China Travel Forum

[acrickmay]

We were considering making Suzhou a stop on our trip at the end of August. I am very interested in shoppoing for Silk and possibly having some dresses made. I have been told the government stroes are the best place(more expensive) to purchase silk and they have tailors there. I am also interested in seeing the museum . What can you reccomend?
Our first stop is Beijing, from there we were thinking of coming to Suzhou, the Xi'an then Tibet and back to Beijing. We have 31 days. would like to also ride the train froom Lhasa to XinJiang. Not sure how long of a ride it is though.

Thank you for your time and suggestions in advance
PAtricia

[Guest]

The canals in Suzhou aren't very scenic -- if you want a "water village" experience you're better off going to one of the water villages like Tongli or Luzhi Stay well away from the famous tourist circus that's called Zhouzhuang.
The Silk Museum is worth a visit. You'll need to allow for at least 5-7 days for decent tailoring, trying to rush them and not having enough fittings does NOT produce good work. In the meantime you should do some sightseeing in the water villages and Shanghai, all which are close to Suzhou. Or, you could just as easily get the tailoring done in Shanghai.
It'll be difficult to get train tickets to Lhasa from just about anywhere in China in this season. Xi'an would be even more difficult to get because no trains originate from there. I would advise you to fly into Lhasa and then take the train out.
Suggested itinerary: Beijing (3 days) -- overnight train -- Suzhou (1 day) -- train -- Shanghai (3 days) -- water village (2 days) -- Suzhou (2 days) -- overnight train -- Xi'an (2 days) -- flight -- Lhasa (4 days) -- train (2 days) -- Beijing (2 days)