Day 2, November 14, 2006
We got up in the morning at 5:30, had a nice hot shower to wake up and went down to have our first “Asian” breakfast, it seemed a lot like our American breakfast with some Asian dishes thrown in for good measure. The food was very good, sausage, omelets, cereal and other good food.
We loaded onto the bus at 8:00 am and then waited for some who had slept in a little to long, then we where on our way, to the Jade factory. One the way to the jade factory I pulled the camera out to take pictures and oops, I left the battery in the motel room. Thank goodness I had the small one that was a camera and video camera in one, saved. Got to the jade factory and one could go nuts and easily spend one into deep dept buying jade. They’re where some jade pieces that where inexpensive and many pieces that would have taken some people a yearly income to buy. Many pieces where just beautiful and I would love to buy, need to keep buying those lottery tickets.
Then we where off to the Ming tomb, we walked through one of the tombs that where open to the public, one of the buildings was made of solid sandalwood, beautiful, and amazing. There was no smell from the sandalwood as for the building was made over 500 years ago and the wood has lost its smell over time. This tomb was one of 13 and 1 of 2 that had been has been partially opened. There were 11 more that have not been touched and they may never be opened. The Chinese government does not want to damage them in any way and I can see why. We saw grated holes that held the Emperors concubines, one hole in each of the corners of the mound, glad I was not one of them.
After we had done looking at the Ming tomb we went to a ”cloisonné” factory, one needs a lot of patience to work there. Some of the pieces take weeks just to put the small copper wires on then the baking process, the enamel shrinks then they put more in and then bake again. This process takes 5 times before the enamel is done, then the pieces go to the polishing stage and then it is done. Same as the jade, there was some inexpensive pieces all the way to pieces so large that they where almost a years pay. One could easily drop lots of $.
We then had a good lunch of fish and other items that I have no idea what they were. Some of foods where vegetables that I had no idea what they where but it tasted good.
After lunch we where on our way to the Great Wall of China, talk about big and tall. We walked to the end that was open to the public, I don’t know how I made it but I did. Coming back down was going to be very tricky being that the climb was steep but I talked to one our group mates and the conversation helped me not think about going down the steep stairs. The Great Wall has been rebuilt for the tourists, hardly any of the original Great Wall is still standing in this part of the country.
After the Great Wall we went and had a foot massage and they also worked on our back and necks, really wanted to take home the young man that worked on me. I would be more than happy to pay his room and board for the massages.
We then had dinner and a show; the show was of young men and women doing acrobatics. The young men and women ranged from 10-18 and where amazing. If I could do half of the stuff they where doing I would not have the joint pain that I have now. One young lady had a REAL pot that was way bigger than her moving it with her feet. She was on her back and moving the pot back and forth. They got a older man from the audience to prove that it was a real pot then had him sit IN the pot as these eight young men picked it up and with the man inside and the young girl moved the pot with the man inside. Amazing.
We came back to the hotel and where asleep by 9:00 PM, we where tired.