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Ni Hao from Suzhou

Posted by Rick Hosmer on March 19 2009| 0 Comments

Today was an awesome day. We left Beijing and flew to Shanghai. From the airport, we bussed about 1 1/2 hours to Suzhou.

Suzhou is a small Chinese town. Only 1.2 million people. It was founded over 2,500 years ago. Marco Polo actually visited Suzhou in his travels. He called it his second home, as Suzhou is criss-crossed with canals (and Marco was from Venice.)

We toured an amazing Chinese garden this afternoon that was started in the Ming Dynasty, over 500 years ago.

Then we took a boat cruise on the Grand Canal and walked through neighborhoods that are virtually unchanged since before the Cultural Revolution. Vendors were selling eels, frogs, turtles, and live chickens in the street. Since so few people have refrigerators, they have to buy their meat fresh. And there's nothing fresher than LIVE.

At dinner tonight, I talked with a guy from Spokane that is just starting a small wine business. We had a nice chat about the importance of good wine labels. Maybe in a couple of years he will give me a call.

I have gotten to know many other business people from Spokane. Everyone is interested in seeing what Brendan and I are drawing in our sketchbooks every day.

Tomorrow we are touring a silk factory. Suzhou is the start of the Silk Road to the Middle East and Europe (which is what brought Marco Polo here.) We will also take a trip on the fastest train in the world (over 425 kilometers per hour).

We are having a great time. Brendan is a natural traveler. He loves hanging out and talking with locals who have no idea what he is saying. He actually got a phone number from a cute Chinese girl today. Several of them have wanted to get their picture taken with "Harry Potter"... as they think Brendan resembles him. I have to keep close tabs on him when we are walking around because all he wants to do it head out on his own and draw.

I have shot a bunch of photos and shot video as well. There are several people on the trip who are great shooters. The plan is for everyone to put their photos on Flickr, so we can view and download the images that we want to copy.

We've got a few more days in China, but already this has been a trip of a lifetime. My Chinese business cards and the Chinese/Spokane brochures are a bit hit.