DAY FOUR, PART THREE:

After we all recouped from our various near-death experiences we took a trip to the Cloisonne factory. Some of us were slightly unpleased about the schedule (we wanted to go to the hotel and shower) but the factory was really cool. They made enamel-ware. At first I was thinking vaguely of Tupperware stuff coated in some sort of glassy stuff, but I was pretty much wrong.
You see, it was actually brass things (vases, statues, bowls, anything) covered in designs. They made these designs by taking what looked like metal filings and making tiny shapes with them. The filings were (of course) tiny, so the workers had to use tweezers to attach the stuff. In the next room there were other employees filling the tiny shapes with colored enamel. In the next building they sold the art.

Our guide for the factory told us how you could tell a Cloisonne from a fake, but I'm afraid the only way I could tell would be if I actually had both a fake and an original at the same time. And already knew which was which.

The art was amazing. I took a picture of the most gorgeous peacock figurine ever. It was really expensive (I think $500, but I could be wrong.)

Dinner was, as I remember it, uneventful. Sleeping was wonderful (after my shower). Before my head hit the pillow I made a mental note to myself not to wear the green shirt until I got home. That was the shirt I'd worn on the great wall.