HONG KONG -- Still basking in the memories of its Shanghai concert, the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra took some time to explore the region before heading into its final week of touring and performing in China.

First stop was a day trip to Suzhou, about an hour's drive west. The buses passed pearl and fish farms and rice paddies on their way to the city of 7 million -- and still growing, like everything else in China. The government has designated Suzhou to be China's technology center, and 200 of the Forbes 500 companies have already located here.

But the PYSO headed for Suzhou's Old City, where the musicians toured the 800-year-old Master of Nets garden, a picturesque series of small outdoor rooms. Orchestra members Alex Lee, Eleanor Lee and Olivia Ren had the right idea as they lingered on a large rock beside the koi pond. After lunch it was off to a silk factory, then a boat ride along the canals -- Marco Polo deemed this city the Venice of China. The group visited an embroidery factory before returning to Shanghai.

Tuesday there was more to explore, such as the Yu Garden rock formations, before the orchestra visited Shangai Nanyang Model High School for another student exchange.

Nanyang, a private school with a reputation for music at a high level, fielded an orchestra of more than 120 students, and they immediately went off to the races with action-packed selections such as "William Tell Overture" and "A Night on Bald Mountain," where the violins seemed to sway in unison like fields of wheat.

While Nanyang orchestra members were dressed in black-and-white concert attire, the PYSO students were still in their casual sightseeing clothes, for which executive director Craig Johnson apologized. But the Pittsburgh group turned in sophisticated renditions of Copland's "El Salon Mexico" and Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances," which some in the orchestra called their best performance yet.

Afterward, they split into groups, with the brass and percussion gathering on the stage, the cellos playing for each other in an adjacent hallway ("I didn't think I'd find a student named for Yo-Yo Ma, the famous cellist," noted PYSO principal cellist Peter Levine) and the violins off in another building.

The Nanyang students presented each Youth Symphony member with a Nanyang school pin, and the woodwinds came away with something else. They found that the Nanyang players had Facebook pages, and the students conducted an exchange of another ilk. "We're 'friends' now," said oboe player Hannah Ridge as she boarded the bus.

On Wednesday the PYSO troupe left the 100 percent humidity that found laundry damp after four days and took the three-hour bus trip to the ancient water town of Wuzhen. There the group was sharply divided over the lunch, which featured a fatty pork dish and a whole herbed fish as the centerpieces. Some ate only rice, while others pronounced the country Chinese cuisine to be the best meal thus far on the tour.

Soon the orchestra arrived in the lush hillsides of Hangzhou, which is noted for the Dragon Well tea that was favored by Chinese emperors for centuries. Then it was on to the spa-like setting of the Holiday Wuyang Hotel and a vacation within a vacation. Immediately the comparisons began: "Paris," "Deep Creek," "Hilton Head," "Cleveland." But perhaps Napa Valley fit the closest, with tea bushes in neat rows lining the hills like grape vines.

On Thursday there was a serene boat ride over the West Lake and a visit to the Pagoda of the Six Harmonies, with its 100-plus miniature replicas of other Chinese pagodas scattered around it. That evening brought the third concert ever at the Hangzhou Grand Theatre, a two-year-old facility and still unfinished, that resembled the Enterprise from "Star Trek." The audience responded for two encores once again.

The orchestra would need to carry that energy during the next day, when it would travel by airplane to Shenzhen. The PYSO had been lucky so far in dodging the raindrops during China's rainy season, but not this time.

After a delay of several hours, they arrived late in Shenzhen, an economic powerhouse of a city of more than 8 million that was nothing but a fishing village some 30 years ago, and left early to tackle two sets of customs -- leaving China and entering Hong Kong.

The Youth Symphony base of operations, the Panda Hotel, wasn't ready for them, so the students browsed the shops on the ground floor before setting off on a tour of Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong hadn't seen rain like this, with periodic London-esque downpours, in 125 years, and the clouds parted only briefly during the visit to Victoria Peak. Still, the view of the harbor was spectacular.

On Sunday the students then went off to rehearse with Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Music Office Youth Choir. Highlights that night included a side-by-side orchestral performance of Prokofiev's "Montagues and Capulets" from "Romeo and Juliet," selections from Mozart's "Coronation Mass" with a well-drilled choir and the presentation of gifts.

By Monday morning, the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra had boarded its planes, where one pilot welcomed the group and was "honored to take them home." There were more delays and near-miss connections before the group approached home with a sense of deja vu, for Pittsburgh was as overcast as the descent into Beijing had been two weeks ago.

And the memories came flooding back, mixed with the excitement of connecting with family and friends.

For more on the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra's final week in China, visit post-gazette.com.