We are excited to get up this morning as we are off to Suzhou where they have another Silk Spinning factory.  I am not feeling good today, I have a very bad head cold but I am a trooper.  We have a 2 hour bus ride and so I am able to take the last seat in the bus and just zone out.  Occasionally I open my eyes to make sure I know where we are.  Sharon is also at the back and taking a small rest too.  Thank god for Claritin…

Suzhou is a small city and is based around a system of canals; all the houses are built this way.  Each canal has a set of boats to go up and down.  If you can imagine being in Venice and riding a beautiful Gondola then you can imagine us on a yellow river in little motorized passenger boats that seat no more than 20.  We walk up and get on our awaiting chariot.  We spent 40 minutes going up and then back.  Afterwards we board the bus; it is now time for lunch.  Gerry tells us that the food is a bit different here, authentic for the area, well it was authentic – I think Sharon ate some fish and here I ate just a bit of cooked cabbage.  So now you are thinking we are losing loads of weight, well not so much.  Because somehow we always find an ice cream stand or some cheese and crackers back at the hotel.  We also have our trusty protein bars – so no starving is happening here.

After lunch we finally get to the Silk Factory – it is a working factory and we learn so much here.  It was one of the highlights of the trip.  We don’t buy anything here as it is the same stuff we saw before, but we are still very happy.  Next Gerry takes us to the workshop where they do the hand embroidery.  I decided not to get off the bus, I have seen it so many times so Sharon stays with me and we just relax for a bit.  It is not too long before all the others come back…

Next is the Humble Administrator’s Garden, of which we also decide to stay on the bus.  It is a 40 minute stop and we decided we did not need to see it.  After the others leave we get off the bus and wander around in some of the little shops.  Many are the same but there is one with really interesting sewing boxes.  We did not buy any but it was really fun to see them.  We stop for an ice cream, ok Darlene and I had one and Sharon didn’t.  We get back to the bus before anyone knows that we got off.  Charlie is so nice he brings us back a brochure to show us what we missed.  We didn’t have the heart to say no so we took it.

On to dinner now, but wait we have a two hour bus ride back to the city.  This trip is far from boring; driving on the highway is like driving in crazy land.  There are no rules and we have people trying to cut in everywhere.  This keeps us amused until we arrive for dinner.  Up to the 2^nd floor again for another scumpdeliicious dinner.  Here we eat some rice, some vegetables and they had a great pork dish that we both tried and liked. 

Our day ended with Gerry and Charlie stopping the bus at the local Foot Massage parlor.  We get off and guess what go to the 2^nd floor.  Sharon and I get put into a room for two.  We are hoping to have a relaxing foot massage but no…they are here to hurt us.  I tell my massage girl that she is hurting me and she said “Sleep no good”.  I turn to Sharon and said that that means she will continue to hurt me…and she did.  What is really interesting about the foot massages is that we have had three and each time I have had the exact same type of massage, the techniques is what I mean.  Sharon has had the same as well but what is interesting is that they are different for the two of us….Strange they tailor the massage to your needs based on what they feel.  Sharon always gets jiggly legs I always get twist, turns and punches….ok; we really need to go back to the hotel now.  We arrive and it is already 10:30 PM….lights out – we don’t want to be tired for our last full day in Shanghai.