Thursday, 29 September: Shanghai - Suzhou

 The early-morning trip to Suzhou was very interesting. The area around Shanghai reminds me of the Golden triangle, where there are bits of rural and agricultural land but mostly town after town.     

It was about a one hour 40 minute drive, and when we arrived we went first to a beautiful garden: Fish Net Garden.  Like most other formal Chinese gardens we've seen, there are few flowers, but rocks, trees and water are designed to be tranquil and beautiful. Walls are whitewashed so that the shadows play across them like paintings. Windows set into walls frame different views.

After lunch we visited the Silk Factory. Silk making is a fascinating process. Silk thread is wound directly off the cocoon of the silkworms.  

Some proportion of the cocoons are twins, or even triplets in the same cocoon. Because they tangle their threads together, they can't be used for spinning and weaving. The resourceful Chinese instead spread them out, layer by layer, and make duvets from them.  It was fun to watch this process and our group of 31 tourists bought 28 of the duvets! They're supposed to cure arthritis and high blood pressure, plus be very comfortable. Although I searched for about an hour, I didn't find any clothing to buy. Next on the agenda was a boat tour of the canals. Suzhou is called the Venice of the Orient because it is criss-crossed with more than 30 canals.

The houses that back onto them are old, cold, leaky and uncomfortable, but protected as historical sites.  

Their garbage and waste is dumped into the canal, but they also wash and bathe in it. Several people bought sunhats on the boats so we got photos afterward.

We had to rush to the Silk embroidery Institute, since the embroiderers go home when the natural light fades. Their work is astonishingly fine and detailed, including things like 2-sided embroidery with different pictures on each side of a piece of silk so thin it's transparent.

The guys were "toured out" so while we went through the Institute (and shopped, of course) while they sat in a lovely little garden drinking beer.  

 When we emerged to join them they were gathered around a wall shouting encouragement to an army of ants who were hauling a half peanut up a wall. They had bets on what time the peanut would disappear into the hole that was about two feet up the wall.

After that we were all glad to arrive at dinner. It was our last formal meal together on the trip, and we were also celebrating Sally Jo's birthday.   

So we had speeches and presentations to Michelle and Kathy,  

 wine as a gift from our local guide John, and birthday cake! Michelle talked about going to church with us and understanding us better from our "Go now in peace" song. We ended the evening singing it again, holding hands in a big circle. Of course there were tears.    

   Photos 29 Sep  Shanghai