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Hotel Soul Boutique Hotel in Suzhou

Cool and ConnectedHotel Soul is a treat for the senses. Visually, it’s striking – nowhere more so than in the lobby and public areas, where the interplay between man-made and natural materials conjures drama and surprise. Guest rooms are warmly lit and a full set of in-room designer amenities refreshes both body and mind.
Communications connectivity gets the guest fully wired-up with onsite roaming Wi-Fi easily enabled. Also essential to guest well-being is the team of courteous well-trained staff, who are multi-lingual, Suzhou savvy and well informed on the needs of the international traveller.

Nestling in the epicentre of one of China’s last ancient cities that is still criss-crossed with canals, is the new Hotel Soul.

Built to inspire guests with its thematic décor, guaranteed comfort, good food and amiable service, this experience-driven boutique hotel, with 219 rooms, is a place to encounter little miracles, whether visitors are here for business or leisure.

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Taichi in Suzhou & Learning Taichi as part of Chinese culture.

Learning Taichi, as one of prevailing sports now, is a profound part of Chinese culture, being the exercise favoured by both domestic and people abroad.

Rui Xing Club is the first official club to teach Taichi, and Mr. Liu Yuanyi, the teacher there, is very professional and famous worldwide. Mr. Liu Yuanyi, as the club’s founder and chief coach, presently takes the position of the vice chairman of Suzhou Martial Arts Association, the director of Chen Style Taichi Professional Committee affiliated to the Municipal Martial arts Association, the honoured Director of Hong Kong Chen style Hunyuan Taichia Boxing Association, and the speciality invited coach of Beijing.

Hunyuan Taichi Martial Arts Culture Center and Zhiqiang Martial Art House. He also is the favoured disciple of Mr. Feng Zhiqiang, who is the founder of Chen Style Mind Hynyuan Taichi Boxing.

Taichi consists of a number of sets, which are composed of a sequence of movements that are performed slowly, softly and gracefully, with smooth, even transitions between them.

The Hunyuan Taichi series not only has the basic movements and skills that are suitable for the old and the weaker to dispel disease and improve health, but also a variety of movement and exercise skills for busy people to strengthen health and to cultivate the mind.

The Ruixing Club was firstly set up in 2001 on Changwu Road, and two years ago they launched the branch club in Fangzhou Park SIP which has a really beautiful environment. They teach weekend classes from 9am to 11am in the morning.

Learning a set of Taichi churn is really cool, not only can you improve your physical condition, but also its a good way to communicate with others. If you are interested in learning Taichi, just take your action.

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Cost of Expatriate Living in Suzhou

Depending on which country you come from, the comparison of cost of living in Suzhou may vary. So take our article only as reference to estimate cost of rent, electric, water etc.

Renting an apartment in Suzhou runs between 5,000 RMB to 50000 RMB for expats. For example a 170 square meter three bedroom apartment costs around 5900 RMB per month and includes management fees, furnishings, DVD player, Chinese cable TV (setup), microwave, toaster oven, washer, dryer, 2 TVs.

Housing for Suzhou locals is below 5000 RMB and usually has no lifts (elevators). If your Mandarin is good and you enjoy the experience living among locals, there are plenty of choices to choose from.

Cost of Electricity in Suzhou

You should pay your electric bill at local banks every other month. In Suzhou, everything is prepaid. There is no invoice system. In order not to have the services interrupted, you must pay attention to paying bills. For two months around 2000 RMB. Now, this is an outrageous amount of expense to the locals because that may represent their entire month’s salary. But the expenses of air condition for head and cool is high.

Cost of Water in Suzhou

For two months around 100 RMB for water bills. It’s for 2-3 people pretty good. There don’t have water heaters like those in the US. Instead, the water line goes through a heating unit and the water gets really hot fast.

Water is not drinkable in Suzhou. Even the locals don’t drink them. Normally you subscribe to bottled water. This will mostly out a hot and cold water dispenser. The normal size use bottle have 18,9 liter an cost between 10-28 RMB each. Normally the water will delivered and install by the water provider company.

Cost of Gas in Suzhou

There is a card similar to a credit card inserted into the gas unit in our kitchen. It has a meter on the unit. You have to prepaid the gas bill, the monthly cost for 2-3 person around 200 RMB.

Cost of Chinese Cable TV in Suzhou

This is the Chinese TV networks from many regions outside of Suzhou. There are about 30+ channels. It has one English Channel, CCTV 9. CCTV 5 is the sports channel. Although it’s in Mandarin, you can watch many kind of sports on CCTV 5. The cost is 72 RMB for 6 months.

Cost of Satellite TV in Suzhou

When you install one dish incl. a receiver you can receive many of the USA, England, German and Asian TV English programs (about 40-50 channels). It costs 1500 RMB for the installation and 2 years fee. Mostly this price is illegal (pirate) installation. The original legal price is between 3500 – 6500 RMB. The signals are good but very often the weather disturbs the signal and the network goes down. Illegal installations can go down for several days and then you will need to get a new smart card.