China Travel

Everything to do with travelling in China

Bookworm Lit Fest Hits Suzhou

Suzhou’s newest hot spot is undeniably The Bookworm. Part café, part library, part restaurant, part bar and part bookshop; it’s not hard to see why the place has quickly become a refuge for many a Suzhou expat. On top of its boatload of English-language books, the cozy two-storey canal-side venue now has the distinction of …

March 6, 2008
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My Favourite (Suzhou) Blogs

It used to be that I’d skim 10-20 blogs a day, with even more sitting in my feed reader should I have the extra time. I love blogs, love blogging and love the China blogsphere. In fact, it was just that love for it all that led me to setup the Hao Hao Report, a …

March 3, 2008
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Suzhou burr-ied in snow

The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has issued a “Red Alert” for a good chunk of the country due to wide-spread snow storms. Looking out my window it’s not hard to see why. Suzhou, a city that might see one light dusting of snow a year is covered in 2+ feet of the white stuff. Needless …

January 28, 2008
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Snow in Suzhou

Having a blog that has first page Google rankings for any number of keyword searches about Suzhou, I tend to get a lot of traffic from people looking for information about the place, generally because they’re living, visiting or moving here. When questioned, I’m always quick to mention how cool a place Suzhou is for …

January 15, 2008
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What Neverbeens don’t know about China

Well, I’ve returned to my chilly Suzhou apartment after a three week refresher in the “real world” and am slowly getting back into the routine of expat life in China. Though I still plan to post my wife Maggie’s impressions of Canada, that involves sorting photos and recollecting exactly what we did while away – …

January 6, 2008
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Cart before horse in Chinese-Canadian tourism

Letter to the Welland Tribune Editor: Upon reading Corey Larocque’s recent piece on Chinese criminal Lai Changxing being the biggest obstacle in opening the flood gates to Chinese tour groups onto Niagara, I couldn’t help but laugh. Not at Larocque, he’s swell, but at the idea that China’s Approved Destination Status (ADS) is the obstacle. …

December 5, 2007
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Suzhou makes list of most expensive cities

According to a survey by ECA International Suzhou has been ranked as the 20th most costly Asian city for expats to live in. The list; which puts Suzhou slightly ahead of Xi’An, Wuhan and Nanjing and behind Dalian, Chengdu and Chongqing; lists both Beijing and Shanghai in the top 10 (#7 and #8 respectively). A …

November 27, 2007
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Travelversary, how I got where I am

So, that little bump in the road with the site being down marks my third year of running this blog. Well, technically I didn’t start writing on here until I arrived in China in January… but thehumanaught.com is technically three this week. Additionally, this week marks another anniversary of sorts. It was November 11, 2003, …

November 16, 2007
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English-language yoga lessons in Suzhou

Looking to learn yoga in Suzhou, but not sure where to find a private teacher that can speak English? Well my aspires-to-be-bendy friend, today is your lucky day. This is a bit of a public service announcement / ad for my lovely wife. As long-time readers may know, Maggie is a yoga instructor/teacher here in …

November 6, 2007
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Burger King in Suzhou?

After a night out at the Shamrock, Suzhou’s defacto Irish pub, surrounded by fellow non-Asian faces most of which are rattling on in English, it’s sometimes easy to forget where you are. This is likely why, while sipping some post-closing brew at a little canal-side gazebo (Suzhou’s cool that way) around the corner that a …

October 27, 2007
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Wipha Sucked But Krosa Blew

Back a couple weeks I wrote about Typhoon Wipha coming to wipe Suzhou and the rest of China’s eastern seaboard off the map. It failed to do so. The other day all the reports seemed to indicate Krosa was coming to do the same. Nada. However, what it did do was give Suzhou that long-needed …

October 9, 2007
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