Shanghai July 10 - again a little late

I'm getting my days mixed up now - I don't know what I've been eating, drinking or doing - perhaps the heat is getting to me - I've wilted!

I went on a bus tour yesterday - visiting Suzhou (gardens and silk factory) and Zhouzhuang - canal city (apparently Venice of the East). (Mr. Grumpypants couldn't make, I think he ate a bad clam at JJ Rice Hut and had to stay home to get rid of it). I've never been to Venice so I'm not sure how to compare them, but this town, while absolutely beautiful and picturesque, is pretty much there for the tourists. It was packed - being Sunday- and in the late afternoon everyone who owned a shop was sleeping, so thankfully no hard sell of products.

We had a great lunch at the Bamboo Garden Hotel - lazy Suze style - with salty greens - mmm, ginko nuts and dates, fava beans and barbecued duck as appetizers, then came the delicious slow roasted pork in a rich brown gravy with dates - the intestines were included (braided or knotted) and very tasty as well. There was also roasted chicken, more steamed greens (way less salty), steamed cabbage, snap peas with thinly sliced pork and egg drop soup. We also had some beer - always around 3.6% and tasting pretty watered down - probably the right beer for this climate.

I've bought Suntory beer for the hotel room, as well as some rice wines to sample. The wines are quite like the colour and taste of an Amontillado, though not as refined. I'm keeping it in the fridge as I don't have the energy to drink booze that isn't cold.

Today a couple of us set off for the fabric market, but ended up winding our way through an antique market - whoa - loads of great stuff. All bartering is done using a calculator - they type their price, then you type yours - its can go on quite a while - apparently Canadians don't like to part with their money so we play hard. I bought a couple of beautiful embroidered pieces from Guizhou, a funky bracelet and a fan - a necessary accessory here!

We ate lunch in a Japanese place, gyoza, fried noodles with seaweed and other greens and seaweed sesame soup.