At the very end of my time in China, I had a free day to go an explore a nearby location – I was deciding between Suzhou and Hangzhou, but ended up opting for Suzhou as I expected it to be a bit more laid back.

I was up early in Shanghai, got the metro to the major train station, and then stumbled my way through the process of purchasing a ticket to Suzhou. It was about a 30 minute train ride there.

I spent the day in Suzhou walking around, which was taxing on my feet. I bought a gift for mum – I probably overspent as the shop felt a little bit of a tourist trap – but I hadn’t got her anything yet, it was nice, and she deserves it. She’s been looking after my house while I’m gone, and I’ll need to get something for dad as well. I went to the museum, and the humble administrators garden. It was probably more crowded than I expected, as I was hoping for a quiet afternoon in a peaceful garden. I’m on the train back home now (got my ticket changed to an earlier time), I’ll hopefully have dinner again at the same spot I ate last night, and meet up with Skye for a drink.

Suzhou represented my last stop before heading back to Shanghai for one night and then, leaving China the following morning. As I sit now at Shanghai airport writing this, I’m briefly reflecting on my time in China. It was only 19 days, but I feel like I truly maximised this time. I reflected on this a bit already in my previous entry at Root Down.

Today I fly to KL to meet up with Dan and Yuji for a few days.