China - February 9th

Arrival in Shanghai was after Midnight where we were greeted by Ying's second and third brothers, their wives and some friends at the airport. Then it was off to JoJo's (second brother) home in the Xu Hui District of Shanghai. Once home they set out a welcome feast for us though we all were ready to just climb into bed as later that AM we would be leaving on a road trip to Suzhou and Hangzhou.

About 9AM all 14 of us were packed and ready to go in a caravan of 3 vehicles to Zhou Zhuang which is an water town of Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province.

The water towns have become popular tourist attractions for both the Chinese and overseas people. Zhouzhuang lies at the midway between Shanghai and Suzhou. The town abounds with rivers and lakes. It is thought by many to be the best waterside town in China. This ancient town is more than 900 years old with many houses built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are about 100 houses with courtyards, and 60 of them have arch gateways made by carved bricks. It is surounded by 4 lakes and inside the town there are many very old stone bridges built in the Yuan, Ming and Quin Dyanasties. Leslie, JoJo and I enjoyed a walk around the town stopping in several of the restored homes of the "wealthy villagers" of olden times. There is was beautiful curved wooden furniture inlaid with jade. The rest of the group did only a small amount of walking before taking a boat ride around the water town.









Lunch was in the water town before heading off to JoJo's real estate project in another part of Kunshan. The project is a development of homes and stores in large buildings that are many stories high- 25 or more. There will be a number of these buildings which will be built in phases as the project goes forward. The placement of the property is good for JoJo as the Chinese government is building a new high speed railway which will stop about 5 minutes from the development.

After we finished walking around the property we went to view a nearby park and lake area. We have found that the government has designed a fair amount of green areas throughout all of China so there are many parks for recreation.

Then we finished our last part of our trip driving to Suzhou to the Younger Central Hotel. Dinner was out that evening with schoolhood friends of Brother #One at a classy restaurant.