Quoc Su Embroidery Factory

TUESDAY 5^th April

I got up at 6:45 (very early for me these days) an walked to Sunflower International Village to meet the Wednesday girls. Seven of us went to Hanoi in a nice minibus. The conversation flowed freely and the two and a half hour trip didn't feel that long. We stopped at Hanoi Tower and had a cuppa...

This is Marita from Sweden, me, and Dorothy from Belgium...

And this is Maria from Denmark, and Alwyn from England

We went up to Jaspers Restaurant (very nice, very busy) which is owned by an Aussie guy named Jacko. L to R is Ann from Belgium, Maria, Dorothy, Tina from Sweden, me, Alwyn and Marita. We had a very enjoyable lunch and I forgot to photograph mine till I was half way through it... sorry Katie!

This was Malaysian Roti with curry, lentil and raita dips... delish!

This is halfway through my Vietnamese seafood, noodle stirfry. When it came time for the bill to be paid Tina and Alwyn paid for my lunch! How lovely of them, I got quite misty...

Then it was back into our minibus for a 40 minute ride to this Embroidery factory. Mr  Su is a renowned silk embroiderer of international acclaim. If he was Japanese he’d be classed as a living treasure

We spent quite a bit of time in the showroom as the girls chose wedding gifts and ordered special tablecloths etc. I bought a pretty little pocket tissue holder and an old fashioned embroidered draw string bag. Then we had a look in the ‘factory’  where all the hard work is done...

This is Mr Su doing a scene he has obviously replicated many, many times (that crumpled picture is the original photo)... but it is worth taking a closer look at his work... it looks so real, even the reflection in the water... (that’s his glasses resting on the left side of the embroidery).

 Some work in pairs

They do this for hours ...

 Alwyn clowning around in the courtyard... check out the bonsais!

It was a bit quieter on the 2 1/2 hour drive home... most of us dozing or reading magazines. We got back at 6:30pm. I’m the only one home, my housemates are all teaching. I’m looking forward to an early night... Dorothy mentioned that next week they might go to a ceramic village not far out of Hai Phong. I do hope I can join in that outing, too!