Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

Suzhou and Hangzhou were both nice and quaint. I think that each of them deserved more time than we gave them. We spent two days in each place which was not enough time to get settled and truly enjoy the cities. If I had to choose one over the other I would have chosen to spend more time in Hangzhou.

Suzhou was a nice little town with canals and old sections of city to wander. We took a night cruise on the river there. The cruise was nice but we shared a boat with some rowdy business men which made it less enjoyable. There was a Chinese tour guide on board as well as a musician. Even with the live entertainment and noisy men at the back of the boat one of our fellow passengers was still able to catch some Zzz’s. Our hostel there was very new and under construction. I think it will be a nice place when it’s finished. We were lucky and got a room to ourselves while we were there.

Hangzhou was a quiet little resort town. The main attractions were the gardens and parks surrounding the lakes. It was very peaceful and relaxing there. When we were there it was very hot and humid. We got caught out in probably the most spectacular lightning storm I’ve ever seen. We took cover in a building in one of the parks and waited until it was a bit safer to get to a bus stop. One flash of lightning and clap of thunder was particularly nearby to our shelter and both Brynn and I jumped a bit. There seemed to be many lightning storms in the area and the sound was rolling through the whole valley. Our hostel there was just okay. We will always remember it for the cockroaches in the restaurant area and in Brynn’s bedding.