Greetings from Hangzhou. Arrived midday today to torrential rain so haven't seen much of the picturesque East Lake - just the inside of restaurants and internet cafes! Head to Yellow Mountain tomorrow. Really enjoyed my stay in Suzhou. It is a nice little place and the Lingering Gardens were very pretty. In the evening Dave, Leesa, Stephen, Rebecca and myself went to the bowling alley which was inside 5 star hotel (because we are western they didn't even doubt whether we could afford it or not, despite the fact that we were all wearing unironed t-shirts and worn out thongs!!). Infact they had to open the alley just for us so we had the entire place to ourselves which was great and took my mind off the fact that it was mums birthday. Thankyou guys, much appreciated xx Left the following morning for Shanghai. Shanghai is very busy and consequently pretty stressful! Had a look at the markets and shops, went up the Jin Moa Tower - the 4th tallest building in the world! (yes I went up to the 88th floor in an elevator - once again I have Leesa to thank for keeping me calm and distracted by asking me the impossible question 'What is your favourite chocolate?). We had reached the bottom before i had made a descision - well it is a tough one!!! Took a cruise down the river last night - no wonder China is needing to build the 3 gorges dam to provide another energy source, the amount of electricity needed to light up all the Neon signs is enough to keep a small country running for a year!! Am looking forward to returning to Shanghai as Leesa, Dave and myself have decided to splash out on a very nice hotel for our last few nights in China - saunas, spas, massages and cocktails all round woo hoo!!!! Hope all is well, see you very soon love Nadine xx