From Hong Kong we flew to Shanghai and travelled on by bus through rush hour traffic to Kunshan. We were booked into the very nice Yu Xing hotel opposite Peter’s apartment but they seemed to have no idea of who we were. Fortunately Peter and Candy, who speaks excellent English, turned up and she was able to act as translator and sort us out. We had oodles of space and massive beds which felt wonderful after our cell in Hong Kong.

Peter had to work over the weekend but Candy offered to act as our guide with her friend Dilly who speaks several languages and teaches Mandarin in her spare time. We had a good day site seeing in a local park once the home of Tingling, a famous and ancient mathematician and philosopher, who lived there with his entourage and one or two of his fellow academics.

The gardens are beautifully maintained with massed tulips in giant beds. There were teams of gardeners at work some pulling up the early flowering bulbs and others planting bedding plants to replace them. Everywhere in China the public open spaces are really well maintained by teams of gardeners and we often passed street sweepers and litter pickers who are always busy.

We also had time to visit a local market which had such varieties of fruit and vegetables all looking in wonderful condition, even if we were not too sure what they were!

Unusual veg – lotus root, three angled beans and ?

Candy and Dilly shopping for dinner.

As well as taking us out for a scrumptious lunch, Candy cooked us a delicious evening meal. Chinese hospitality is second to none and we were really being spoilt on our first day.

Peter and Candy

It was just great to see Peter again and to meet Candy at last - she is as delightful as she looks. We were off on a tour with Peter in a couple of days and were sorry Candy couldn’t join us because of work as she is really good fun. 

Zouzhang

Before the tour we had a day in Zouzhang, one of the other water towns an hour or so from Kunshan. This is a well preserved old town with traditional buildings and canals.

Here it is called little Venice and one can take a gondola to see the town from the water whilst the gondolier sings traditional songs.

A typical Tea House where one can sit in perfect peace sampling and sipping teas which flow for as long as you wish.

And the local Chinese laundry

Then for something entirely different. The Chinese like a bit of fun especially with their children and when we went in this house we got just that.

Chris was decapitated and put on display.

Then he and Peter decided to walk up the walls,