Factory Tours

We went to five different types of factories: pottery, gemstone, silver, silk, and wood. They were all very impressive and I couldn't believe that people do this day-to-day as their job. Some of the things they did seemed to repetitive (like when making silk) but I guess it's something they just get used to. More about that below :]


Pottery:
I have never seen so much pottery in my life. It was amazing to see them mold and shape things so perfectly by hand (something I have no talent for!). When they engrave things in the pottery they just use a thin stick...I would never have that much patience for doing that. I have no idea how they made all the different things look all the same...it was perfect.







Some more pictures:































Gemstone:
Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside. Gemstone was alright - they showed us how they shape all their diamonds and gems and how they put them into silver or gold. After we saw the factory we went into this HUGE room that was full sparkles (aka jewelery). It was funny, I was just looking at diamond rings (no intention of buying one) and a lady was trying to get me to buy something and followed me all through the room trying to get me to buy something. I have never seen more beautiful jewelery in one room!





Silver:
To me, the silver factory wasn't that impressive because we just saw the gemstone factory. It was still nice :] They showed us how you know what's real silver and what's fake. The only thing I really did enjoy about it was the air conditioned showroom and the garden :]




More Pictures:


































Silk:
By far my absolute favorite factory. It was amazing how they turned little bugs into cloth. They had little plant baskets with live silk worms, dead ones, babies, ones that were mating, and ones that turned into fuzz-like things. They had these machines that made the fabric. You boil them first, and somehow they connected the silk worm to the top of a machine to pull the string as it went. Once they have the string, they made it into clothing, scarves, and many other things. It was so cool.

Live silk worms! Mating!











Looks so strange!











Crazy machine to make clothes & materials....lady at work!











Wood:
By the time we got to the wood-carving factory, everyone was super exhausted. I didn't even see anyone carve any wood, I just saw their HUGE showroom. Kind of a bummer now thinking about it, but it's okay :] I walked around their showroom and they had AMAZING carvings. Like pottery, everything was so exact and so precise. I do not get how they do it!!!




I went and sat on the bus after walking around for a bit. I was so tired! We drove home and on the bus ride and I think on the bus ride mosquitoes bit both the top of my eyes :[ I'm super allergic to mosquito and spider bites (I swell like a balloon!) so of course, the next day, my right eye was SWOLLEN. Oh well, I knew I would get eaten alive here. I expected to be swollen and ugly :] haha....more to come!