HANGZHOU TOURING - Wednesday August 14

Between the Hangzhou competition and Jinghua competition, we has one day of rest, relaxation, and culture.
Silk Museum - This actually took place on Monday the 12th, on the day of the Westlake tour, but i thought they would fit better here. (Actually, i just forgot to scan them in, and it would have been hell to reorganize that page)
Models showing the latest silk fashions, but being very somber about it. They seemed very sad, it was horrible. Also ... did anyone else have the sense as we were touring the place, that it was just for us? Like, as soon as we'd leave an area, they'd turn of the lights...

Wierd.
Phil trying to test by touch which one is real silk. However, the correct way to test the suthenticity of silk is by setting it on fire, if it smells like burnt hair and becomes a fine black powder, it's real. I'd love to do that at an American store... "test" to see if the silk was real.
A nice hotel room view from Hangzhou. Jose doesn't look too happy about this.
Paper Factory - Okay, back to Wednesday the 14th. Our first stop for the day was at some paper factory. We saw a papermaking demonstration, old offset printing presses, bookbinding, and other neat things. Being an art major, this was cool to me. Working conditions were horrible though. It's dangerous to have so little ventilation when using oil based printing ink. OSHA would be up their backs in the US.
Various degrees ot interest The Vern-Cam
Evidence of my existance In the US, we have something called a MACHINE This was pretty cool, watching paper be made right before our eyes... that lady must have had crazy calloused fingertips.
You might find it odd that Scotty is so excited about seeing his shadow. But if you can try to think back with me... remember how it was pretty cloudy and rainy the whole trip thus far? LOOK! SUN!
BOAT TOUR #2

No explanation needed here. Just another relaxing boat tour. Scenery wasn't as exciting as Westlake, so it was a time to lounge around, drink sodas, read a book (if you were Russ), or watch Sam's video of the previous day's competition.
Our Boat, Watch Your Step
Scenery must have been really boring, cause i don't have any pictures of that. I remember other boats. And a bridge.
Jiayin and Rocky Lounging
Everybody... lounging. Alex with my camera... by the way, you shoot lousy video Alex Jiayin and Bill lounging... standing, but lounging nevertheless.
Phil and James on the Gameboy Common sight - stopping for refreshments
GREEN TEA - Still Wednesday August 14th - You can tell by the clothes - That's how I organize my pictures - by looking at the clothes - Rocky has on the awesomest clothes.

The teahouse demonstration was cool. And who can ever forget Dr. Tea. He was very fun and charismatic. Better yet, he was very persuasive. Who couldn't resist buying the green tea after he was done making the sales pitch? He should get his own infomercial.
Oh MY GOD! That's Incredible!
Pour me a cup of tea Woman This is how the Power Rangers get their power. Dr. Tea.
Green tea being freshly packed. One of those are going to be the baby i adopt from Ai and Rich for $10. Green tea being freshly harvested.
One word: Trustmart
Swooooshhhhh... ...whoa... we're in China
HANGZHOU - NIGHT TIME SHOPPING FREETIME

Same day - even though i'm wearing a different color shirt... i remember changing my shirt. Anyway, Scotty, Jose, and Timmy are wearing the same shirt as the other pictures... and that would just be beyond coincidental.

Now that i've spent all that time proving it's the same day... yeah... we had dinner, Rich was tired, he went back early, everyone was tired. But we went to a big department store then walked around a bit. It might as well have been NYC, cause everything was so American
Taking a break; enjoying the sights.
McDonalds, Starbucks, Haagen Daaz Ice Cream
Funny thing... so we're walking around, dodging cars, etc. and we run into Tim and Jose... i'm with Scotty, Phil, and Nolan at this time. We had to be at the bus in less than 10 minutes. Jose says, "dude, i'm gonna get something at McDonalds". I say, "I'll come with you". "The bus is this way" the guys tell me. "I'm going with McD's with Jose" i tell them. They can't hear me and think i'm just wandering off. I don't want to be late but i follow Jose anyway. We take this picture, Jose gets his icecream cone. As we walk out, Jose is going the opposite way. "Dude where are you going?" i ask. "The bus is this way" Jose says. "No it's this way" i say. "Dude, my shifu said it's this way" he says. I convince him to follow me. So we go... of course we meet up with the group, and we all go home...

I was just wondering, what would have happened if i didn't follow him?
i like that one