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| A kind tourist took this picture of us in the gardens |
Tuesday morning has the family tired out from yet another restless night. However it was early enough to explore the hotel's beautiful landscape, take a few pictures and settle down to breakfast at 6:30 am before the line-ups begin.
The Pan Pacific Souzhou Hotel
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| Chinese pancakes for Breakfast as we look out on a great view |
Cruise Along the Grand Canal
After breakfast we met our guide Sky at 9 am in the lobby for an optional excursion. Most of the group chose to go on the trip which consisted of " a cruise along the Grand Canal to view life along China's golden waterway in its heyday" . We got off the coach and looked on the existing original wall that had surrounded Souzhou in historical times.
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| Remnants of the Wall built around Souzhou |
We walked through the archway and made our way to the local boat which would cruise through the canal with it's eager human cargo!
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| Our cruise ship... |
As the boat cruised along we got a first glimpse of life along the canal.
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| Fish seller |
After our excursion along the canal and a walk along the river bank, we headed back to the hotel to pick up the group that did not come along with us. We then headed out to a Silk Spinning Mill to learn how silk is created from mulberry-eating silk worms to producing the silk thread from which silk is made. This was a particularly educative session for me because I learned that these are not worms after all but the larvae of a moth. The larvae spin a cocoon, and the silk thread is recovered by finding the end of the cocoon and unraveling one unbroken thread so the larva or worm is exposed. This is done after boiling the cocoons to kill the worm first. Notably the dead worms are dried and prepared in various ways for human consumption. Hungry anyone!
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| Silk Worms feeding on Mulberry Leaves |
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| Sorting Cocoons |
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| Threading the silk |
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| Our helping hands in making the silk duvets |
Many of our group bought the silk duvets and the silk pillows (carrying worm poop) which
promised to stop snoring! Needless to say many happy spouses walked out
carrying packages partnered with visions of uninterrupted sleep and bed
partners breathing soundlessly through the night!
While the group
was happily buying bedding, we walked ahead to the silk garment section
and parted with our money to pick up silk scarves for the women and a
very "authentic" silk cap for Kevin....pigtail included!
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| Paying for our small purchases |
We had lunch (included) at the silk emporium. It seems most probable that many of the meals attached to cottage industries and their exhibits were probably sponsored by those businesses.
From there we boarded our luxury coach and headed out to Wuxi. Ending with some interesting pictures of Suzhou
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| A tree lined street in Suzhou |
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| A fruit vendor and his "imposed assistant" |
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| Rickshaws |
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| Koi relax in most water features |
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