Last weekend we took a trip to Suzhou. We visited temples, gardens, a canal, and a silk factory. Suzhou is a lovely city and I'd love to return. It's a little gem right outside of Shanghai (only an hour and a half away!)
One of our first stops in Suzhou was at a silk factory. Well...it's more like a shopping mall with an attached factory. In any case, it was really interesting to see the silk making process.
1. The worms hatch, grow up, and make their cocoons in only a few weeks.
2. The cocoons are put into hot water joined into a clump.
3. The beginning strings of the cocoons are combined and attached to a spindle.
4. About five of these cocoons make only a single thread!
5. From there, the threads are cleaned, dried, and spun so that they are ready to be made into clothes.
One of Suzhou's most famous features is its canals. We took a short boat ride and bumped into this one. It's a pretty skinny canal. Along the canal are tiny shops and restaurants. Like Venice in China.
The food by the canals was crazy! People were eating entire squids on sticks (above). Graham and Dad tried the Squidsicles. Below are a a couple pig dumplings and a jelly fish. So cute! Even better, they were vegetarian.
La Boca de la Verita! In Rome we had planned to go to the famous Roman sign, but there were always lines of people waiting to visit it. Thankfully, Suzhou had their own version! It was fun.
At a Buddhist temple there were women walking around the temple in prayer.
One of the other visits had a bell! We even got to ring it. Check out the damage on the red log. The paint has worn out on the front and the wall in the back has been hit quite a few times. It wasn't us :)!
