Early morning on the streets of Wuxi ....

A clear morning in Wuxi - you can actually see 'The Hill' but not in the photo apparently!

The weather has been absolutely stunning here in Wuxi for the past week.....well, stunning for China at least. Every morning, I do my daily weather check by looking out my kitchen window, past all the apartment buildings and factories, towards 'The Hill'. If I can see 'The Hill', I know it's going to be a relatively clear and sunny day. If I can't see 'The Hill', I know not to breathe too much during the day! It actually took me several months of living here before I realised that 'The Hill' existed - I remember the day because I was on the phone to my mum and she got a shock when I suddenly exclaimed, 'I'm looking out my window and I can see a hill that I haven't seen before!'

The quiet streets of Wuxi at 5.30am.

On Tuesday morning, I was feeling motivated enough get up at 5.15am and hit the streets of Wuxi for a run. After the initial shock of the early start, I settled into 'the zone' for a good 1 hour and 20 minute run, and discovered that it's actually a really nice time to be out and about in Wuxi. The streets were quiet, it wasn't too hot, the air was relatively fresh and most importantly, I didn't get too many stares.

Who is ever this happy to be running this early in the morning?!

I have been running along Chang Jiang Lu, the main street in the Wuxi New District and the street that my apartment is located on. It's a good place to run because it's straight, so I can zone out and not worry about getting lost, and along the way there are several little parks, where I have been stopping to look silly and do step ups (authentic training!). But, it's a fairly boring run because there is not a lot to look at, mainly factory after factory.

The sun rising through the trees and factories.

The change in weather has made everyone here in Wuxi feel a little bit more joyful and there are so many people out and about in the evening, enjoying the beautiful weather. I'm hoping that the heat doesn't get worse over the next week, if it can hold off until after the run, I'll be happy. Today, it's forecast for 28 degrees, heading up to 32 on Sunday. On the weekend, I'm planning to head towards 'The Hill' for some outdoor relaxation (park, grass, bare feet, book, sleep ..... nice).

Small tractor and taxi - note that the taxi is about to cross onto the other side of the road and drive in the wrong direction! Street cleaning bikes ready for another busy morning of cleaning.