After jumping off the train to Suzhou, we decided to go out to the House of Blues and Jazz to check out some live music. Sore disappointment lay ahead as we discovered an empty building on a quiet street where the venue used to be located. Tom had a back-up plan however, so we went to a bar where we enjoyed english conversation with the bartender for a couple of hours. We were the only ones there.
On Monday, we had a plan. Phase one was to visit the famous Yuyuan Garden, followed by tea at a fancy tea house and some Nanxiang steamed buns. The morning was a success, although the street merchants trying to sell us watches and iPhones really got to Tom after a while.
Our excursion through the winding alleys surrounding the garden was followed by a pricy visit to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium. If you're into walking through the occasional glass tunnel to look at enormous fish, sharks and turtles, the aquarium is a good place to visit. Overall, I thought it was slightly overpriced ($25 admission), but it was still an interesting experience.
What better way to end the night than do dine with our friend Jing, who introduced us to Shanghai a couple of weeks ago. We had a tasty dim sum meal at Ding Tai Fung followed by some drinks at a reputable jazz bar, JZ Club. Now that's how you do it, Hangzhou.
Today should be pretty quiet. Not much on the agenda, besides battling robots at the Science and Technology museum and picking up our tailored clothing. Perhaps I'll enjoy some tea served through a 60cm spout in the evening. We'll see.
The Science and Technology museum was a complete bust. We were overwhelmed by thousands of children running and yelling while we walked past the rather mediocre exhibits. The highlight of the trip was ROBOT WORLD where we both failed at shooting arrows from a bow, but were soothed by a robotic piano performance. Hopefully dinner goes well. No battles with robot took place.
Only a few hours left!
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