I’ve now more or less settled into my new apartment in Suzhou City and I’m impressed by Sissi, the young girl that I’m sharing the flat with. It’s ultimately for her Airbnb enterprise which she seems to thrive on.

She has two other places that she rents and then leases out. One is a self contained unit near Pingjiang Lu and the other is a town house with two bedrooms and two toilets near the Suzhou Museum which are two great locations.

The third is a 4 bedroom apartment with two toilets and is huge. Mind you I’m not too sure how I am going to cope when we receive our first Airbnb guests this weekend. It’s a family so I’m not sure if I’m going to be totally cool about that, but I guess this is the compromise for cheap rent in such a great location. I mean I’m about 5 mins from two metro stations, there are buses at the front gate, I can walk to the city centre and the hundreds of restaurants and my two students that I have are within walking distance. And it won’t have guests all the time I suppose and if it does then I’ll get to meet a lot of new people.

Above is Central Park, about 5 mins from the apartment.

At night we have great city views and when the weather is nice, but not like today, you can sit outside on the balcony.

Sissi runs between the three places and is kept very busy. She has cleaned this apartment from head to toe and sometimes she uses a toothbrush to get into places that no other person would think of looking in. She is meticulous and I guess that’s why whenever you read the reviews about her she gets 100% and plenty of compliments.

She likes to meet her guests and tell them about the house and neighbourhood and generally helps them to settle in so that they can begin to enjoy their stay.

She’s a bit like the Energiser Bunny, because she never seems to run out of energy. I get tired just watching 😆.

So I’ll let you know how the first Airbnb experience goes after the weekend.

Sent to Bremer Forum for this week’s title which was Hunger.

We’re four stories up but these fearless window cleaners just get on with it. Just another day at the office.

This is so funny, but it’s also quite sad.

In first place

China

North Korea

Cuba

Iraq

Venezuela

Then way down near the bottom

South Korea

And finally

America which I could almost believe.

But where is the UK?

When I returned to Suzhou the other week I stayed at a hotel for two nights to get over the jetlag and to allow myself a bit of breathing space on my return. As I said before, I had been offered a room by a friend but when I checked it out I didn’t think it was suitable because it was so sparse and the outside was still like a building site. The biggest thing to accept I guess was the fact that the wet room was so small and that the tiny hand held shower. I think this is what tipped me over the edge of deciding not to go there. This was the straw that broke the camels back so to speak.

I looked for an Airbnb and found a small self contained unit near the main tourist street of Pingjiang Lu. It was small but suitable for the week.

Sissi is the young Chinese girl looking after this Airbnb and she was just a bundle of energy. She told me that she was looking for a new apartment nearer the centre of town in Suzhou and would I be interested in sharing? I asked how much and we agreed on a price and so the next thing you know I’m in a 4 bedroom apartment on the 4th floor, which of course is really the third because they use the stupid American system here for floors.

It’s a little old and needs a good clean but I moved in last night because my Airbnb came to an end. After everything is done it will be great. I’m about 5 mins from the centre of town. I’m about 5 mins from Central Park. There is a shopping centre across the road, although it is a wee bit more expensive than my usual.

So all in all at the moment my world is beginning to settle to a balanced state which is what we all want. I just need to find some work so that I can pay for all this.

PS my new apartment is not near the water but in the middle of a complex and the buildings don’t represent the outside of me new place.

What a difference a day makes. A not so long story but I’m too tired to impart it right now, but I have secured a bed in a house in a good location.

It was so good to wake up today and see the sun shine. They say things look a bit better on a sunny day.

My Airbnb host is a tiny dynamo and is such a character. She is juggling 3 properties at the moment and the one I booked in to was needing work and so she asked if I could go to another room for two days and then go there, I said “ok” She then asked me if I was interested in sharing a flat with her and I thought why not, if the price is right. So maybe my accommodation is sorted.

But today I went out to an outdoor centre at Xishan, which is on Taihu Lake. The sun was out and the sky was nearly blue.

I tried using the climbing ropes and to my surprise and the others I actually managed to do it.

This is a place that children and young adults come to, to learn leadership skills and of course survival skills. They learn about nature and the environment and I think this is just a great place for young Chinese to get away from the slog of study study study.

And it looks like the big firewall has been turned up quite a bit since I left and so my VPN ain’t working at all, and so I’m glad that I am able to still upload to my blog.

My friend Rita offered me a room at one of her apartments and so I went to have a look at it yesterday and was a little shocked at what I saw and wondering if I can really go there.

The house has been vacant for some time and has only been partly fitted out with homely comforts, such as a toilet, a hand held shower in the same room. There is a sink and a fridge. There is a single bed and that’s just about it, well apart from the young teacher that had been living in the other room. She has a bed and a chair, bloody luxury. So my dilemma is what to do next. If I move in I will hate it. Mind you the price is right, in fact I would live rent free. But I don’t think that this would be enough for me to stay.

I’ve booked into an Airbnb for a week to give me a bit of breathing space to find myself another solution. I’m meeting a friend shortly for lunch that will hopefully be able to help me with my situation. So as I sit having coffee and contemplating what to do next, I’m watching the world go by along by Lindun Lu and thinking have I made the right move coming back here.

Looks like I was only a phone call away from a little bit of company last nicht, mind you I was fast asleep when they delivered their business cards. Ah well maybe next time…..

The day started with a hearty breakfast and several coffee’s to get me through the day. I went downstairs just before 10.30 to get the bus to the airport, the snow had finally stopped. A black Mercedes pulled up and the driver asked me if I was waiting for a car and I said “no”. He went into the hotel to look for his pick up and returned empty handed about 5 mins later. He said to me that he would take me to the airport for the same price as the bus, now how could I refuse. I got into the back seat and “James” drove me to the airport. A right cockney geezer who was well pissed off that his fare had not turned up, 2nd time this week you know and the hotel charges him a quid for each pickup.

I gave him a £2 as a wee tip, that cheered him up, “God bless you son” he says.

Off to check in with Virginatlantic, although we were going no where near the Atlantic.

Check in was painless and so was the wait for the flight. I went for a whisky tasting but decided not to buy. More coffee and then onto the gate. The plane today is a Dreamliner and a very nice plane it was. I was in a middle aisle seat, which I wasn’t too pleased about, mind you I never noticed until I was about to board.

Opposite there was a young family and I thought that was just marvellous, unfortunately they got moved up to the front for a more comfortable seat and so I jumped across the window seat before it got cold. 3 seats to myself on an eleven hour flight.

On the Dreamliner the window shades are automatic, you have a button to press which allow you to control the amount of light coming in and when it’s time to switch off the cabin lights, all the shades turn black. Now isn’t technology a wonderful thing?

The food on this flight was delicious. I had the vegetarian Shepherds Pie and for breakfast Blueberry Waffles, all really really good and two bottles of wine was had at dinner to help me sleep, but I did not.

I watched two movies, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards. Two good movies but very different. For the last hour of the flight I listened to Black Sabbath.

Arrived in Pudong on time and then started the journey to Suzhou, first by bus and then high speed train and then Metro and then finally my hotel for a few days till I sort out my accommodation. By about 4pm local time I’m well knackered and so it was time for lights out until the morning.