Down another winding lane, knocking on a large gate – even Gul wasn’t quite sure of the way, as she had only been here a few times before – and we entered the home-plus-workshop of Khotan’s master hatmaker: The “workshop” consisted of two men sitting cross-legged and hand-stitching; the “showroom” was piles of product all over the floor among bundles of prepped mink pelts. The owner showed us in, shook hands with Tom (as a woman I never got a proper greeting),and without further ado, we dove in and started rummaging! Sami was our model, showing off the various styles:
As a special gift, the owner whacked the tails off two mink pelts and gave them to the girls. Presto – mustaches! Beards! Major silliness! A final pose in our new finery, and we were ready for our next adventure:
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