And then the smog came down

The last evening in Hangzhou was not so pleasant. We had discussed everyday as to why the sky was so grey over the city, yes it was misty, but the clouds looked darker than any grey days that I had seen in London. Then around five in the afternoon, just as it was getting dark it was as if the whole sky turned black and the fog came down and we completely surrounded by smog, I could barely breath! I have seen and heard reports about China's air pollution problems from using coal to fuel their power stations, but you have to experience it at first hand to really understand how bad it is. It is said that Hangzhou is one of China's more advanced and cleaner cities, well I would hate to have to experience one of the bad cities like Wuhan or Chongqing!

That is when we decided to try to escape to Suzhou. In the morning we packed our bags and caught a taxi to the bus station and rode the bus 80 miles to Suzhou city.