Unlike most of the western world, China really knows how to celebrate May Day. Long weekend? Phwah! Try a week long break. Hence the term 'Golden Week'.

Back in the late 1990's, the PRC government changed the way the average Chinese had their holidays. Not content with everyone doing their own thing (now that's not pulling your weight comrade), to this day each the average Chinese worker can claim 3 public holidays. If their employer is nice (and not all are), they give you another 2 extra days in lieu. This happens 3 times a year in China; once for the Spring Festival (or Chinese New Year), May 1st/Labour Day celebrations, and the National Day (October 1st).

The only problem with this idea is that everyone goes on holiday at the same time. Every 1.3 billion citizens of the PRC on holidays. You can imagine the congestion.

So, in the spirit of things, Linda and I decided to do our tourism bit and do a little exploring. Both of our employers saw fit to give us the whole week off, so with time in hand, and slept caught up upon, we spent the remainder of our holiday time exploring the nooks and crannies of Shanghai we hadn't had time to explore as of yet. We found quite a few more to explore as well. Towards the end of our holiday, we ventured off to Suzhou, about 100km away from Shanghai. It is a renowned tourist destination famed for its history as part of the Silk Road route, its exotic Chinese gardens, various artisans, craft work, silk productionh, and large holiday crowds. We were lucky, no crowds, great weather, and blue skies!

Of course we took a lot of photos, but hey, I haven't had all this time to upload and get them sorted. It will come in time, so keep an eye on my Gallery page. I've release some other photos that I've had stored and sorted for quite a while, so have a little dig around the Shanghai section.

Time to go, its late, and I'm b#ggered.