Friday, February25th- Embroiderytown

We headed to embroiderytown today. I had Mr. Shen as a driver to take Val and I over to the meeting place then on to the area itself. There were about 15 of us going, so we carpooled with ladies who had drivers. Val and Susanna rode with me. These are the same ladies I had so much fun with in Leathertown...why change it up now? It's about a 40 minute drive, so we caravan together and head out.

Vivid Song Dynasty-style brocades are a Suzhou specialty. The style, known variously as "Su embroidery," "Suzhou embroidery," and "boudoir embroidery"—the latter because it was traditionally practiced by young women awaiting marriage—involves vivid colors, intricate patterns, images of flowers, birds, characters and fine needlework. Developed over some 2,600 years, the contemporary art includes a unique double-sided embroidery style, and can be found adorning everything from petite handkerchiefs to room-spanning screens.


There are many, many shops along both sides of this street. What we were all surprised about was not much bargaining was taking place. This is pretty common, especially in big tourist areas. So, not much buying was being done. This was really shocking because it was a very SLOW day....we didn't see hardly any people in the shops actually shopping. Oh well, I did pick up two little embroidered items that I plan on getting framed. Here they are:

After some shopping, we headed over to one of the local Chinese restaurants for lunch. Here is what was in the lobby:

a wall of fish

and here are FROGS:

We were taken up to the third floor to a HUGE table that accommodated all of us with the biggest lazy susan in the middle of the table that I have ever seen! I had to take a picture of one of the items I was introduced to at my first Chinese lunch and it was ordered again today:

It's corn pie! The hilarious thing is...it's got squiggles of mayo on it and then sprinkled with multi-colored sprinkles! Yes...SPRINKLES! It's actually pretty tasty!

My lunch plate is here:

Some rice noodles, some beef, and that round green thing...I had NO idea what it was...but it was really good! It had sesame seeds around the edge and it had a nice flavor, but it sure looked strange!
We did a bit more browsing and even went down a side street to some little vendors. Anyone for a cloth plaid toilet seat cover?

We headed back around 3:00PM. All in all, it was a fun day with my international friends and I'm looking forward to our next outing.