Day 13
Today we took a coach trip to visit Zhujiajiao or water town to us and the garden and canal city of Suzhou. Our first stop was at water town which is a traditional chinese village situated all along the fourteen canals. It is known as the Venice of the East and it certainly reminds us of Venice. The sampans have no motors only a driver with a large paddle to propel and steer the boat. The boats all had rubber tyres along the sides and I soon discovered what they were for. The many sampans on the canal were bumping and crashing into each other at an alarming rate. . We passed under several lovely bridges that were very reminiscent of Venice.
After our canal boat trip we had plenty of time to explore this small village. It really is the China we came to see, very little has changed over the years. The village houses are grouped together around a common courtyard area. They have a communal kitchen and a communal washroom. At night they have chamber pots. All of the kitchen duties are done in the courtyard area so as we wandered around people were scaling fish, peeling prawns and preparing little parcels of food expertly prepared, rice and fish wrapped in banana leaves and tied up into a parcel. I stood for ages mesmerised as an elderly lady put together dozens of these parcels in no time at all.
Many of the older people are superstitious and do not like to have their photo taken, as they believe it takes their spirirt away.
After the water town we went to visit a silk factory and watched the silk producing process which was quite fascinating. We saw the workers making the thread and then weaving into fabric and how the patterns are made.
From there we went to Suzhou and we visited the humble administrators garden. Unfortunately by the time we arrived there it had begun to rain. Also, this is the May day long weekend and there were many hundreds of domestic tourists also enjoying the gardens.
The story goes that humble administrator was sent to Suzhou to find all the corrupt officials instead of which he took bribes from them all. He was then sacked and he returned very humble and very rich and built the gardens and a traditional chinese house, now replaced by another house which is about 100 years old. It is all very beautiful with lots of ponds with gold fish and huge azalea bushes and hundreds of bonsai trees.
It is about a 2 hour bus trip to and from Suzhou but being the May day weekend it took a lot longer. Not that we were bored. The antics of the drivers on the road kept us entertained and the scenery was lovely. We passed through the rural communities and saw many farms and tiny villages lining the canals. There were many bamboo boats and rafts sailing up and down the canals.
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