The Panmen scenic area

2017 has not had a great start if we think about air pollution. The PM2.5 index has been over 150 (unhealthy) every day for now. Sigh, this is winter in China. But we… Continue reading →

The Suzhou gardens

What is the most popular tourist attraction in Suzhou? Ask any Chinese person and they will reply it’s the Suzhou gardens, of course. So I thought about writing a post about them. I don’t… Continue reading →

Discovering new places

I have been living in Suzhou for over 4 years now, but there are still some places that I haven’t been to. For example, I haven’t been to all of the famous Suzhou… Continue reading →

Sunday by the lake

It’s that time of the year again! The beginning of summer means the rainy season is here. It has been raining a lot the last couple of weeks and there were also several… Continue reading →

The Lantern Festival

Yesterday it was the Lantern Festival or 元宵节 yuanxiaojie. This festivity marks the official end of the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival and it is celebrated with fireworks and lantern displays. It is… Continue reading →

Suzhou on the cheap (and vegetarian!)

Two weeks ago, a couple of my workmates came to Suzhou to spend the weekend with us. I asked what they wanted to visit in the city, they only said “old things”. Well,… Continue reading →

Duplitecture

It is not a secret that Chinese people have a whole industry dedicated to copying things. Fake designer clothes, fake branded bags and watches, fake electronics, fake dvds… Sometimes the copies are of bad… Continue reading →

The daily commute

As I mentioned in the post about books, since October I don’t have a room in Shanghai anymore and I have to commute every day from Suzhou. That implies taking 2 trains. Does it… Continue reading →

The old village of Bright Moon Bay

As we had three days of holidays last week, we decided to go somewhere instead of couchpotatoing the whole time. We were considering Chongming Island, in Shanghai, and Xishan Island, in Suzhou, and… Continue reading →

A walk around Suzhou alleys

We are having a very weird summer. While in Europe and the US everybody is suffering a heat wave, here in Shanghai / Suzhou we are having a cool wave. It is July… Continue reading →