After visiting two Suzhou attractions – Rui Guang Pagoda and Canglang Pavilion, we had enough and proceeded to the hotel to rest. We bought some heated food from the Family Mart right beside our hotel and rested for a while.

Suzhou Silk Museum – Take note of last admission time

By the time we woke up, we were a little late for the Suzhou Silk Museum. A taxi ride there was fast and we entered just before the “last admission” time at 4pm. Ling could not wake up at all so we placed her in a stroller.

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Suzhou Silk Museum – Exploration

We proceeded to explore the rooms one by one.

It was a small museum but enough for us to look at some silk costumes, how silk worms looked like (preserved ones) and observed some models of the ancient looms (top featured pic).

Due to arriving so late, we were the only ones in the Suzhou Silk Museum.

Thus, while walking into an area, I was a little “shock” by some wax models of Ancient people.

They were quite well-made and were supposed to depict what life in a silk production factory was like. I like the “room” set-up with wooden doors and the things they used.

Beyond the rooms and looking outside, we spotted a garden of mulberry plants.

A staff walked by and we asked him whether there was anything to see. He mentioned that it was not the right season for the plants and silk worms to grow, so there were no live silkworms to look at.

I read online that some people get to see them through a tour in the right season.

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Silk Museum – Weaving silk

We carried on to the next part of the museum and was delighted to find actual people weaving the loom. One person was high up arranging the threads and one person was down below doing the action of weaving.

I was surprised by the size of the weaving machine – it was huge! With the numerous threads going through complicating paths, I marvelled at how eventually they all came together and became patterns on a silk cloth. The task looked so laborious and difficult and we stood in awe.

However, time was almost up and the museum was closing. Almost as soon as we watched them for a while, they stopped and started packing up stuff. The person weaving did not seem happy we were watching her and told me not to photograph her. 😦 I was quite surprised about that since that is an “exhibit” and I thought they were on “exhibit”, showing us the skill of weaving. Still, I took some secret photos from afar. This was certainly an eye-opener for all of us and I wanted to remember it.

Suzhou Silk Museum – No Entry to Final Portion

After that, we wanted to move on to the final portion of the museum, the official Silk exhibits.

Disappointingly, the security said he was closing the museum. It was only about 4.30pm then. We told him we were foreigners. We just wanted to see that last part and would be out soon but he refused to give us any leeway. Thus, we left the premise very reluctantly.

Next, we would be heading to Guanqian Street to do some sight-seeing shopping and have dinner in one of the restaurants there.

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3 days 2 nights Suzhou: Day 1 Itinerary

• Pace Hotel
• Panmen Scenic Area
• Ruiguang Pagoda (Inside Panmen)
• Canglang Pavilion
• Suzhou Silk Museum
• Explore Guanqian Street
• Dinner at De Yue Lou Restaurant in Guanqian Street

• Read A Summary Detailed Itinerary of Our China Trip: 9-Day Family Travel Itinerary in China Shanghai, Suzhou & Hangzhou