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Adventures of the Humanaught: Life in Suzhou, China
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The discursive writings of a Canadian teaching English in Suzhou, China. Thoughts on culture, politics, food, sex, drugs and rock n roll.
Recent Posts Tagged With suzhou
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World-renowned author visits Humanaught
Alright, Lisa might not be world-renowned yet, but she’s well on her way. And she’s certainly a well-known fixture in the China expat/blogging circle. Perhaps best known as “Other Lisa” in the comments at the Peking Duck (or @...
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Dalian vs. Suzhou
Despite the combative title, it’s rather tough to A-B the two places I’ve spent the most time with in China. They are both supported and mired by a number of attributes that make them both rather unique places to live. Last week Maggie an...
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Chinese cities with beautiful women, I seem to know how to pick ‘em
Before moving to Dalian in 2005 I spent a good amount of time on the Internet researching the place to see if it was the type of city I’d like to live in. Looking back on what I read, it was the typical “Dalian is a beautiful sea-side cit...
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Suzhou info page finally fleshed + Suzhou district map
In any given week I usually get 2-3 e-mails from people just arrived or arriving in Suzhou. As one of the longest running blogs with a focus on living in Suzhou, Google gives me some love and I in turn do my best to pass it along. In an effort to pro...
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Olive (Delhi Palace) – Some great Indian food in Suzhou
Yesterday afternoon Maggie came home with the latest edition of MORE magazine, one of Suzhou’s handful of expat-geared mags, and a glowing review of a new Indian food place caught her attention. As a yoga instructor, she tends to be a bit of an...
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Holiday Fu’s Suzhou City Guide
Iain Manley, editor of City Weekend’s relatively new Holiday Fu, has just put together an excellent city guide for Suzhou. Most all the large travel portals give Suzhou a mention, but Iain’s writeup is full of a wit and insight that makes...
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Murder in the Hood
Polce and security guards talk to a journalist near the crime scene at Singha Plaza. Murders in the news are as common as the weather report, and are rarely read with any greater attention. It is not often that they touch your life in some way, even ...
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My ChinaTravel.net Feature on Suzhou
A while back I was approached by the fine folks at ChinaTravel.net, an English-language travel site about China that is “editorially independent” but strongly affiliated with Ctrip.com — one of China’s largest online travel bo...
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WTF, Suzhou 14th worst place in the world to work? Sissies!
A recent article in BusinessWeek featured a slideshow displaying 20 of the World’s Worst Places to Work. Unsurprisingly some Chinese cities made the list - surprisingly Suzhou was among them. The list, compiled by New York-based human resources...
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Karmatic Moment of the Week: Snake Rescue
I got an early phone call from my friend and neighbour Kevin today. It’s not odd that he called, he often calls, but it did seem weird it was only 9 a.m. “Ryan, can you come outside for a minute, I need a hand.” In slippers and paja...
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Living in China is Easy…
Living in China is easy - or so says the tag line of my new favourite Web site, 5JShop.com. The site offers home delivery of groceries in and around the Jinji Lake/SIP area of Suzhou. Yeah, we just click, click, click and hit send and magically a man...
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‘Best Band in Beijing’ coming to Suzhou
Just got word that Woodie Alan, the band City Weekend calls the “Best Band in Beijing”, is coming to Suzhou for a one show performance on Friday night. The show’s taking place at J&J Restaurant (No.5, Block 11, Horizon Resort I...
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Yoga lessons in Suzhou’s SIP - Maggie gets a Web site
About a week and a half ago Maggie told me she was a bit worried because there was an unprecidented meeting of a large group of “business people” at her yoga studio when she arrived to teach her class. Turns out her fears were not unfound...
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Now that’s a launch party
I’m not sure what our little “Venice of the East” did to encourage it, but in the last six months to a year Suzhou has gone from having virtually no English city/culture magazines to having no less than three - and with the official...
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Emergency Fundraiser BBQ for Xiao Hua
And now news of a barbecue of a different, and much more solemn and purposeful nature - I received word late yesterday from several friends that there will be an emergency fundraising BBQ for their friend Xiao Hua, whom was the victim of a hit and ru...
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Mailbag: Suzhou, home for cheats and liars?
Being that this blog has been around for a while now, and that it consistently lists at the top of the search results for many things “Suzhou”, I tend to get my fair share of e-mails from readers or random passers-by. Most of these are e-...
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Our Apartment in Suzhou SIP (video/photos)
As I mentioned a couple weeks back, we’re moving to a new apartment at the end of the month. As it is fully furnished (I’ve yet to rent an apartment here that isn’t - though some call into question the definition of “fullyR...
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Movin’ on up … to the first floor
Well, it’s official. Mags, Addie and I are all moving to a new apartment at the end of June. We’ve been talking about moving for quite a while now, and with our lease up next month, it was time to either piss or get off the pot… alr...
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How us Suzhou Expats can help quake victims
My friend Rebecca just let me know that Suzhou Bookworm, which also has an affiliated location in Chengdu, is collecting donations to assist those affected by Monday’s horrible earthquake in Sichuan. If any fellow Suzhou expats have means to he...
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Suzhou Bookworm’s East & West Music Fest
I swear, this town gets a little bit more livable every day. I mean, we’ve got an Irish Pub that serves Guinness on tap, we’ve got one, two, three places that I can get a taco, we’ve a cafe/bookshop/lending library loaded to the raf...
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Humanaughtahaironmyhead
So, spring is in the air in lovely Suzhou. Yes - our two weeks of paradise have arrived, and just in time for the droves of tourists looking to capture a picture of the city’s tranquil gardens (which are overflowing with tourists looking to cap...
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English movie cinema in Suzhou
There were a few major adjustments I had to undergo when I moved to Suzhou from Dalian back in August 2006, namely: a lack of abundant Korean food, no Walmart, no slick light-rail mass transit, and no English-language movie theatres. Well, it’s...
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Bookworm Lit Fest Hits Suzhou
Suzhou’s newest hot spot is undeniably The Bookworm. Part café, part library, part restaurant, part bar and part bookshop; it’s not hard to see why the place has quickly become a refuge for many a Suzhou expat. On top of its boatload of ...
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My Favourite (Suzhou) Blogs
It used to be that I’d skim 10-20 blogs a day, with even more sitting in my feed reader should I have the extra time. I love blogs, love blogging and love the China blogsphere. In fact, it was just that love for it all that led me to setup the ...
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Soochow/Suzhou University Mandarin Program - Contact Info
As I’ve had no less than half a dozen e-mails asking me this, and as I can’t remember where I got the information initially, here’s some contact/prelim. information about Suzhou’s Soochow University Mandarin language program. ...
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Suzhou makes list of most expensive cities
According to a survey by ECA International Suzhou has been ranked as the 20th most costly Asian city for expats to live in. The list; which puts Suzhou slightly ahead of Xi’An, Wuhan and Nanjing and behind Dalian, Chengdu and Chongqing; lists b...
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English-language yoga lessons in Suzhou
Looking to learn yoga in Suzhou, but not sure where to find a private teacher that can speak English? Well my aspires-to-be-bendy friend, today is your lucky day. This is a bit of a public service announcement / ad for my lovely wife. As long-time re...
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Burger King in Suzhou?
After a night out at the Shamrock, Suzhou’s defacto Irish pub, surrounded by fellow non-Asian faces most of which are rattling on in English, it’s sometimes easy to forget where you are. This is likely why, while sipping some post-closing...
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Gettin’ Smashed
As some might remember, I bought an e-bike a few months back. It’s pretty much replaced taxis as my primary mode of transportation (taxis having replaced buses shortly after I got caught in the rear door pushing my way on an overstuffed bus). F...
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Wipha Sucked But Krosa Blew
Back a couple weeks I wrote about Typhoon Wipha coming to wipe Suzhou and the rest of China’s eastern seaboard off the map. It failed to do so. The other day all the reports seemed to indicate Krosa was coming to do the same. Nada. However, wha...
