Bidding farewell to Shanghai, today we boarded the ever familiar bus and headed to Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. Suzhou is a city situated along the Grand Canal (a major transport and trading route), and as such is quite a prosperous city. However, upon arrival we were met by a construction zone that resembled the aftermath of a bomb attack - the area where we arrived was full of half demolished buildings, to make way for expansion, rubble lining the canals, and several temporary bridges that spanned the canals. Avoiding the onslaught of the tuk-tuk drivers, we decided to walk to our next destination in order to save the pennies and walk off Adam's nightly beers ...
Given that we need to be in Jinan within the week, we decided it was about time we sorted out how we would get there! Thus against our general adlibing routine we booked our train tickets in advance - and a good thing too, as there were practically no tickets available - we had the choice of hard seat (lowest class - been there, done that) or soft sleeper (first class). As Liv didn't fancy a 12 hour overnight trip on a hard seat, Adam gave in and we bought the soft sleeper tickets - this will probably be the only chance we get as our traveller's budget dwindles, but lasting just long enough until we re-enter the working world once again.
After walking around fully loaded in the scorching heat for hours, we began showing the telltale signs of exhaustion, and it was a great relief to eventually arrive at our hostel where we were soon singing the praises of our airconditioned room! The hostel's walls are plastered with other traveller's pictures and words of wisdom / advice / complaints / praise - this 'wallpaper' adds to the atmosphere of this already very trendy hostel. Too hungry to rest, we ventured out in search of food, which we found in a small street kitchen around the corner, before making our way back to rest our heavy bellies.
As the evening wore on, we realised it was dinner time, and we had done little today but eat and travel, so it was nice to have our search for dinner prolonged while we slowly window shopped the trendy streets that surround our hostel - much better than the bombsite we arrived to! Our most prized purchase of our time in China was made today, when we acquired the entire three seasons of Grey's Anatomy - or so we think ...
Our Japanese dinner was a nice change from the familiar food we have been dining on for the past few months, and set us up well for our perusal of the nearby, alleyway markets. Here we were tempted by handbags, t-shirts, jewellry and other market staples found throughout the markets of China, but once again left empty handed - and despite nearing the end of our travels this is probably a good thing considering the weight of our packs. 
Making it home just in time to fall into bed, we settled in for the night on the rock solid beds of the hostel - many fellow travellers have commented on this fact, but we just think they have yet to experience rural China and all it has to offer!
Adlibing the food and markets of Suzhou.
Given that we need to be in Jinan within the week, we decided it was about time we sorted out how we would get there! Thus against our general adlibing routine we booked our train tickets in advance - and a good thing too, as there were practically no tickets available - we had the choice of hard seat (lowest class - been there, done that) or soft sleeper (first class). As Liv didn't fancy a 12 hour overnight trip on a hard seat, Adam gave in and we bought the soft sleeper tickets - this will probably be the only chance we get as our traveller's budget dwindles, but lasting just long enough until we re-enter the working world once again.
After walking around fully loaded in the scorching heat for hours, we began showing the telltale signs of exhaustion, and it was a great relief to eventually arrive at our hostel where we were soon singing the praises of our airconditioned room! The hostel's walls are plastered with other traveller's pictures and words of wisdom / advice / complaints / praise - this 'wallpaper' adds to the atmosphere of this already very trendy hostel. Too hungry to rest, we ventured out in search of food, which we found in a small street kitchen around the corner, before making our way back to rest our heavy bellies.
As the evening wore on, we realised it was dinner time, and we had done little today but eat and travel, so it was nice to have our search for dinner prolonged while we slowly window shopped the trendy streets that surround our hostel - much better than the bombsite we arrived to! Our most prized purchase of our time in China was made today, when we acquired the entire three seasons of Grey's Anatomy - or so we think ...
Our Japanese dinner was a nice change from the familiar food we have been dining on for the past few months, and set us up well for our perusal of the nearby, alleyway markets. Here we were tempted by handbags, t-shirts, jewellry and other market staples found throughout the markets of China, but once again left empty handed - and despite nearing the end of our travels this is probably a good thing considering the weight of our packs. Making it home just in time to fall into bed, we settled in for the night on the rock solid beds of the hostel - many fellow travellers have commented on this fact, but we just think they have yet to experience rural China and all it has to offer!Adlibing the food and markets of Suzhou.
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