the usual history, food, tourism, local colour and Chinglish bits

 

The school I teach at is located 1/2 way between Shanghai and Suzhou.  I spent last weekend in Suzhou with several colleagues.  This "town" (of multiple millions) is famed for being the silk centre of China  This lovely girl is Leizu, concubine of Emperor Huangdi, who, it is said to have started silk production in China 5 thousand years ago. She is holding cocoons... 

 

And of course, what is a history lesson without a reminder of the Silk Road, that opened up trade between the East and the West?  (the caravan below is in the silk museum)

                     The old town in Suzhou is called Ming Town and we spent a nice evening there:

 

Paul, an ex-chef and married to Chinese Jessie, wanted disprove people who say there was no good Chinese food and he took us to one of his favorite restaurants and we had the amazing fish dish below.  I call it "the exploding fish dish". It is a fish deboned and turned inside out, served with sweet & sour sauce. See the tail on the left and head on the right?

 

 I could not figure out what the locals were doing raking this golden stuff around for miles on the road in front of the school, but it's rice! 

 

And to end: you know, one must put used toilet paper in a garbage container rather than flush it -  plumbing very poor, I believe.  So here is a sign to remind one of protocol:
Yup.  So long for now, Karen