"'My mum and me in Suzhou, China'" by sugarpuff

My mum has always wanted to visit Shanghai and Suzhou since I first became involved in China. And every year she comes, we stay in Beijing and don't really venture further. But this time we were determined! I am earning money from my tv job and she was saving money by living with me....so we did it! Below are photos I took of her whether she was aware of it or not! There are also some photos of things which were happening around us, and maybe one or two of me! This is mainly a mini diary for me to remember the holiday by.

Upon arriving in Shanghai, this was one of the first notices we saw.

All I can say is 'poor tired little sign'!

I've included funny signs I've seen on my travels in some of my other pages, and would love to receive funny signs that YOU have taken a picture of.Please send them to my VT address and I'll include your name and a link to your homepage for others to go and see. Thanks!

There are all kinds of foods to be eaten in Shanghai with TGI's being one of the popular ones, going by the amount of customers there were when we went. We went to the branch in Heng Shan Road, but I'm sure there are many others dotted around the city.

Anyway, I think it was the first time my mum had set foot in one, so it obviously deserved a photo! Don't worry mum, I won't tell anyone that we also paid a visit to the ghastly KFC on a couple of occasions...just for coffee mind you!

In about 10 years time, this is going to be my mum and her friend Pat! Chatting whilst hanging up pop socks in the luxury of knowing there's absolutely nothing else to do that day!

Hee hee....

A Garden my mum had heard a lot about. Quite expensive to get in (60yuan) for a garden, but very much worth it. We were there at the wrong time of the year for lotus flowers, but there were plenty of others dotted around the grounds.

Named 'The Venice of the East', Tongli town is a water town. I would even go to say that it is nicer than Venice. Of course very similar, but it's the traditional rooftops of the Chinese buildings that give it the edge over its sister city in Italy. Definitely well worth a day trip there.

In Shanghai at the Yu Yuan Garden. A wonderfully peaceful place with wonderfully quiet tourists passing through it! Met a couple of Korean girls who were lovely, and eager to practise their English with us!

Here is just one of the many pagoda style seating areas in the garden. Very tranquil....apart from the rest of the people queuing up behind me wanting a picture taken in exactly the same place!

My mum sitting in the shade resting her weary feet whilst I did a bit of exploring in the Pearl Tower Garden in Tongli town, near Suzhou.

We were planning on only staying in Tongli for a few hours and then heading off to another famous water town called Zhouzhuang, but this place turned out to be so picturesque and quiet, that we stayed here for almost seven hours!!! Yes, we couldn't believe it either! We had very tired tootsies afterwards!