Over the past couple weeks I've been busy with school, shopping and other work. Not too much exciting really, but I've gathered some pictures of scenery and of the results of my shopping sprees.
This one is from a bizarre underground supermarket in Sanlitun. It was totally deserted and everything in it seemed to be incredibly old and dusty. They had bulk containers of foreign spices like oregano...but it seemed that those bulk containers had never sold, so they had repackaged some of them into little individual baggies which also didn't look like they would ever sell.
Mmmm, tuna liquor.One weekend we went to Hongqiao market and to a silk factory nearby in order to research qipao fabrics. The factory was a total tourist trap, but was ok to walk through. Here I am on the overpass by Hongqiao.
Here are some pictures of silkworm cocoons in a machine used for processing them...this was there only to show tour groups how the machine worked. They would turn it on for a minute to demonstrate and then move on to something else.
Silk strands being pulled into spools on the top.
Various looms:
Outside Hongqiao we saw this oddly name coffee house whose logo also looks very much like that of another multinational coffee company.
I picked up a leather purse for myself:
And some red beads for the wedding...
I got a red table runner for Carol (if any other friends or relatives reading this have any particular requests for things from Beijing, let me know ASAP).
I bought myself a cashmere scarf:
A red shawl for the wedding:
And a couple other colours:
After much research and price-checking, Zoe and I finally decided to return to the very first qipao place we ever looked at. It's not far from our school and is easily accessible either by bus or even on foot. First, we stopped for Across-the-bridge-noodles in an upstairs restaurant. While we ate I took a picture of the view, fake green hedge and all:
Then we went to the qipao store and spent a long time choosing fabrics from the various swatches. I really didn't want anything too over-the-top, so I finally decided on the fabric below, which is real silk and which has a pattern of dragons and phoenixes on it (representing male and female, so perfect for a wedding). The dress will be be edged with gold which should be flashy enough for me, but not too much. It's kind of hard to capture what it looks like with a picture...and it's hard to imagine from just a swatch, but I think it will be very nice and elegant. I'm nervous, but also excited to see the result.
After looking through all the swatches I decided what the hell, I may as well order two dresses. When else will I get the chance to have a tailored qipao? So I picked out this nice green fabric, which is a lower quality fabric than the red swatch, but is still fine. In person the peony flowers are not quite so prominent. There is also a pattern of phoenixes on this fabric.
We get to go and try on the dresses in early April. I'm really looking forward to it!
Here are some pictures of silkworm cocoons in a machine used for processing them...this was there only to show tour groups how the machine worked. They would turn it on for a minute to demonstrate and then move on to something else.
Silk strands being pulled into spools on the top.
Various looms:
Outside Hongqiao we saw this oddly name coffee house whose logo also looks very much like that of another multinational coffee company.
I picked up a leather purse for myself:
And some red beads for the wedding...
I got a red table runner for Carol (if any other friends or relatives reading this have any particular requests for things from Beijing, let me know ASAP).
I bought myself a cashmere scarf:
A red shawl for the wedding:
And a couple other colours:
After much research and price-checking, Zoe and I finally decided to return to the very first qipao place we ever looked at. It's not far from our school and is easily accessible either by bus or even on foot. First, we stopped for Across-the-bridge-noodles in an upstairs restaurant. While we ate I took a picture of the view, fake green hedge and all:
Then we went to the qipao store and spent a long time choosing fabrics from the various swatches. I really didn't want anything too over-the-top, so I finally decided on the fabric below, which is real silk and which has a pattern of dragons and phoenixes on it (representing male and female, so perfect for a wedding). The dress will be be edged with gold which should be flashy enough for me, but not too much. It's kind of hard to capture what it looks like with a picture...and it's hard to imagine from just a swatch, but I think it will be very nice and elegant. I'm nervous, but also excited to see the result.
After looking through all the swatches I decided what the hell, I may as well order two dresses. When else will I get the chance to have a tailored qipao? So I picked out this nice green fabric, which is a lower quality fabric than the red swatch, but is still fine. In person the peony flowers are not quite so prominent. There is also a pattern of phoenixes on this fabric.
We get to go and try on the dresses in early April. I'm really looking forward to it!
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