I jumped out of bed at 6:00am on day 2 of my trip to China to put an abrupt halt to the ringing wake-up call, which is just as annoying in China as it is in the states. Korean beds are a lot like sleeping on pavement, so waking up early to get out of the first comfortable bed in which I've slept in over 6 months wasn't exactly my idea of a vacation, but I quickly reminded myself that I was in China and my sleepiness turned to anxious anticipation to explore more of this fascinating country.
First up on today's agenda: A trip to China's Summer Palace.
We walked around the palace grounds for a couple hours, soaking in the beautiful landscape and trying to wrap our minds around the ancient history on display before us.
Next up: A tour of a Chinese Jade Factory.
Jade is China's most cherished stone and judging by the obscene number of jade sculptures, jewelry, and other forms of artwork on display in Beijing's jade factory there is plenty of this green gold to be found. We had the opportunity to watch the sculpters do some jade carving. There attention to detail, artistic abilities, and steady hands are a sight to see. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that this tour was much more of the strategic variety as opposed to experiential, as the tour guides reserved the majority of our time for shopping in the jade factory gift shop. After inspecting a couple price tags it didn't take long for me to turn from "shopper" into "photographer."
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