Sunday, July 02, 2006
So Sweaty
Day 2
This morning's activities included a rather brief tour of the old part of the city of Shanghai. This particular part of the city is made to look the way the city did 50 years ago before they started to modernize. It was a fairly interesting area, but it's primarily shopping at this point.
After the morning shenanigans in old Shanghai we went for a tour of one of China's (supposedly) more famous silk factories. I have to admit that it was really interesting seeing how they make silk. For instance, who would have thought there are giant mechanical apparatuses for boiling and de-threading cocoons in the heart of the city? The principle thing this little factory/store sold was actually bedding. As neat as it would be to have full hand-made silk bedding; it just wasn't for me. Granted, you could purchase an entire California king size comforter of some of the finest pure silk available for what amounts to roughly $200 American.
Following the factory there was a rather uneventful lunch and a tour of a different silk shop that made rugs instead. Rather than hang around for the second tour we ("we" being a group of Arizona students) broke out on our own to return to the Yu Garden area from yesterday so we could actually go looking through some of the shops. An afternoon of shopping and haggling totally beat out a second silk shop.
Now I'm just sort of relaxing from the long day. I'm also completely covered in sweat. This humidity thing is a real bitch when your outside pretty much all day long.
Tomorrow is breakfast at the hotel and then we leave for Zheng Zhou and continue on to Deng Feng. The likelihood of me having Internet there is really slim to none. Also, tomorrow night is the start of the rank testing....so that's gonna be a world of hurt. Wish me luck!
This morning's activities included a rather brief tour of the old part of the city of Shanghai. This particular part of the city is made to look the way the city did 50 years ago before they started to modernize. It was a fairly interesting area, but it's primarily shopping at this point.
After the morning shenanigans in old Shanghai we went for a tour of one of China's (supposedly) more famous silk factories. I have to admit that it was really interesting seeing how they make silk. For instance, who would have thought there are giant mechanical apparatuses for boiling and de-threading cocoons in the heart of the city? The principle thing this little factory/store sold was actually bedding. As neat as it would be to have full hand-made silk bedding; it just wasn't for me. Granted, you could purchase an entire California king size comforter of some of the finest pure silk available for what amounts to roughly $200 American.
Following the factory there was a rather uneventful lunch and a tour of a different silk shop that made rugs instead. Rather than hang around for the second tour we ("we" being a group of Arizona students) broke out on our own to return to the Yu Garden area from yesterday so we could actually go looking through some of the shops. An afternoon of shopping and haggling totally beat out a second silk shop.
Now I'm just sort of relaxing from the long day. I'm also completely covered in sweat. This humidity thing is a real bitch when your outside pretty much all day long.
Tomorrow is breakfast at the hotel and then we leave for Zheng Zhou and continue on to Deng Feng. The likelihood of me having Internet there is really slim to none. Also, tomorrow night is the start of the rank testing....so that's gonna be a world of hurt. Wish me luck!
# posted by Chris/Stewy @ Sunday, July 02, 2006 
