Laura Griffin Designs

On Day 6, we woke up in the city of Wuxi, ready for another day of adventure.

Wuxi has been called the “pearl of Lake Taihu”. The beauty of Lake Taihu (the 3rd largest lake in China) has been immortalized by poets & painters for centuries. The best place to view its natural wonder is from the gardens of the Yuan Tou Zhu peninsula. “Yuan Tou Zhu” literally means “the Head of the Dragon-Turtle,” inspired the way the peninsula dramatically juts out into the lake. The symbolic figure of the dragon turtle (pictured below) sits in the middle of the gardens surrounded by an iron gate. If you toss a coin on his back & it stays, it is considered quite good luck. I gave it my best shot…but had no luck.

Although it has been a well known scenic spot for centuries, the area was first made into a garden in the late 19th century, and the narrow bridges and pavilions seen today date from this period.

(Click on “more” for another 13 pictures & additional journaling) [...]

That night we traveled to Wuxi & stayed at a fabulous hotel. (I believe it is the Hubin Hotel but will have to consult my travel companions to confirm.)

I loved the painted mural in the lobby. The blue was so incredibly vivid!

The modern ceiling fixtures in the lobby were interesting as well… [...]

After leaving the Panmen Scenic Area, we visited a nearby government-owned silk factory. The silk in Suzhou is considered the best in China and some say, the best in the world. I vaguely remember our tour guide explaining that the plants silkworms favor in the region contain a higher amount of nutrients making their silk finer than in other regions.

When we entered the doors, we were ushered over to a small podium where an employee showed us the difference between pure silk (made in the factory) & silk blends (often found in the street markets). Believe it or not, the easiest way to tell pure from blended silk is to burn it. Now I wouldn’t go lighting up your favorite silk scarf or anything, but it was interesting to see. When pure silk burns, it has white smoke while a silk blend emits black smoke.

After the burn test, we were taken to see the actual process where cocoons are transformed into silk thread.

The process begins when cocoons are hand-picked by workers & placed in an oven. The heat of the oven is enough to kill the silkworm inside but not damage the silk in the cocoon. To make a strand of silk thread that will later be weaved into silk fabric, it is necessary to use the individual strands of eight cocoons. Amazingly enough, each cocoon is actually a continuous strand that is around 3600 feet long!

The cocoons are first soaked in water so that the individual silk strands will come loose. A worker will then locate the ends of the 8 strands and attach them to a spinning machine. The spinning machine automatically unravels the eight cocoons, simultaneously creating a single strand of silk from them. As the wheels above spin, the cocoons bob up & down in the water. When the silk from the cocoon is completely unraveled, the remaining cocoon shell & worm are left floating & are either discarded or used for other purposes (they are actually eaten by some of the locals!) Once the final thread is made, it can be dyed various colors & woven into beautiful garments, scarves, etc.

Next, we were shown double cocoons. These cocoons actually contain two worms, are about twice the size, and are stretched & used for other purposes. One of the ways they are utilized is to create silk duvet comforters. One silk comforter can contain up to 10,000 stretched cocoons inside. Basically four workers will stand together, grab the edges of a flattened cocoon & stretch it out into a paper-thin rectangle shape. Surprisingly, the cocoon does not break. It looks a bit like those spiderwebs that you buy at Halloween time…but obviously much softer & a wee bit more expensive. After seeing how the silk comforters were made, we visited the factory store and picked up some goodies. I bought a silk scarf for my mom (Happy Belated Mother’s Day!) as well as a silk comforter for my bed.

Early on day 5, we took a bus to the airport, bid farewell to our local Beijing tourguide, David, & headed to Shanghai. When we arrived, we were met by our new GAT tourguide, Tina. Our first stop was the beautiful Panmen Scenic Area in the ancient city of Suzhou.

The entryway to the Panmen Scenic Area is dotted with red lanterns beckoning you to enter the grounds.

Once inside, your eyes are immediately drawn to the towering Pagoda of Auspicious Light (great name, eh?)

This amazing pagoda was originally built 13 stories tall by Sun Quan, King of Wu, during the Three Kingdoms period in China (around 247 BC). Destroyed by fire several times, the pagoda was rebuilt between 1119 and 1125 to its current 144-foot tall, 7-story octagon structure. Amazingly enough there are no nails holding this pagoda together…its core is brick & its outer wood pieces are all interconnected!

Another interesting fact – in 1978, many cultural relics were found in a brick recess inside the third story, including more than one hundred twenty volumes of Buddhist scriptures and a pillar inscribed with Buddha’s name and scriptures. The pillar is covered with pearls and precious beads and combines the art of jade sculpture, gold and silver ware, wood carving, gold tracing and carved lacquerware. It is regarded as a rare treasure of extreme value. Click on more… [...]

Beijing (formerly known as Peking) is very well known for its Peking Duck. On our last night in the city, we went to a restaurant where they presented us with an entire cooked duck, cut it in front of us & proceeded to put 3-4 plates full of duck on our table. We rolled the duck slices in thin crepes with a special dark sauce, and thin strips of celery & onions. Yum! Here’s an example of the table only half full awaiting more dishes, but it gives you an idea of what our meals were like.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel & crashed early for the evening. The next morning, we had to catch an early flight to Shanghai.