The Process of Making Silk

So because we were on the tour, they took us shopping. But the first stop was interesting because it was a combination of a museum and shopping for silk items.  So first of all, you need silkworms and they eat the leaves of mulberry trees.

Then you let them do their work and they spin cocoons of really fine thread.

The balls of silk are then inspected for quality.

The balls have two options.  They are then soaked to get them wet and then an end of fed onto a machine.

The machine then unwinds the cocoon and coils it into a spool of silk thread.

Then the thread is dyed and woven into silk cloth.  Apparently now they have managed to get the silkworms to create colored thread.

I love these types of items, in this case the pattern template for the machine to create the design on the silk cloth.

Another option for silk is to take the wet cocoon and open it up.

Stretch it out, in this case over a ring.  Pictures is a number of cocoons all on top of each other stretched out.  It is so strong that punching the silk doesn't cause it to break, you hand comes right back at you.

Then the silk is allowed to dry and it is pulled out thin.  The silk in this case, I don't think is actually made into the silk they use in clothing.

The Classical Gardens of Suzhou

Suzhou is known as the Venice of the East.  This is canal along Pingjiang Avenue.

Pingjiang Alley is the home of local residents but it's also turned trendy with cafe's and higher end restaurants.  I love how the locals simply plant themselves in cafe seats and linger!

Hipster Dim Sum!

The I.M. Pei designed Suzhou Museum.  I expected something more spectacular....but then again we didn't actually go inside.

Our first garden stop was The Garden for Lingering

The gardens are famous for these various screens, which are placed before proceeding to the garden proper.

 

 

The reason is to reveal only bits and pieces of the garden to the  visitor/viewer.  It's about subtlety and grandeur you find in European gardens.

Chinese gardens are not expansive, but instead focus on water and paths and little areas to sit and contemplate.

Mom and dad looking super cute.

Mom signed us up for a day tour (ugh) but we did get a nice boat ride along the canals of Suzhou.

The Humble Administrator's Garden, the most famous and grand of the Classical Gardens of Suzhou.

The lotus flowers aren't out yet, and the day was overcast, but again, all about the water and the quiet recesses for reflection.

The House of the 36 Mandarin Ducks.  I expected to find mandarin ducks inside, but instead it refers to the fact that one used to see the ducks on the pond when there were ducks.

There was a bonsai garden.  Apparently, these bonsai trees are actually quite difficult to grow.  They take many years and great skill to get them to look this beautiful.  I've always thought they were just dwarf trees.

This is what happens when three Chinese tour groups all headed in different directions intersect at a three way junction.

Last stop, the Lion's Grove Garden

It is particularly known for it's crazy rock sculptures and mazes

These two free standing rocks in the middle of the pond are supposed to resemble lions.  I'll give some interpretive leeway here.

There are some famous restaurants in Suzhou and the one we went to on the first night was a disappointment. The second night, we hit the jackpot and found a fantastic restaurant. Dad was gushing so much that the manager had the cook come out.

Yangzhou

From Gaoyou, we took a side trip to Yangzhou.  Here we are at "Skinny West Lake"

As the park name implies, it's a long narrow lake.  The highlight?  Renting a little motor boat to take in the sights.

The icon of Skinny West Lake....the five roofed bridge.

After the lake, Dad got a recommendation for the best restaurant in Yangzhou.  Down this alley.....

...and here's the restaurant.

I don't often take food pictures but the meal here was one of the best of the trip. 

This part of China is known for it's meatballs.  I don't know what we would call them in English, I only know the Chinese name.  But the fattier the meat, the better.

Soup dumplings where you suck out the soup with a straw!

The famed Yangzhou Fried Rice!

Mom thought we ordered too much, but as always Dad was right. We ate well and left happy.