So we arrived in Shanghai on the 6th, had a quick look around the following day and headed of on a 3 day tour of HangZhou, SuZhou and ZhouZhuang on the Monday. Chinese tours are VERY tiring as they fit as many sights and shops into the limited time that they can. The tour operators make most of their money generated on sales at certain places, like a commission basis, so lots of specific shops are on the schedule.
HANGZHOU - I'd heard a lot about Hangzhou and West Lake but although it was beautiful, it didn't strike me as the amazing place I'd heard all about. It may have been because of the very rushed tour we experienced on that day due to a 2 hour delay in which we sat on the coach on the highway because of fog. The whole day after that was spent rushing from sights to shops....very tiring!
SUZHOU - is not far Shanghai and we headed back to Suzhou to spend the night and then sight see the next day. This tour was much better, not as rushed and I thought Suzhou is really quite beautiful. The vibe of this city, is cool and the many canals that run through the place makes people call it the "Oriental Venice". The city is also full of many temples and special gardens. We had beautiful, warm sunny weather for our day in Suzhou.
ZHOUZHUANG - interesting little town about half an hour from Suzhou. Full of canals like Suzhou some of which run through the houses. It's now very tourist orientated in this town and every shop we walked past I was greeted with "Hello, come in". They tell you a price and when you walk away they ask you how much you want to pay for it. It drives me crazy!
A busy Three day tour then back to Shanghai!
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