Journey to my roots: Day 6 (Suzhou-Nanking)

I don't think I'd ever get used to squatties because you've got to see the excitement on my face as soon as I see a stall with normal toilet bowls.

Chinese specialty #2: Went to the silk factory and learnt how silk is made. Living in a luxurious environment is a great catalyst for making luxurious purchases. Great marketing technique.

More watermelon??? Today we had the first meal in china where we did not have watermelon as our dessert! Didn't know watermelons were so popular here! (after note: this was the ONLY meal where watermelon was not served XD).

Nanking:
I've always felt that learning about the Rape of Nanking is a very emotional experience. And hearing about the incident from a native Nanking person and visiting the memorial site was definitely a heartfelt journey. Just listening to the stories gave me a great sense of discomfort. Imagine how I felt walking into the room with 10000 real corpses and seeing the tall tower with the word "peace" on it in the memorial site.

Next, tour of a garden 留園 - the garden which has been passed down 3 generations. Because 南京看石頭，there were many artistic pieces of rock here.

Then we had dinner with more watermelon. Staying at Holiday Inn tonight but the quality is so much better than Canadian ones. As an western franchise, they really try extra hard to add Chinese touches to their decor unlike the previous hotels we stayed at. Like my dad said: if you're already Chinese you don't need to wear Chinese clothes to look Chinese.

Ended the day by visiting a local night market! Authetic chinese experience minus the non bargaining vendors.