I wonder if they learn the Electric Slide too?

I wasn't there for the taking of these pictures and not sure what this is all about so I am inventing my own story. Feel free to add your own embellishments.

This school specializes in training people to be DJ's and entertainers at weddings. Every morning this school comes outside and performs YMCA by the Village People.

This kid got in trouble because he was a clown and kept spelling YWCA.

Things I learned. Bug spit edition.

At the Beijing silk "factory".

Silkworm larvae of about 3mm are hatched from eggs. For about 20 to 30 days, they are fed five times a day on chopped mulberry leaves. Now they are ready to spin cocoon for which racks, clusters of twigs or straw are provided. The caterpillars have small openings under their jaws called spinnerets through which they secret a protein like substance. This substance solidifies when it comes in contact with air and the filament thus formed is spun around the silkworm in the figure resembling the digit 8. In three days the cocoon gets completed which is about a peanut shell's size. The silkworm creates its cocoon out of a single silk thread that is continuous for approximately 3,600 feet. The filament is held together by sericin or silk gum. The life of the worm is ended by the process of 'stoving' in which the cocoons are heated. The cocoons are then soaked in water to allow the workers to easily locate the end of the silk thread, which is necessary to unravel the silk thread from the cocoon. The soaked cocoons, when ready, are then placed into a water tray in preparation for unraveling. A single thread is too thin to be of use and, therefore, multiple threads must be joined and unraveled to form a single thread. The worker locates the ends of about eight cocoons, and combines them onto the spinning machine. The spinning machine then automatically unravels the eight cocoons simultaneously creating a single strand of silk from the eight cocoons. Pulling raw silk to make quilts.

Yogurt Monster

Dear Stonyfield, she is available for commercials in exchange for free yogurt. Lots of free yogurt.

Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog

These were all the rage in Beijing. They are not hooked up to anything, they just bubble like they are boiling. I couldn't get an explanation as to how they worked. I'm thinking dry ice, but does anyone know what they are and how they work?

I'm thinking we will be seeing these in the US soon if they are not already here.

Congee Monster

我想粥

The first in a series of Monster posts.

You have got to be....

Squatties of different designs.

Never actually had to use one while there, just took pictures of them.

Guess the western toilets are strange to the Chinese as I heard a story of someone who would go into their office bathroom in Beijing to find foot prints on the western style toilet seat.

Draining

We are now moving into the random posts era where I post things that I have on my mind from the trip, but didn't post while in China. Also, I have a ton of videos that i am having trouble uploading to Blogger. When I get it figured out, I will have random video posts too.

One of the more curious elements in China were the drains in the bathroom floor. I thought that in our hotel in Beijing that it was there because they had funky "rain forest" showers that got water all over the bathroom. However, the Victory Hotel in Guangzhou had them (good thing because their shower covered the floor in water) and even the Disney Hollywood Hotel in Hong Kong.

In reality, they are a great feature because any water that gets out of the shower or tub goes in the drain, and when you clean the bathroom, you can just use a power washer.