Suzhou to Hangzhou

The day got off to an ominous start when I got lost on a morning run, turning a planned 30-minute workout into more than an hour. I left about 5:30 and wasn’t the first out on the road by a long shot. By the time I returned things were crowded. At least I avoided becoming the subject of a headline: “Unidentified foreigner crushed in bike, scooter, bus crash.”

This morning we took a boat ride on what was once the moat around Suzhou. It now connects with a larger canal that runs from Beijing south. As you can probably see, the houses are fairly dilapidated; our guide told us they typically house large families in very cramped quarters. We saw a number of people doing their wash in the canal, others were fishing although the water is so polluted that the fish aren’t edible. The day’s other stop had to do with silk again—an embroidery factory that produced some pretty incredible work. Some of the pieces, including the frames, were going for the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was government run: All the employees dressed the same and wore identification tags that had numbers, not names. And there were many more workers than customers. The woman who showed us around made several glowing historical references to “Chairman Mao.” Each year the national government commissions a number of works, which it then gives as gifts to foreign dignitaries who visit China.

In the afternoon we took the train again, about two hours southwest to Hangzhou, where we spent the majority of our two-and-a-half-week stay in China in 1996. Unlike the plane we came over on, the trains here are modern, clean and spacious; perhaps we can find a direct one back to Williamsport? We all took “bobble head” naps on the ride. Thankfully, nothing is on the agenda for tonight.