Trip to Suzhou, Day 3, February 7, 2008

From our hotel window

The weather in Shanghai has been hovering around freezing since our arrival but there has been no rain or snow. There always seems to be a bit of a haze (as you can tell from the photos), not doubt a considerable amount of which is smog. The sun is trying to burn through this morning, Ann seems to have picked up a little bit of a cold but does not feel too bad. Today we travel to Suzhou, whose founding dates back to the 6th century BC. Suzhou’s population is a mere 6 million registered residents and 4 million migrants. It is impossible to describe the amount of construction going on here. The 50 mile trip between Shanghai and Suzhou is a non stop construction zone. And not just miles and miles of low rise warehouses and residential housing that you find in the states. There are mid and high rises sprouting up everywhere. This not sprawl US style, this is vertical construction for as far as you can see. The thought did cross our minds as we drove to and from Suzhou witnessing the incredible amount of development going on, that if we wanted to provide our daughter with the best opportunities in her life time, we might need to consider immigrating to China!

On the way to Suzhou we were reminded of one thing we like about the US. No squatty potties unless you are in the woods. We pulled over at a rest stop with a convenience store to pick up some water, and a visit to the restroom facilities revealed the standard issue squatty potties with only the handicap stalls having a traditional toilet. Ann figured being a foreigner in a foreign land was handicap enough…..

Suzhou is located further inland and a bit to the north of Shanghai so there was still snow on the ground here. Our first stop was "Tiger Hill" which is the burial site of He Lu, the king of Wu and founder of Suzhou. Suzhou has a series of canals all over the city.One of the main attractions at Tiger Hill is the Song Dynasty leaning pagoda. The pagoda leans approximately 2 meters and was originally constructed around 1000 a.d.

We will post more of our trip to Suzhou later