Unviewable Website

Hey everyone, just to let you all know the only thing we are able to do with this blog is publish posts. The actual website has been blocked everywhere we have been in China thus far. We are unable to view the website and have been unable to read your comments, but please keep making them because they are what truely make this a blog and will be fun to read when we get home. If any of you have questions about one of the posts or direct comments you would like us to read please send an e-mail to umnhort4000@gmail.com we will try our best to get back to you.

Suzhou - Sleeping in Silk

Nihao, it is the end of day si (4) and we are slowly beginning to pick up a word here and there of the beautiful Chinese language. Today was a hot and humid day which began with a tour of Choyers, Suzhous number one silk mill, an afternoon at Zhouzhuang a large watertown, lunch in Zhouzhuang, then to Jinji lake garden and finally to complete our day with dinner back in Suzhou.

Choyers is Suzhous numer one silk factory and is known all over the world and was even worn by Princess Diana. This factory is the oldest in all of China dating back to the Shang dynasty (1600-1050BC). At the factory we were able to observe the process of silk making from silk worm egg hatching to cocoon unwinding. Silk worms eat mulberry leaves from Morus alba. After the silk worm has molted four to five times it is ready to spin its cocoon. These cocoons are then collected, sorted by size and color then placed in steamed water for the thread unwinding. The secret of silk dying is only learned from four years of study at a university. The length of the silk strand determines the quality of the silk a poorer quality is about 600 M long while very high quality silk strands can measure 1300 to 1600 M in length. One silk strand is 1/5 the size of a strand of human hair. It takes around 600 cocoons to produce one mans tie and about 3000 to make one blouse. Silk contains eighteen amino acids and to some it is believed wearing silk or sleep in silk sheets to help cure skin ailments.

On the way to Zhouzhuang we traveled by many rice fields and crop production in small hoop houses. Zhouzhuang is called Watertown because of its location on the Jinhang Canal. This is a charming old town that used to be known for its silk, pottery, and grain. Today the town is known for fishing and pork. On the way to lunch we passed by many street stands specializing in pork. After lunch we had some free time to walk around some of us took a boat ride while other shopped. This town has by far been my favortite!

The next stop was Jinji Lake Garden. This is a newer garden located on the eastern outskirts of Shuzhou. This area was lakeside and featured zigzag paths and included local and non local cuisine. This garden was featured in the Sept. 16^th, 2007 edition of the New York Times. This garden was a decade long project totaling $47.7 million to complete. We had great views of the City but due to clouds and haze it was barely visible.

Finally we finished the day with dinner feature a multitude of dishes. The eggplant dish and cucumber with eggs was my favorite. After returning to the hotel we all had a fruit party featuring dragon fruit, mangos, and other unknown fruit to us.

We are having a wonderful time in China and have learned so much already in just the short time we have been here. Well tomorrow it is off to Hanghou.