Every weekend we have had in China to date has been incredibly successful, enjoyable and eventful. This past weekend was no exception.
Friday night was spent relaxing at home (for once!). The forecast for Saturday was sun, sun and more sun so we grabbed our shades, donned our summer clothes and took off in the morning. We had to stop first at the Pacican office to grab our passports (we had sent them away to become official “foreign experts” – ha! - and temporary residents). At the office we ran into half of the rest of the crew and Thomas decided to join us for part of the afternoon.
Our first stop was Yu Garden (also known as Yu Yuan Garden). The streets surrounding the Gardens are REALLY overwhelming and extremely packed and tourist oriented; Subway, Dairy Queen, McDonald’s, and Starbucks are some of the places you could go to grab a treat. The gardens themselves were beautiful and I learned about Chinese architecture and culture by listening to tour guides from other groups. Nothing like student discounts (brining my ID was a brilliant move) and free tours!
The sun was beating down so we (minus Tom) decided to head to the Shanghai Brewery because we knew they had a patio and NOTHING sounded better than a cold drink on a patio. Were we ever glad we made this decision! The drinks were more than refreshing, the food was TO DIE FOR (I had what tasted like a homemade barbequed burger with pineapple) and the atmosphere was spot on. I have a feeling that we will be gracing this patio with our presence on other warm/hot weekends in the city!
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower was our last destination of the day. Our goal was to get up to the top just before the sun started to set so we could see the city in the light, in the setting sun AND at night. The slow lines at the ticket window made me a bit nervous about the timing, but once inside, the lines moved pretty well. We caught the setting sun but the smog didn’t make it as stunning or give the light we could have hoped for but it was still something to behold! What a city! I actually took a little time to stand and stare at the skyline, marvelling at what we humans are capable of accomplishing. It really is mindboggling in so many ways. We also took in the skyline from the observation deck. The deck goes all the way around the building, is exposed to the outside and has a glass floor. I will pretend I was only a little sketched out when I saw duct tape in some places along the floor!
After leaving the tower, we spotted a Lotus – a foreign supermarket that carries some items we can’t get in Qingpu so we loaded up on pasta sauce, chick peas and other novelties and by the time we were done, we were running behind.
One of the downsides to living in Qingpu is access. You’d think in a city of 24 million, buses and subways would run at all hours of the day and night. In Qingpu, the buses stop running between 9 and 9:30. We got on the subway at 8:30 and we had two choices. We could hope that the buses from the end of the subway terminal kept running until 9:30 and HOPE that we make one or we could get off the subway a few stops down and book’er to the station for the express bus that runs all the way to Qingpu directly on the raised highway. Both options were a gamble as we didn’t know what time the express bus stopped running either but we heard rumour that it may be 9. We decided to try the express bus. Fifteen minutes later we found ourselves at the right subway stop, we got off and then we RAAAAN. We had grocery bags with cans in our hands and not-made-for-running shoes on our feet but we took off and moved as fast as we could. We must have been quite the sight!! We arrived at the express bus stop at 8:56 only to find out the bus was running until 10. I think Alyssa could have killed us for making her run like that for nothing!
After having a great sleep in our own beds (a rare occurrence on the weekends), we boarded a bus to Suzhou for the day. The bus trip was one of the most unpleasant rides I’ve ever been on (I was sure Alyssa was going to be sick beside me). Between the lack of shocks and the road construction, it was far from smooth. We did make it in one piece, though. We had no plans whatsoever so after asking around, we decided to make our way to Tiger Hill. After some sketchy navigation with our cab driver (no different than anywhere else), we realized we made the right choice when we were greeted by a sign exclaiming “#1 Site in Suzhou”.
The hill itself is named due to its resemblance of a sleeping tiger. Stinky tofu, gorgeous gardens flourishing with new Spring life, some traditional Chinese music and a cool leaning tower sitting like a crown on the top of the hill defined the park. After strolling around the grounds for a little while, we checked out some dress shops surrounding the grounds (Suzhou is known for its silk as it was part of the famous Silk Road). The relaxing pace of the day was just what the doctor ordered!
We were home in enough time to get our affairs in order and start Week 9 of teaching!
Friday night was spent relaxing at home (for once!). The forecast for Saturday was sun, sun and more sun so we grabbed our shades, donned our summer clothes and took off in the morning. We had to stop first at the Pacican office to grab our passports (we had sent them away to become official “foreign experts” – ha! - and temporary residents). At the office we ran into half of the rest of the crew and Thomas decided to join us for part of the afternoon.
Our first stop was Yu Garden (also known as Yu Yuan Garden). The streets surrounding the Gardens are REALLY overwhelming and extremely packed and tourist oriented; Subway, Dairy Queen, McDonald’s, and Starbucks are some of the places you could go to grab a treat. The gardens themselves were beautiful and I learned about Chinese architecture and culture by listening to tour guides from other groups. Nothing like student discounts (brining my ID was a brilliant move) and free tours!
The sun was beating down so we (minus Tom) decided to head to the Shanghai Brewery because we knew they had a patio and NOTHING sounded better than a cold drink on a patio. Were we ever glad we made this decision! The drinks were more than refreshing, the food was TO DIE FOR (I had what tasted like a homemade barbequed burger with pineapple) and the atmosphere was spot on. I have a feeling that we will be gracing this patio with our presence on other warm/hot weekends in the city!
The Oriental Pearl TV Tower was our last destination of the day. Our goal was to get up to the top just before the sun started to set so we could see the city in the light, in the setting sun AND at night. The slow lines at the ticket window made me a bit nervous about the timing, but once inside, the lines moved pretty well. We caught the setting sun but the smog didn’t make it as stunning or give the light we could have hoped for but it was still something to behold! What a city! I actually took a little time to stand and stare at the skyline, marvelling at what we humans are capable of accomplishing. It really is mindboggling in so many ways. We also took in the skyline from the observation deck. The deck goes all the way around the building, is exposed to the outside and has a glass floor. I will pretend I was only a little sketched out when I saw duct tape in some places along the floor!
After leaving the tower, we spotted a Lotus – a foreign supermarket that carries some items we can’t get in Qingpu so we loaded up on pasta sauce, chick peas and other novelties and by the time we were done, we were running behind.
One of the downsides to living in Qingpu is access. You’d think in a city of 24 million, buses and subways would run at all hours of the day and night. In Qingpu, the buses stop running between 9 and 9:30. We got on the subway at 8:30 and we had two choices. We could hope that the buses from the end of the subway terminal kept running until 9:30 and HOPE that we make one or we could get off the subway a few stops down and book’er to the station for the express bus that runs all the way to Qingpu directly on the raised highway. Both options were a gamble as we didn’t know what time the express bus stopped running either but we heard rumour that it may be 9. We decided to try the express bus. Fifteen minutes later we found ourselves at the right subway stop, we got off and then we RAAAAN. We had grocery bags with cans in our hands and not-made-for-running shoes on our feet but we took off and moved as fast as we could. We must have been quite the sight!! We arrived at the express bus stop at 8:56 only to find out the bus was running until 10. I think Alyssa could have killed us for making her run like that for nothing!
After having a great sleep in our own beds (a rare occurrence on the weekends), we boarded a bus to Suzhou for the day. The bus trip was one of the most unpleasant rides I’ve ever been on (I was sure Alyssa was going to be sick beside me). Between the lack of shocks and the road construction, it was far from smooth. We did make it in one piece, though. We had no plans whatsoever so after asking around, we decided to make our way to Tiger Hill. After some sketchy navigation with our cab driver (no different than anywhere else), we realized we made the right choice when we were greeted by a sign exclaiming “#1 Site in Suzhou”.
The hill itself is named due to its resemblance of a sleeping tiger. Stinky tofu, gorgeous gardens flourishing with new Spring life, some traditional Chinese music and a cool leaning tower sitting like a crown on the top of the hill defined the park. After strolling around the grounds for a little while, we checked out some dress shops surrounding the grounds (Suzhou is known for its silk as it was part of the famous Silk Road). The relaxing pace of the day was just what the doctor ordered!
We were home in enough time to get our affairs in order and start Week 9 of teaching!