Silk Museum in Suzhou
18.04.2024 - 18.04.2024
On Thursday morning I couldn't get out of bed until about 8 a.m. I realized though, that the teacher bus left at 8:20 a.m. and maybe the driver would take me to the end of the road to catch the bus to Zhenjiang. From there I could catch a train to Suzhou. I bought some breakfast and the driver was nice enough to drop me off. I waited a bit for the bus and there weren't any seats left when I got on. I sat on some stairs and got all muddy but I didn't care it was an hour long bus! At the station I quickly bought a ticket and was on the train soon. It seems like the trains are always full around here. I don't know if this is a post pandemic bump or just how it is in Jiangsu. I remember the couple of times I went to Nanjing the trains were full four years ago and prior to that too. On the train, the conductor told me to wait at the door a stop before Suzhou about 30 minutes in advance. He pointed at a seat that was vacant telling me to sit there. I soon found out that it wasn't. I just sat there and ignored the angry woman glaring at me. I pointed at the conductor when he came back and they worked it out amongst themselves.
When I arrived in Suzhou, I put my bags down at the hostel and then my plan was to go to a temple. But I had a tank top on and couldn't go in. They wanted to sell me a scarf but I didn't need one so I went to the silk museum down the street instead. It was really great with a lot of old textiles that were at least 1,000 years old. 
Suzhou was the place for the emperor to get silk for all his ceremonial needs. Normal day clothes were made in Beijing but his special day clothes were made in Suzhou. 
They had some intricate looms and there were people operating them. Can't imagine who came up with that machine.
There was also a nice mulberry tree garden.
I had some won ton soup and Suzhou style dumplings, along with some very watered down rice wine. Toshi said he was having poopy problems so he stayed in wuxi.
I went right to bed after that.
