My new digs are at Zhongnan Jie which is very different from where I have been living. There are wide tree lined roads with a geometric layout, you can see that this side of the city has been planned and not just developed from scratch rather than redeveloping and area. I’m also right next to a raised road which is one of the main ring roads in Suzhou.

This is not good, the noise and more importantly the pollution that comes from this road both in the form of noise and fumes is quite bad. I walked to the other side of the road yesterday to go to a park and you can taste the air and it’s foul. I’m sure most people that live here will have breathing problems or some kind of lung disease. Another bad thing about this location is it’s not only one road that you have to contend with, there is one underneath too.

The tower block that I am in is only 18 floors, but I am almost surrounded by these monster 33 storey buildings. Great view but don’t fancy living all the way up here, especially after what happened in the UK at Grenfell. I’m on the 4th floor so I have a great view of the raised road and can watch the traffic go by when I’m having a shower, but if I can’t see it I can always hear it.

This gated community I am in is very large, I’m not too sure how many buildings are in it, but there must be thousands of people live here. There is a lot of security and you need to have a pass to enter and leave the complex. There are plenty of shops and convenience stores around of course the all important restaurants and yesterday I found a Muslim restaurant so I am happy that I can buy some tasty food. I was also surprised to find out that it was a little cheaper than my last place but I don’t think it is as tasty.

The house is comfortable and quite large so it feels good to have space. My hosts told me that when they bought this place 3 years ago it was 9,000 rmb per m2 and now it’s over 25,000 per m2.

My room has a double bed and the bed is rock hard, but I sleep like a log. Thankfully the house is double glazed but the noise still seeps through. At night it’s quite quiet but once the day starts that’s it, but then again I am living beside a very busy ring road.

The metro station is about a 20 minute walk which is OK when there is no rain. There are free city bikes at the west gate which I can take to the station which cuts the time a bit.

So I’m here or another 5 weeks and then it’s on to a more nomadic life for a few months hopefully. It feels a bit strange to be saying good bye to China but I do want to get away from the teaching and Suzhou for a while. I do know that I do not want to live in this side of town and especially next to a busy main road.

 

I need to buy another phone me thinks😆

I came across a new cafe and so I decided to come in and try the coffee. It was not too bad, but as usual a little on the weak side, but way better than Starbucks. 

I got a window seat upstairs over looking Shiqain Jie which is quite a busy street and so it was good just to while away the hours before I go to class. Across from me were two young ladies in their late 20’s that all of a sudden could not keep their hands off each other,  it was quite a floor show and quite unexpected. I was only feet away from them but they paid no attention to me what so ever. And I’m sure they didn’t notice the other folk nearby either.  After about 10 mins or so they calmed down a bit and decided to leave and no doubt get a room. All the time they were so wrapped up in each other that nothing else existed. 

Now in no way shape or form is this a complaint as I found it very entertaining but I was very surprised to see such an open display of affection by these two young ladies in public in China and plus the fact that no one else seemed the slightest bit bothered.

So there you go,  you never know just what your day will turn up. I might have to come back here again for another coffee😆

The old VPN is very intermittent at the moment and so when it does work it’s so good to use google and actually find what you want. Having to use Yahoo is OK for simple searches but if that doesn’t work you have to go to Bing and then you are just about ready to jump out the window………………………………

Autumn is coming to Suzhou and as you walk down the streets the trees discard their leaves without a care, much like many of the locals discard their rubbish.  This morning as I walked to the bus stop I saw at least 4 folk drop their rubbish and I thought to myself that this is something I must try.

I went for lunch and had some noodles, thick noodles and so it can get a little messy.  They were also quite spicy and on the snot scale of 1 to 5 then I would say they were a two,  where 5 is the spiciest. So because of this I had to blow the nose and was quite amazed at the amount of snot produced by these relatively mild noodles.

Anyway I don’t like to leave my snotty hanky on the table when I leave the restaurant as that’s pretty disgusting, instead I took it with me and thought that this would be a good opportunity to set my mind free from the shackles of western values and drop that snotty hanky on the ground as I walked down the street but you know as much as I tried and really wanted to fit in and be a real local I just couldn’t. Every fibre of my body resisted against that urge to conform.

I must report that I failed in my task but I am guilt free and once more I have contributed to saving the planet.

 

Always look on the Bright side of life,

Well Monty Python said it best,

Never give up but do it in jest.

We have the weather to thank for being so funny,

The British weather is far from being sunny,

We stay inside in the gloom; we stay in the pub,

We compose our prose and drink till we get gubbed,

The UK is so small, but we are masters of words,

The rest of the world, their no better than turds,

They cannot compete with our wit and our humour,

At best no better than a cancerous tumour,

Monty Python, Red Dwarf and Benny hill,

Absolutely fabulous, Faulty Towers were such a thrill,

Only Fool’s and Horses, Blackadder and more,

British comedy was never a chore,

We have developed a unique sense of humour,

So much darker and with so much rumour,

Innuendo and subtlety are just a few of the tools,

Which makes the Americans look like fools,

Their pie in the face tactics could never compare,

To the masters of linguistics that have so much flair,

The Americans on the other hand have dumbed down our world,

By removing letters of words because they are just not compelled,

We live in dangerous times but there is nothing we can do,

But we can turn to the arts and media to get us through,

The tragedy of the now, is the humour of the future,

To think of Trump as no more than a moocher,

But how will history remember this man?

Well I think a new sitcom is the only way we can,

To bring this man back to reality, let people question his sanity,

But wait we don’t have to because the real is now the fantasy,

The lines have been blurred between fact and fiction,

So what we really need to do is to get The Donald to practice his diction.

When times are difficult or the danger is real,

We turn to humour to make us feel,

To give us comfort and to give us some hope,

To keep us from danger and the hangman’s rope,

Yes we could live in fear of what might happen,

But I think let’s just turn on the TV and laugh the madman.

So always look on the Brightside of life,

Whistle on a Tuesday without a care,

Walk down the street with swagger and flair,

Laugh when someone walks into a pole,

Laugh when someone falls down a hole,

Watch the old man slip on a peel,

See his face connect with his heel,

What we really want is to see so much more

So quell that sympathy gene and laugh and roar,

Don’t be so shocked and live in the moment,

Or maybe you think there should be some atonement,

But either way, always look on the Brightside of life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a difficult thing to do and it’s a stressful thing to do. Trying to find accommodation is not something I enjoy. My home stay has come to an end and it has been a good experience, but as I mentioned before I need to move. So I have been trying to find a place myself as it’s only for 6 weeks. I did not want to get into another, “teach English for free bed and Board” My friend Rita has an apartment she has recently bought but it’s not “decorated” yet. In China when you buy an apartment it is usually just a shell and you fit each one out yourself. So when I visited Rita’s apartment last week it only had a toilet and a few windows in the house. It was still a building site with no expected finishing date and so as much as I had the option to move in I reneged.

So I used AIRBNB to look for a place. I have visited a few of them because you can never trust the pictures. Too many pictures of flowers and paintings which means that the actual house is no doubt shit. Last night I went to the other side of town to see my new digs. It’s a young Chinese couple, no kids which its good. It is a little more expensive but there is an en-suite and so I thought I would prefer that than share a bathroom. I’m paying $600 a month which is quite a lot and it makes a big dent in the hip pocket, but none the less I do not have many options, well I have but I decided to take this one.

I’m not looking forward to actual physical move because I have no car so it will be a taxi coupled with maybe a trip on the metro. SO it will be a big day and as usual, you begin to collect shit the longer you stay in one place. One more book, one more pair of shoes. I bought another suitcase to put most of my winter clothes in. I haven’t worked out where I will leave some of my things when I leave China in a few weeks as I do intend coming back next year if they let me back in.

Yesterday I also booked my flights for Shangri-la, I’ll be going there for a visit before I leave China. So yesterday was an expensive day, the credit card got quite a workout.