Suzhou, China

We’re just two days into our first week of traveling and already I’m loving it- it’s a nice change of scenery! Our first hotel that was in Suzhou was really nice, and I definitely am excited about having hot water ALL day long, as well as a western style toilet! But unfortunately we only stayed in this hotel for one night, so today I woke up to the LOUDEST phone ring ever at 7am… we all had wake up calls at that time so we could get out luggage packed and out in the hall at 7:30AM… why? Yea I have no clue because we weren’t leaving until 8:30AM, but it was nice having more time than I normally would to get ready and out of the hotel. At 8:30AM we rode the bus to the silk factory which we had missed going to the day before because we ran out of time. There we toured the entire factory and saw the whole process of how silk was made. Holding the silkworms was pretty cool, as well as seeing the workers making silk comforters which looked like a long and arduous process! Another interesting thing was comparing the efficiency of human workers versus the machines. The machines were over twice as fast, making the process of creating silk fabric look a lot easier than it really was. After walking through the factory we went through the numerous stores selling silk products such as bedding, various artworks, accessories, and of course clothing. Everything was pretty expensive compared to what we could find on the street but like our tour guide pointed out, at the factory it was guaranteed to be the real thing and made there in the factory. So a bunch of people bought clothing while I got some gifts for my family in the last section of the shopping area. Also in the shopping area was a small café and they even had a runway where girls modeled the various traditional Chinese silk clothing that they sold there- pretty cool stuff! We stayed there a little longer than expected, but we were waiting for Shaina to get out of the hospital because she had gone back to get another IV and to just make sure she was recovering alright (long story short, a girl in our group got really sick, most likely because of the food, and needed some medical attention to help her recover faster). We ended up eating lunch in Suzhou to give her more time, where we were serenaded by a woman playing a Chinese guitar-like instrument (known as a Pipa I believe). We then headed on a couple hour bus ride to the water town known as Wuzhen. The town was very different from the cities we were familiar with- there were lots of traditional buildings and things like hand crafted wooden beds. There we also walked through a sort of museum explaining many traditions of the Chinese people and history of the area. After spending a few hours there we were definitely excited to get back on the bus because it was one of the hottest days we had experienced so far. From there it was another 2-3 hours to Hangzhou, the city we were to stay in for the following two nights. Once we arrived in Hanzhou and got dinner, a lot of the group got a nap in and headed out to a popular street we had heard was well known for its bars and nightclubs. I went out with a group of 10 or so and the first bar was fun, and even had a cool band that played some popular classical rock songs. The drinks we ordered there definitely different… like I didn’t know a B-52 was a shot lit on fire, which I then proceeded to blow all over Ryan because being under 21 I obviously had little experience with bars in general..! After about an hour and a half at that bar, we headed out hoping to hit up a few more places along the street but the next club ended up being where we stayed for the rest of the night because it was SO fun! They had amazing service, gave us our own booth on the upper level, and had springs under its dance floor so it moved while you were on it… yea, it might not sound that cool but it definitely was the highlight of my night because we were so ridiculously entertained by it! Unfortunately my ankle started to really hurt which I had injured during the soccer game on Friday so I had to head back to the hotel early, but the night was for sure my favorite night out in China up to this point in the trip!