Today was another cold and rainy day here, it really is hard to enjoy the culture of the area when it is so miserable outside. Our group skipped the trip to Martyr’s park and instead just went to the Hunan Embroidery Research Center, aka the Hunan Embroidery Factory. It was actually pretty interesting, the intricate work that goes into these embroideries, they look just like paintings, so vivid and precise. First we toured a little museum area and honestly we were too busy looking and to far back to hear what was being said but there were embroidery pieces going back to I think 228 BC. There were some really neat 2 sided embroidery that was like in between glass, but the weird thing is that there was different patterns on each side but you could not tell there was anything on the other side while looking at a side- really cool.

Then we went into the “factory” area, which really was an area with about 10 women sitting at little stations hand embroidering. All the work is by hand and what they do is take a photograph and have an artist draw the outline onto the fabric, then they look at the photograph and match up the colors with the thread- very precisely. When they are done the embroidery looks just like the picture. They will even take a single thread and peel it down to a single strand if they need to get the right color and texture, very delicate work. We then bought Mikayla a couple keepsakes for when she gets older.

Not much else on the schedule for today, Mikayla is taking a nap and we will probably play around for a bit and then go to the dinner buffet tonight. She has been sort of grumpy today for the first time and we are not sure why, maybe she was just tired, maybe getting sick (I am fighting off something myself), maybe just now adjusting, it could be anything really, its just that it is the first time we have seen her like that. Nothing to worry about though.