I took the high speed train to Suzhou three days before the Chinese New Year. A one-way ticket from Shanghai cost 41 yuan. I had narrowly missed the train and with one and a half hours to kill before the next departure, I decided to have lunch at, ahem, McDonalds which was packed with travelers.
It’s pretty impressive, the train. It could travel at up to 350 km/h and arrive at Suzhou Station in just 25 minutes from Shanghai’s Hongqiao Station. The ride was smooth and comfortable too.
When I stepped out of the train station, there were old ladies waiting at the exit, selling maps to tourists. One approached me with two maps – one cost 6 yuan, the other 3. Fortunately, I bought them because I got lost later.
I wandered around the bus depot searching for the bus that would take me to Modern Avenue and when I finally found it, the driver did not know where it was because he was new on the job. Nevertheless, I hopped on. After about half an hour’s ride, I realized that I was lost and found myself stranded in the middle of nowhere.
As it was getting dark, I decided to hail a taxi in order to save time and finally arrived at IN CITY. I was thankful for the warm reception in offered compared to the cold outside. One unique feature of the mall was the layout of the escalators although it proved to be quite confusing for someone new to move from one level to another.
There was only enough time for me to explore WalMart and take couple of pictures before reluctantly rushing back to the station to catch the 8 p.m. train back to Shanghai.
Suzhou express indeed.
The next day, I decided to leave home earlier for my trip to Hangzhou.
WANDERTALES 