Suzhou

As we bear down on our last days in Shanghai, we went on a day trip to Suzhou on Saturday and came back tired but a little disappointed. While Suzhou was still mildly interesting, it didn't live up to the hype brought by two obviously too boastful (typical Chinese) phrases commonly associated with it in travel guides.
1. In heaven there is paradise, on earth there is Hangzhou and Suzhou.
>> Chiang Mai beats Hangzhou and Suzhou any day of the year.
2. Gardens to the south of Yangtze River are the best in the world, and Suzhou gardens are the best among them.

We first visited the Master Of The Nets Garden. The travel guides repeatedly singled it out as the most beautiful one. But one look at it and I knew we wouldn't be in for a day of beauty. A pic here below showing the pond at the centre of it all at this garden.



We then went for lunch. Much like Suzhou, it was decent but not spectacular. And with our stomachs full, we went to the Lion Grove Garden and got the workout we needed. This garden was our favourite on this trip and much of it has to do with the mazy paths, complete with stairs and bridges, through the limestone rocks. A fun time and well worth the RMB30 entrance fee.





Our last paid stop was at the Tiger Hill with its leaning pagoda. At RMB60 per entry, this was the biggest disappointment. I'm usually a sucker for these types of old pagodas and this one was nice but not worth the hefty entrance fee. After seeing the awe-inspiring Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai for 0 baht, this one left a sour taste in my mouth.



We then stopped at Hanshan Temple but did not find it worth paying another RMB25 to go in. Not helping matters was the fact that we reached there at 16:45 and the sign by the ticket office said it closed at 16:30 even though it was still selling tickets to the hordes of group tourists.

Our last stop in Suzhou was at a nice little shopping street where the women did some shopping while I did some waiting. Only minus point here was the annoying bicycle taxi drivers always pestering us to hitch a ride in their death traps.



These next 2 pics are my favourite among the ones taken in Suzhou. They don't feature the gardens, so that should be enough to tell you loads about how much I rated those.

Cute little puppy under the display cases of a stall peddling touristy stuff at the Master Of The Nets Garden. There were at least 4 puppies under there.



The sunset sky as I was waiting for the women at the shopping street.

Green Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square has been covered with grass. This was done as part of a campaign which tries to entice people out of the city centre and into some of the British capital's more rural areas.

Unfortunately, this is being done for just 2 days - from Wednesday night to Friday night. I personally would have liked to have it go on for a couple of weeks or until the end of Summer. But still, it's a neat idea and obviously enough for that campaign to gain some free publicity.

Not too sure where all the pigeons went though.

TV Renewals, Anime and Sports

1. TV Shows - Renewals
Happy to read that CBS decided to renew How I Met Your Mother and Shark. The last few episodes of How I Met Your Mother's Season 2 were excellent and I look forward to seeing this show again in 4 months.

Equally pleased to hear about the cancellation of Veronica Mars by CW - the series had started off with an excellent first season and followed it up with a decent second season but the third season was pretty dreadful. There was (desperate) talk about how the creators were hoping to keep the show alive by fast-forwarding a few years into the future and having Veronica as an FBI agent but I'm glad the network didn't go with it. This time-warp gimmick is already set to happen on One Tree Hill, so it's also good CW isn't turning into the Sci-Fi Channel.
Was pretty sad to hear about the cancellation of The Class by CBS and was then appalled to read that Fox had decided to renew Til Death (essentially just a bad remake of Married With Children). Obviously TV Shows get a greater shot at survival when they're on a smaller and weaker network.

2. Anime
Have watched the first episodes of Darker Than Black, Heroic Age, Kaze No Stigma, Shining Tears X Wind and Sola. None of them was mind-blowing but they all show some promise, so I'm giving them another chance.

Also watched the third episode of Hayate No Gotoku!. The first two episodes were decent enough but this third one was unfunny-silly. Might drop it if this trend continues.

The one gem among the newly released Animes has been Lovely Complex.

3. Sports
- I'm hoping San Antonio will win the NBA Championship. They closed out Phoenix 4-2 in the Western Conference semi-finals last week. Funny to keep reading on the Suns whining about Robert Horry's foul in Game 4. The rule which the Suns broke and got suspended for is a good one, it prevents the sort of ugly mass brawls that plague so many other sports.

- San Antonio is now leading Utah 1-0 and Detroit leads Cleveland 1-0. Sidenote, I can't stand LeBron James and a lot of it has to do with his name, it sucks. Anyway, assuming San Antonio win the West and Detroit win the East, I wonder whether my Spurs will be able to beat Detroit.

- I'm glad Chelsea won the FA Cup on Saturday. Didier Drogba's goal was a pretty good one. Funny to read about Ferguson's claim that his players were too tired.

- Roger Federer overcame his slump of late and beat Rafael Nadal in the final of the Hamburg Masters. I was starting to get worried about how the recent defeats had affected Federer's confidence but seems there was nothing to be worried about. Obviously the clay season is still not the best time of the year for him but this win will do some good.

Movies in April

Watched these 2 very entertaining movies during our recent trip back to Singapore. It's worth paying $8 or $9 a ticket for entertaining movies like these ones.