Our first full day in China was a pretty impressive one. We started our day off at Jade Factory where we saw artists carving them. We learned where it comes from and how you can tell which ones are real. The work was beautiful, but we didn’t buy anything there.
From there, we headed over to the Ming Tombs and the Sacred Way. This 4 mile path of statues leads the way to the tombs, but we probably walked a mile of it with our group.
The tour guide pointed out that ‘something was wrong with the elephant’… can you see why below?
Then we headed out to lunch, which also happens to be a Cloisonne Factory. I think it must be an obligatory stop for tours because I saw it showed up on a lot of itineraries.
Cloisonne is the arform where they take metal strips (copper, silver or gold) and adhere them to objects and then fill in the gaps with colorful enamel. The first step is to lay out the metal onto the vase like this:
And then they fill in the gaps with the paint.
So all of that gold you see below was placed in before the paint. Pretty cool, right?
The final product is really beautiful. I had no idea how much work went into these vases, maybe someday I’ll own one. =)
Conveniently located above the Cloisonne shop was our buffet lunch spot. It was surprising good with lots of options (especially for me because I decided to go vegetarian during my time in China).
All of this was before lunch…. when we were done eating, it was time for the big event… The Great Wall of China!
To be continued!!!
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