Suzhou
The second stop on our tour of China was Suzhou, the silk capital of China since the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.). As well as silk production, Suzhou is also famous for its stone bridges, pagodas, and beautiful formal gardens. The first stop we made in Suzhou was at the Humble Administrator’s Garden, the largest formal garden in Suzhou.
On the second day of our stay in Suzhou, we started off with a rickshaw ride around the city. It was fairly nerve recking at some points, darting through the traffic in a rickshaw. Especailly when you are narrowly missing cars and bikes coming at you when darting accross the traffic.
After the rickshaw ride we went to a silk factory. They had a small museum with some exhibits explaining the process, including some working silk spinning machines.
The exhibits were quite interesting, but then we were marched in to the huge shopping mall at the end of the tour, containing every silk product imaginable. While the rest of the tour group went shopping Andy and I just went and had a coffee.
After lunch we headed for Tiger Hill, famous for it’s leaning pagoda (which predates and is taller than the leaning tower of Pisa).
To end the day we stopped by at an art school where people were learning to make silk ‘paintings’. It was a pleasant end to our stay in Suzhou. The next day we headed back to Shanghai to catch the plane to Beijing.