so it took time for the room to cool down after I turned on the aircon. I would have opened up the window to let cool air in but there was no cool air to be had. The temperature when we landed in Shanghai was close to 90 degrees Farenheit....at 1:20am, and I swear the humidity level matched. As for the bed, let’s say, it would have been a softer surface sleeping on the floor. Okay, that’s an exaggeration but I definitely have a firm hotel bed.