Today we drive to Suzhou with Sahra. The journey takes 1.5 hours. She loves this city very much and tells us about it with great enthusiasm. Among other things, Suzhou is also known as the Venice of the East and is a famous silk city. There is no airport in Suzhou, but it can be reached quickly by express train from Shanghai.
First we visit the modern museum, and there the „Memories of Suzhou Crafts“ hall. How finely the various materials were crafted. Jade, ivory, bamboo and wood. The exhibition and the exhibition rooms are very appealing and we like them very much.
On the way to the Humble Official's Garden, we walk along Ping Jiang Street. Now the similarity to Venice becomes clear: there are lots of small canals and bridges along the Imperial Canal. There are only small houses here, the most colourful and diverse shops invite locals and tourists alike to stroll around. We have a drink in an old teahouse and delicious local food in a small restaurant. Soon we are standing in front of the entrance to the garden in question and we wave goodbye. Not only are there a lot of people queuing for a ticket, but there are also a lot of schoolchildren ready to go into the garden.
This is too much for us and we decide to visit the museum of the silk factory. We are shown round very nicely by an employee. The caterpillars eat the leaves of the mulberry and then pupate with their silk thread. It is always impressive how extremely strong such a thread is. Of course, we also enter a sales room and yes, we have also bought something. Among other things, a duvet, gorgeous. We won't reveal much more *wink* We're slowly running out of suitcases.
We'd all like to have another coffee together and treat ourselves to something sweet. Sarah has the right road in mind and we get off at the Seven Mile Shantang. Here, too, we all enjoy the spring sunshine on a Sunday. There's so much to see, it's hard to take it all in. We also sit outside with our coffees and Markus has brought us a local waffle with sweet bean paste.
We watch the colourful goings-on. Here too, the ladies wear traditional costumes with matching hairstyles, jewellery and make-up. Every now and then a Cossplay outfit with so many lovely details, it's amazing. Now back to the hotel and tonight we explore the pedestrian zone.
You could really go balabala, don't make the sound too loud in the video 😵💫
There is still something to eat, the legend of sweet & sour, which only exists in Europe, has been disproved for the second time. The white fish was good, the information about the many fine bones was helpful, but there were too many for us.
