Tourist Days

Living in another country you always try to make the most of what is around you and really go out of your way to experience all of the tourist attractions. We tried our best in NZ and haven't really got any regrets and that is what it's all about.

Things are a little different for us in China. I am the only one working, but as my school kindly pay our rent and give us an Overseas Cost of Living Allowance we actually have a little more money to play with and can still save a healthy amount each year. We made sure we stopped off in Hong Kong on the way to Suzhou, visited Xi'an when we had a few days to spare, visited my friend James in Shanghai, and Guilin and Yangshuo during the National Holiday. We are also aiming to have 1 "tourist day" as we are terming it each month.

Amazingly a huge number of people that I work with have not visited the majority of tourist spots in Suzhou. I often ask and get told that they just haven't had a chance. You have to make time for these things as far as I'm concerned, so once a month we are planning a day to get out and see something. Our friend from Shanghai is going to be coming along for the adventure most times too I believe, this way we can attract more attention as there will be 3 "lao wai" together.

In our 3 short months in Suzhou we have visited Ping Jiang Lu on an number of occasions, Shantang Jie, Tiger Hill, The Humble Administrators Garden, the antiques market at the Confucius Temple and I have been to Lake Taihu (thank you Grade 7 camp for 2 nights without sleep). There are so many gardens, temples and water streets in Suzhou that you could take the view that when you have seen one you have seen them all, but if you really take the time to explore and spread out the times that you visit and go in a different seasons there is always something different to appreciate.

It is so easy to become immersed in work, socialising and going on missions to find that one brand of shower gel that you just know will be in one shop in Suzhou, but really, you have a whole culture to explore and come to know. Sometimes we also jump on the e-bike and try and head somewhere. We have a rough idea which direction we need to go in, a map, google maps and a sense of humour. If we go with no hurry or desperate need we can cope with getting completely and utterly lost.

As "Lao wai" we are prepared for people to stare, overcharge us

and be unable to give us directions as our Mandarin is still fairly bad. I am becoming an excellent shopper though, just as long as I don't have to use the numbers 4 or 7 as I keep forgetting them! I probably need to learn to say "I live here" then maybe I won't get such a ridiculous "Lao wai" price.

Love where you live and live as if you are leaving tomorrow.