Next we went to the silk factory. We gained a new appreciation for silk here. The showed us how they use to do it by hand. Now they have machines that do all the work but still it is quite the process to get anything silk. This is one of the old machines that they make spools of silk with.
The embroidery factory made me feel like all the embroidery and cross stitch items I've ever done we're pretty blah looking. The silk embroidery pictures here were amazing! One picture could be the same front an back with no knots. It was hard to even see the strands of silk. Unless someone told you, you probably would think it was painted. They also could do a picture on front and a different picture on back. They wouldn't let us take pictures but WOW! An 11x14 piece would take one worker 1 year if she worked 8 hours a day, 5 days a week! What an amazing talent of skill and patience!
There was an optional boat ride we chose to skip so we walked into the living areas off the main streets and watched kids play. The kids were so fun to watch. They we oblivious to the fact that we were there watching them. The adults, however, would watch us with looks of interest. I'm sure they were wondering what we were doing there. It's not a common area for tourists to be. Our guide told us that many of these people have never seen a "big nose" person before; That is what they call Caucasians.
Later we drove to Hangzhou and had dinner and stayed in a SUPER nice hotel. I probably only rank it "super nice" only because it was a more Americanized hotel.
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