Ancient Town

I woke up at 3:30am and every 45 minutes until our 7am wakeup call. Not used to having an 8 hour block of time for sleeping. I thought the last beds were bad...those were wood, these are concrete.

The Western breakfast here wasn't all that great. I had hashbrowns, toast with strawberry jam and an omelette which looked iffy. Left on bus at 8:30am for GEM College, our hosts. Learned our numbers from 1-10 and introductions. We then wathced a short video on business in China and had a presentation on megatrends in China. Very interesting. I wonder how long the U.S. will retain its "superpower" status, and how that will change with the growth in China and India.

Had lunch at a Szechwan restaurant, which was very spicy and fantastic. The restaurant was new and in a new area...a bit eerie because we didn't see any people around. All these new offices and new buildings that are supposedly occupied, but there are no people milling about. Next, we visited the Suzhou Humble Garden--lots of ponds, streams, flowers, Chinese architecture. Probably a very soothing park when there aren't hordes of tourist groups (like our own). Then, we took a gondola ride in this "Venice of the East." It cost $12.50 and was 45-50 minutes long. Our gondolier sang 3 songs in Chinese and we got to see the back streets of Suzhou and the life along the canal. The canal houses are in pretty rough shape (read: third world). I can't imagine a life like that. The photos say it all, so it's hard to describe it in words. People doing laundry in the dirty canal water, homes that are exposed for full view (unlike those at Dakota Dunes, in the U.S.) , clothes hanging out to dry, people cooking food, sitting on their porch step, hanging out. Saw a Chinese wedding on one of the canal bridges.

Then, we visited Ancient Town & Antique Street. It's an old, cobblestone passageway built in 517 BC and had mostly gift shops, an elementary school and an old opera house. Didn't see anything I really wanted. Adam and I took a short walk down the road to check out the scene. Mobs of people, bikes, mopeds, bikes with wagons and ALL are moving at lightening speed. Crazy. This street and canal bridges do remind me a bit of Venice.

At our dinner, Keith ate the eyeball from the fish that was present whole and split on a plate. It was a hard, crunchy white ball, not the gelatinous part.

After dinner, 7 of us walked around the commerical area to window shop. Stopped by Bank of America for cash and at Starbuck's for a caramel macchiato and a brownie. I'm not even a coffee fan, let alone a Starbuck's fan! Adam, Megan and I spotted a DVD/CD store next to the hotel of what presumably was pirated music. Intellectual property rights are not exactly honored here.