Beijing, Silk Rug Factory, Electronics Store and Hot Beans

May 3, Monday, Beijing, Silk Rug Factory, Electronics Store and "Hot Beans"

With apologies from our guide - for taking us to another "captive buying opportunity", we arrive at the "Beijing No. 1 Carpet Factory" and watch the young woman who is hand-tying a room-sized carpet - made from very-fine silk threads. It is explained that this form of silk carpet has been made for centuries and only women are allowed to do the tieing. Since silk is so strong, it is possible to use very-fine thread so that the "thread per inch" count can be very high - which gives a high lustre and potential for very-intricate designs. The vertical threads are the backing, then the artist grabs a thread of the appropriate color (as specified by the pattern on the paper when she looks up), then she threads a short loop around 2 of the verticals, back under one of them, and back out toward her, then she pulls it tight and cuts it off with the black knife she is holding. She is lightning-fast at weaving and I can't tell *at all* what she is doing - until they invite all of the women to try it. Kathy is always quite observant, so she sits, weaves, cuts, and stands before I even get the camera focused. So I ask her to sit and do another and she waits for me to get the shot. Talented wife. We're told that a carpet of this size will take *** TWO YEARS *** for the artist to complete. I do some math and figure that the cost of these must be totally out of our ballpark. But we sit and listen to the presentation - and are lead into the showroom for the explanation of the different styles and sizes of carpets. They are really beautiful and it is amazing that the sheen is different when they are rotated: the way they are woven means that the light catches differently as you walk around the carpet. Truly beautiful.

And truly not something we think we need in our home: just no place for it at any price - so we take the "escape route" that Odysseys has nicely provided (as they always do with the "buying opportunities") and walk next door to a huge "electronics and home appliance store" that Chen tells us is kind of a "Chinese Best Buy" - while some of our tour members remain behind and do, indeed, acquire fine silk carpets.

OK. So I'm a geek - but I enjoy browsing through the multi-level store - with Kathy - looking at the Chinese way of "big box store" sales. We are astonished at the number of sales people: literally *hundreds* with a cheerily-faced person seemingly standing in front of *every* item. I suspect that they are all fully on commission, so the store figures it is better to have plenty of sales people - since if they don't sell anything - they don't cost anything. But they all seem truly friendly, not "salesman friendly". Most of them speak at least a good amount of English and are delighted to just practice their English with us - making small talk. We try to find a couple of attachments for our camera - and have to ask Chen to translate to get the complicated request across - and we find out that they don't have what we want, so we just keep browsing. A huge selection of cameras - and vacuum cleaners - and extreme-high-resolution flat-screen huge TV's. And rice-cookers and ... such. Really fun, but we don't find anything that we need to acquire, so we board the bus again and head toward Olympic Park, but stop just short for lunch.

Another buffet. This time showing us that the dish really was *fish* - without us having to ask - and a little surprise. Judy, one of the women we've grown to like - takes a bite of what looks like just green beans - and starts to tear up - warning us that they are a bit spicy. I figure that I'm kind of tired of the bland Chinese sauces, and a little spice would be nice, so I swing the Lazy Susan around - and put some on my plate and bite in.

Now. I'm not a total light-weight on spicy food, but I also don't claim to have an iron palate.

But this is *HOT*!!! Wicked hot. Burning hot. Tongue-on-fire hot. Tears and red-face hot. And that is added to the embarrassment that I kind of insinuated that Judy was just a light-weight - and here I am burning.

And Kathy pops some into her mouth. And is fine. And she eats her whole helping without a trace of discomfort.

Hmmm... I *suspect* that the "green beans" were mixed with some hot peppers - and that Judy and I just managed to get the hot end of a pepper on our first bite. "Lucky Us". But. Maybe I'm just a light-weight.

Next up: Olympic Park: The Birdcage and Water Cube.