During the earlier part of our journey, I highlighted the “shopping segments” of our tour as potential dividers between the men and women in our group. These included visits to the jade factory, silk factory, and copper art works. Surprisingly, even if the men weren’t particularly enthralled by the final products, there was an undeniable intrigue in witnessing the manufacturing processes that managed to captivate their interest.
However, today’s visit to the pearl factory proved to be a different story. Once the oyster shell was opened, revealing its contents, the enthusiasm of virtually every man in the room dissipated, their eyes glazing over at the sight.
Several of us swiftly made our way outside after pretending to be interested for an appropriate duration. I strolled with a couple of guys around the corner, where we observed the filming of a television commercial. The only information we possessed was that it was indeed a TV ad; its content remained a mystery to us. All we witnessed were a few individuals donned in white lab coats stationed outside an environmental monitoring agency truck. A young girl on a bicycle rode past, cheerfully saying “hi.” Whether we inadvertently appeared in any of the shots remains uncertain, but you knew know.
After the pearl factory, we visited a nearby wetland (which was lovely) and even got to hang out with a handful of locals practising their ballroom dancing.
An hour or so later and we were in Hangzhou, where we took a cruise around the lake and visited the really lovely nearby park.