Suzchou & Hangchou

They have a Chinese saying that goes like this: Live in Suzchou

Eat in Hangchou

....and that's when I stopped listening.

We visited a silk factory where we watched the process of how silk worms are used t create blankets, mattress covers, and other soft goods.

Yup, you're all sleeping on silk spit. Single cocoons are used for clothes and other items.

Silk worm cocoons

This lady takes the cocoon of the silk worm, pulls out the silk worm bodies, and dips the cocoon into water to stretch it out which hence becomes the source of the bedding. However, the only cocoons they can use for this is when cocoons are doubled with two silk worms inside one. It  is much more durable and thicker.

The silk worms inside the tin bowl are edible =)

And another dragon!

Suzchou Industrial Province at night - this where almost all of the "made in china" stuff is made. It's become a fast growing province to work and its VERY nice. They purposely are renovating and building to make it more appealing to workers. That's why they say "Live In Suzchou..."

The next day we traveled to Hangchou which was about an hour away from Suzchou. It was absolutely beautiful. It was an overcast day but it was snowing everywhere. Coming from Dallas, having even a little snow is a blessing. That day was just amazing!

We got to feed the Koi fish with these packs of pellets that they were selling by the lake. It cost us under $1 USD to purchase it.

A line of umbrellas

My mom was so cold that she just wanted to bundle up and stay warm. She wasn't into taking pictures that day.

The day was so full of grays and dull green - it was nice to see a pop of red.

My dad saw this picture and said, "Wow, it looks like a postcard!" lol.

This lady was explaining the difference between green tea that is cultivated in the spring and the winter.

My tour guide family - we had spent all day in the cold that it one round of hot tea was't enough.

They told us, before you drink the green tea leaves, you must let the steam rise to your eyes - its supposed to be relaxing =)

I drank so much tea while I was in China that I have now grown accustomed to having a cup of tea and honey every morning.

Green tea fields!