Jan 22

Today we went to a water village about 1 hr 20 min outside of Shanghai. Jon, Kyle and I roamed on our own, which was really cool because we walked through a bunch of cobblestone alleyways that allowed us to see inside people's homes and courtyards - to get a feel of what real life is like there.
They use these long, thin boats as transportation, and they are often filled with goods like tea or candies or cloths that make them these colorful wooden vessels.
I saw a dead pig head cut in half, hanging out to dry on a clothing line. It was gross. On the one side, I could see its teeth and where its brains should have been and its eye sockets.
Unfortunately, with all our wandering we got really lost and ended up arriving back at the meeting spot about 15 minutes late.

Then, we had lunch (not so bad) and went to a silk factory to see how silk is made. It takes hundreds of silkworm cocoons just to make one tie. It's sad though, that all those worms die. They only have a 60 day lifespan anyways, though, so it's no surprise they don't have much time to evolve and develop less soft cocoons so people stop stealing them and boiling them to get their thread.
Today we also went to two different Chinese gardens. They're so beautiful. Buddhist temples and Chinese gardens could single-handedly erase all worries from my life.
garden 1
garden 2
For dinner, Sam, Rebecca, Jon and I went to this really nice restaurant that Professor Pong suggested. It was delicious!!! Especially their special 8 ingredients nianguo dish. And they gave us lots of free fruit, which is always well-received.

At night, a bunch of us played cards in Tingo and Paul's room. An overall bonding experience, I'd say.