So a little update on what I’ve been up to since coming back to China:This past weekend, I went to the Botanical garden about an hour outside of Shijiazhuang with some friends. The place is huge and really pretty, we were there for most of the day. Usually they have an exhibition; I think it must have been roses this time because they were everywhere. It had a butterfly garden, an amusement park, a lake, a waterfall, and the most violent bumper cars I’ve ever driven. We also saw bumper boats which seems a little dangerous.
I went to Shanghai and Suzhou for National holiday (first week of October.) Suzhou is China’s “Venice.” Shanghai is just a cool, modern city. We saw Jinmao Tower (which is now the second highest tower in Shanghai and next to the tallest tower). Yu Yuan garden was nicer this time around because we had time to explore more of it. Tai Kang Artspace is fantastic and I would definitely go there again. It’s an area with lots of galleries and cute, small shops. It’s just fun to hang out there. And we went to Burger King! Twice! Oh onion rings, I heart thee. Erin and I had found the fruit tea that we had been searching for throughout China.
Suzhou is a nice city to walk around in as long as you know where you are going. We did not know where our hostel was exactly, all we had was the address written down on a piece of paper and it took us 3 hours to get there from the train station. The hostel is actually only about 15 minutes away from the train station. But our Chinese failed us as did the hostel’s English. That aside, they have nice markets to shop around in but we didn’t have much time to shop since we were there for only two days. We went to a Silk museum and a performance, although I understood little of the performance, it was still cool to see. It was different. We went to the Lingering Garden and indeed we lingered. We went on a boat ride down the canal next to our hostel which was really pretty at night with all the lanterns lit up alongside the buildings. Erin and I shot our first rifles at balloons. I discovered I have a talent for shooting things. Who knew?
