My search for a memory card continues...

After breakfast I went out in search of a compact flash card. The owner had given me instructions on where to go which seemed simple enough so I was on my way. I got a little lost but since he wrote everything in Mandarin I asked some locals and they pointed me in the right direction. It took me 2 hours and at least 15 different stores until I found a store that sold compact flash cards. They had some 4GB cards and some 8GB cards. I asked for the prices of both and they were pretty good so I asked if I could pay by credit card and they told me no. They pointed to an ATM and told me to pull out the money. It took me 20 minutes to explain to them that my card doesn't work in that ATM. My card only works in 2 specific banks. Unfortunately I had to leave the cards behind because I wasn’t about to give them my food money that I had set aside for the week. I had no idea if there were any banks that I could use here so I didn't want to risk it.

After my wild goose chase for a memory card I found my way to the Lingering Garden. Wow. It was amazing and virtually tourist free which was really nice. They had some musicians playing throughout the garden on those traditional guitars (I can't remember the name but if you've seen Memoirs of a Geisha, that instrument that she plays). Anyways, so the sound of music pretty much flowed through the entire place which really added to the atmosphere. At one point one of the ladies started to sing with the music which was amazing. As I made my way through the gardens a siren was sounded across the city. It sounded like one of those bombing alerts that you hear in the movies. It went on for what felt like an eternity (it was really 3 minutes). During this time some of the locals stayed perfectly still while others continued to move and talk. It was really, really creepy. I wasn't scared since I figured that if it was an alert for a bombing or something the locals would be running for cover or something. I later found out that it was a warning for everyone in town to stop moving/talking for 3 minutes to remember the earthquake victims from last year. They sounded the alarm at the exact time that the earthquake hit. Apparently all of China had this 3 minutes of silence (minus that alarm) and all of the traffic across the country was supposed to stop. I don't know if it actually stopped or not but it was interesting.

It took me a few hours to go through the garden and I've a feeling that I got lost in them. They're really big. Near the end I got caught in some rain which I have to say that it was about time it rained since the entire morning was overcast and misty. I've never moved so fast in my life to cover my camera. After I had it securely covered and I found some shelter I found a way to keep my camera covered so I could still take a few shots. I got some really nice ones. I'm glad I didn't keep my camera hidden.

By the time I got back to the hostel I was soaked. I got changed and got myself some dinner since I hadn't eaten lunch. I ordered sweet and sour pork with rice. It was pretty good. Although the sauce was a little too sour for my taste. I stayed in the hostel for the rest of the evening since the rain wasn't letting up and I watched a pirated version of Ocean's Thirteen with Mandarin and Russian subtitles (there was no way to remove them).

Lingering Garden:
A palm tree in the rain

Bamboo leaves. This was when it was just starting to rain

Me looking like a dork. ^^ My skin's got this I'm a burn/I'm a tan thing going on depending on the lighting.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys just for Kevin. I saw these and thought of you. They were in an artifact museum section of the garden. I think these are dated back 500-800 years. Could be more.

Some of the museums on a boat in the gardens.

Part of the entrance to the gardens.

Suzhou:

One of the many canals. This one's a short 5 minute walk from my hostel. As you can see it was very misty and cloudy.

It's getting hot, hot, hot!

As the title says. It's getting very hot and very humid here. I'm probably going to freeze when I get back home. For the past few days we've been averaging at 33-35 degrees without the humidex, with it it's about 40 outside. Luckily it's supposed to cool down a little bit this week for thunderstorms! They keep calling for these storms but we never get anything. There's one storm that keeps migrating. It was supposed to happen the Sunday before I left for Shanghai and then it's was supposed to happen when I got back to Suzhou and then they called for it on Monday, Tuesday, and now it's for Friday. I'm beginning to think we aren't going to get these storms. I would love to see a thunderstorm while I'm here. Although I'd much prefer to see it from Martha's apartment since she's so high up. I could try to set up my camera and maybe get a shot of lightening, if I'm lucky.

My hostel is actually turning out to be pretty damn good despite the toilets (which I'm now used to), bad showers, and rock hard beds (I'll try using the duvet they gave us last night as extra padding tonight and use my own sleeping bag to sleep in). The staff member that I had trouble with was actually new here and was still in the process of learning English. The other staff does speak nearly perfect English. One of them even has an American accent, that threw me off this morning. I ended up chatting with that lady who's learning English yesterday for a good few hours. Everytime she had trouble with a word she'd stop me and ask for its meaning before writting it down. She migrated to my dorm since her room didn't have a working air conditioner which is fine by me. The dorm was mostly empty anyway.

I'm going to be heading out today in search of some more memory cards. The owner of the hostel dropped by yesterday and gave me some information on where I could buy some good ones for a good price. I should also mention that he's also a photographer which is why it's helped. The guy drew me a map and explained how to get there. He also wrote the address down for me in Mandarin in case I wished to take a cab. It's only a 20 minute walk so I think I'll walk it instead to get to know the town. With any luck I'll be heading off towards one of the gardens today.