A weekend in Shaoxing

Jasmine had invited us to Shaoxing for the weekend to visit fabric markets on the Saturday and see the college's final collection show on the Sunday. The trip was all paid for and they payed for us to stay in a lovely hotel. The weather was glorious and hot, a little too hot for my liking with the humidity.

The markets were so much larger than the ones in Hangzhou it would be impossible to see them all, would probably need to spend a good week as practically every building we passed was a different market. I picked up various samples and found a whole section of metallics that I loved.

By 4 pm we were quite bored of wandering round so we went off to visit the ancient town of Shaoxing. It was beautiful and quaint and we caused quite a stir in the small village. We took a boat up and down the river which was an experience, was scared of it tipping over and ending up in the dirty water.

As dinner time approached we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and found a little restaurant to have a drink whilst we waited for a phone call of Jasmine. We had arranged to be ready for 6, time went by and we didn't get the phone call till 8pm. So hungry. I find it so annoying how plans change out here, nothing is every planned and schedules are always vague, and pretty much everything is either maybe or later.

Dinner again was chinese food which is starting to really get on my nerves now, luckily they ordered our favourite of beef and peppers and egg fried rice. After dinner we went off to find a bar so we could have a few beers, Tong Tong said she would come with us. We eventually found the place that the taxi driver had pointed out earlier that afternoon to Tong Tong. However, it looked really seedy and there were pictures making it out to be an S&M party. Tong Tong spoke to the people on the door and they said it wasn't so we thought well we will just have a look.

Our English status granted us free entry to the club, and it looked alright but the music was so noisy, we were shown through to a table, and got drinks all round, even Tong Tong was drinking beer. This was definitely one of the funniest experiences I've had in China. I was slightly worried that Tong Tong didn't like it, but oh no she did, she told us how when she was younger she used to dance all night and was even naughty and used to get up on the tables and dance. It was hilarious watching her dance she looked she was having a great time. By 12pm we were all tired and made the short walk back to our hotel for possibly the best nights sleep I've had since I've been here, the bed was sooo soft.


Sunday was a long day waiting around to be told what to do and where to be. We were amused by Jasmine's secretary's daughter Chi Chi for most of the morning and early afternoon. So adorable but wow I swear I didn't have that much energy when I was a child. Finally we arrived at the fashion show and waited an hour in the stuffiest room ever. Comparing the catwalk to the catwalk Salford used at Graduate Fashion Week last summer was interesting to say the least, the college's catwalk at the show was covered in glitter and looked so tacky, nothing like the clean and sophisticated presentation we are used to in England.

After a very long opening ceremony the fashion show started, and it was exactly as I had expected. No words can really describe without sounding cruel. Having seen some of the students work and the college I knew there would be no concept just copies of certain styles. Like bridal wear, sophisticated, fun and glitter. All utter random nonsense. The presentation was poor too, I could see tears in a-line skirts, threads hanging off left right and centre, and models wearing bright underwear underneath white slightly sheer tops, this was by no means a type of styling. Once the shows were finished we were whisked off and had to give interviews to some reporters. Trying to not say anything negative about the clothing was quite hard but I think we managed, Becca and I even had to do an interview for Chinese Television. HAHA!!!!!

After such a long day I was thankful to head back to Ningbo. Jasmine had told us that we did not have to teach class this week as she felt that we had too much work to do and needed time to prepare for the evaluation the following week. Hurrah!!!!!!