Day 10: Suzhou Garden, Silk Factory, Canals

Took a bus to Suzhou, about an hour away from Shanghai. Suzhou is in Jiangsu Province, population 1.7 million. Suzhou is known by Westerners as the "Venice of the Orient" (so, then, from China's point of view, Venice is the "Suzhou of the West", right? was one the model for the other? or did they develop independently? anyone know? ). The city is also known for its many beautiful gardens. We visited the Garden of the Fishing Net Master which was lovely. While there, we had a shopping opportunity(!) to buy beautiful artwork including wood cuts and paintings. I bought, direct from the artist, a small painting for about $12 US.

Then to the Silk Factory (Suzhou is also known for its silk) where Ally (her hometown is Suzhou) gave us an interesting introduction to how silk is made. Then we walked through the factory to see all the steps and the equipment. Finally to the store (Oh! another shopping opportunity!) where they had beautiful quilts and covers for sale. In particular, the silk quilt came highly recommended as a lightweight summer blanket. It's made from the "double" cocoons which have 2 worms inside and thus 2 threads which cannot be separated to make silk thread. So instead the coccoons are left whole, softened, flattened and then pulled apart to make a large thin piece of fabric, very thin. Imagine if you pulled a cotton ball apart but you could do it evenly. (see photo below). 40 layers make up a quilt! (I bought one and I love it. This was my big splurge of the trip. $65US for a quilt plus $80US for a silk/cotton cover)

Later we went on a boat ride on the canals through the older parts of Suzhou. (and guess what, more shopping opportunities on the boat! tiger balm, decks of playing cards, cute hats - all so cheap you just have to buy a few items.)

Went back to Shanghai and had dinner at a restaurant owned by a minority group of which there are many in China. This group is called the Dai and they are from Yunnan Province. The food was good, a little different but I can't remember exactly how. They did a dance performance - it looked similar to the hula.