We made it to Jiaxing after 6 hours of pedaling along very quiet roads.  This is Chinese New Year and everyone is traveling home so, occasionally we saw bunches of people walking, carrying red bags full of fruit for their families.Patrick and Laurelyn welcomed us in their parking lot with their camera ready.  My eyes felt like sandpaper here  because of all the dust and wind along the way.  We headed up to their apartment for some hot tea and cookies and spent two days here talking about our experiences in China, eating delicious homemade meals made by Patrick, and drinking plenty of coffee.  They really know how to make people feel at home.

After riding for 3.5 hours, we made it to our hostel in Suzhou.  We have stayed here about 3 different times now because the located in the center of town and it's surrounded by old canals.  Here is the view from our window (It's a lot cuter than what the pictures show).  We met a couple staying in the room next to us who were studying chinese in Beijing and that night went to dinner at a quaint dim sum restaurant down the road. Then we passed out for the night under tons of blankets.

We have a break this week and are taking a bike trip 75 miles south to Jiaxing, China to visit family (Patrick and Laurelyn).  This will be practice to see how well we can navigate our way from one town to the next, how well our bike bags will hold up and what tools, etc. we might need for a longer trip.

Shane staff party

The school had a party for all the teachers last week.  The top two photos are of a masked man who changes masks in the blink of an eye.  There was lots of great chinese food, a magician, and a few drinking games.  Tomorrow we will be headed to Jiaxing on our bikes to visit Lauralyn and Patrick.  

Sometimes on our days off we just like to pack up our coffee and some cookies and walk for hours. A few weeks ago we were walking and heard marching band type music.  When we got closer and saw people dressed in velvet robes walking in a circle, we realized it was a funeral.
You can see from the photos how much tearing down and building is going on here.  In 20 years, this town will look like Shanghai with skyscrapers everywhere and an extensive underground metro system. 

The camellia's are in bloom here and we went on a search to find some.  

As we were walking up the mountain, this man in the picture asked Mark in English, "would you rather be a mountain or a river?".  

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