China Part 6: Suzhou
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
26
90
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
Suzhou,
Jiangsu,
China
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Welcome to our China Trip part 6: Suzhou.
This was an overnight trip with the same tour guide we had in Shanghai: Sleepy Mac. He turned out to be ok actually. It seemed like he was just going through the motions of tour-guiding while his head was in a book about computer games. He was a nice enough guy though and when you asked any questions he went into far more detail than others we've had.
Our Hotel was ok, big, cold. Our room was ok but it had a connecting door, locked thankfully, to the room next door. While quickly unpacking we heard some moaning and a woman's voice. I soon realised that the man in that room had possibly subscribed to a certain channel
Chinese garden - exquisite
! The connecting door was paper thin! You could hear everything for pity's sakes!! Our first tour with Mac was to the Garden of Humble Administration. This place was absolutely beautiful. It used to be a monastery garden then in 1513 an emperor converted it into a private villa with gardens involving landscaping the area with ponds, streams, bridges, shading bamboo trees, fish, turtles bobbing about, pagodas and a maze of rocky hideaways and paths. Absolutely exquisite.
We went on a small motor-powered boat along the narrow canals of local Suzhou. Edging the canals were private homes which were like ramshackle huts with washing hanging up outside and people frying rice in their open kitchen windows. Fascinating boat trip. Like a little Venice but more basic. Surprisingly these homes never get flooded, we were told.
We went to a Silk Museum which was amazing. First we got to lean the history of silk and where exactly it comes from. Well we all know don't we? But have you ever actually seen and touched a silk worm?? We were guided through this factory from seeing the tiny little grey wriggly worms all thrown together in this bamboo basket, while they munched apathetically on mulberry leaves. David stroked them - very soft and fluffy he said. I took his word for it!! Actually they looked really sweet. Their tiny little eyes and nose looked just like an aeroplane cockpit!! I really do have an overactive imagination...! Then we saw the silk chrysalis that they emerge from, like butterflies. Fascinating stuff. Then we walked through a factory where women washed the chrysallis' and lifted off the silk to be wound around a bobbin on this big machine
Humble Administrator's Garden
. Finally, came a shop. Ta-da!! It was a good shop though and David bought 2 silk shirts. Saturday Night Fever, here I come!!!!That night, David and I ventured into the local street by our Hotel to find some dinner. The street was rammed with designer clothes shops but we eventually found a fantastic Italian restaurant which played the Carpenters and Frank Sinatra then we ended the night in an Australian 'pub' which was the size of a thimble. We drank beer while the English landlord cranked up the Bon Jovi music and poured himself another tankard!! Sometimes you need a change from eating a Chinese every night.
The next day we headed back to Shanghai where we then went onto our next destination: Guilin. China, so far, has proved to be the most fantastic country. We've loved it. Guilin didn't let us down one bit.
Love, us xxx
