Suzhou hotels

Hiya all,

I am planning to head to the wonderful city of Suzhou soon and I was wondering if there were any current or former Suzhou Saloonies who could point me in the direction of a nice hotel/hostel, preferably not too far away from the Worm and that delightful street with all the bars and Good Eats

A couple of years back (!!) I stayed in the Suzhou YHA which is on a little side street just off the street you're talking about. Good, clean, comfy, and only 10-15 min walk to the placed mentioned. Bookworm and the Shamrock are at the other end of the street, but the walk is fine from the hostel.

Great place, Suzhou, have fun  !

"That delightful street" is Shi Quan Jie.

Two cheap but reasonable choices on that street:

(1) Dong Wu Fan Dian (Dong Wu Hotel)-it's two long blocks east of the Shamrock/Bookworm. It's a complex set back from the street and owned by Suzhou University. It contains a main hotel, student dorms, faculty housing, some old conference buildings, and a nice, Suzhou-style garden hidden in back that few know about. The main hotel should run you around 200 RMB a night if you show them your FEC and mention you're a university teacher. The rooms are older and a bit musty and the in room Internet connection is sometimes dodgy. Or behind the main hotel, is the Foreign Students' Dormitory. I think you register for that also at the reception desk of the main hotel. Rooms should be less than 100 a night. Don't know if they have ensuite "facilities" in those rooms. RIght at the gate of the Dong Wu complex is a small, comfortable cafe that does pretty good coffee, does a real "western breakfast" including waffles with maple syrup, is quiet and a nice place to read and relax.

(2) Directly across the street from the Dong Wu gate (and said cafe) is a small hotel called My Hotel. Book through elong.com and you can get a room for 189/night. Rooms are small, but new and very clean and a good Internet connection. I used to stay at the Dong Wu
 (hell, I used to live there when I taught at SuDa 10 years ago) but in the last couple of years I've switched to My Hotel because it's cleaner and better infrastructure. Even have the number on my phone, it's (wait a minute...hey look at that, it's right below your number!).... 0512-6519-3188.

Again, both places are a two block (very long blocks) walk from the Shamrock/Bookworm with lots of chicken bars, a few regular bars, and some ace DVD shops in between.

Thank you Just booked the room at My Hotel

Good. Old34's recommendations are spot on, and I'd add the 100Happy Hotel near MyHotel.

Of course, I know what you're REALLY wanting on ShiQuan street, you horrible Turko-Danish pervert, and both MyHotel and 100Happy will be more open-minded toward your *ahem* 'guests'.

I'll be there sometime next week for my semi-annual Suzhou trip; the passport's at the PSB as of today for RP renewal so no traveling until it comes back next week.

I'll ask for a room with sterilized sheets when I book at My Place. 

P.S. @ ETR: If you're looking for your homies, the Danes hang out at the Moon Bar a few doors down from Yang Yang's Dumpling Shop. Seriously!

And everyone will always have their own preferences, but The Moon Bar is the best small bar on the street.  And the Danes are there now?  Ah well.  Had to happen eventually, I guess. 

Of course, I know what you're REALLY wanting on ShiQuan street, you horrible Turko-Danish pervert, and both MyHotel and 100Happy will be more open-minded toward your *ahem* 'guests'.

I am sure I have no idea what you mean....

Danes at the Moon Bar?? Guess I'll have to swing by.

Figures. I don't like Moon Bar. Had some...bad experiences there. Suzhou does have something of a Danish community, though...some joint-venture factories there.
If you like your conversations 1) commandeering, 2) morose, and 3) drunk, you're in the right place.

Commandeering, morose, drunk...add stupid, ignorant and whining and you'll have perfectly described most of the conversations I have ever had in Danish bars. I just want to hear Danish spoken...after five minutes of that, I'll be ready to leave.
Probably won't even make it there...I seem to recall this bar called Shamrock, where the beer was good and the patrons wonderful

There's some soulless places on Shiquan Jie.  The Moon bar was willing to play The Rolling Stones.  And once the girls realise you're cheap, they don't pester you to buy them drinks.  .

It's not really a bar bar.  More of a dive bar.  And small too.  They managed the lighting right, however.  There is something about lighting that makes or breaks a bar.  Either it's a cave, a lobby or it's a bar.  IMHO.

In summary, individual self-destructive streaks aside, The Shamrock is very likely a far better place to go.

It is a dive, and small, and the girls can be pushy, but they leave you alone soon enough once they realize you're not there to play, as CP said.

But the owner-she's a sweetheart with a heart of gold, which is why I always stop by when I'm in town. Way back when, she was one of the working girls there but she was approaching her past due date. A friend of mine, one of those memorable characters, a crazy (in a good way) Austrian engineer fell for her and she, him. She decided she'd rather be on the other side of the bar, so she bought the owner out. It became her bar, and she works the bar herself (have we mentioned it's small?). She doesn't push anything on anyone and if she thinks a girl is bothering you, too much, she'll tell the girl to back off. Most of the foreign customers come in just to shoot-the-shit with her and each other. Some like to have the girls paw them while they sit at the bar but it's not required. Never saw a dice game in there and in all my times there. She knows foreigners hate that shit.

I can only recall seeing one foreigner go upstairs with a girl. (Lots of Shanghainese and Taiwan business guys will do the upstairs thing, though-or else get scared seeing so many foreigners sitting at the bar and decide to try other chicken bars up the street.)

Back to the owner, two years after she bought the bar, the Austrian was gone. Disappeared on her and just about broke her heart.
In between then and now, she had a nasty accident on her motor scooter (all the girls on Shi Quan Jie have motor scooters) and ended up for months in the hospital. Her "girls" ran the bar for her and it went downhill (that's prolly about the time Raoul had his "bad experiences" there).

But she's been back now for more than a year, and it's once again a lively place. She's been dating a Dane for the last couple of years which is how it became Denmark Central. Since she and I go way back, she'll usually pour me a shot or two "on the house" to go with my beers when I stop in...and how many Chinese-run places in China do you know that will do that? And like CP said, just ask her for whatever music you want and if she's got it, she'll put it on the CD system.

It's worth a stop in just to meet the one of the warmest laobanniang you'll encounter in China and to expereince the sociology of the place.

P.S. Maybe we should split this off from the Suzhou Hotels thread because it has gone way 

So that's the story, huh?  I liked her style too.