After a toll booth, everyone tries to get going again. This is after some of the chaos was over, but at first it was the vehicle equivalent of Chinese people bottlenecking through customs. No lanes, just try to get through the door first.
My favorite road sign--the etc lane!
At the Jade factory, we had lunch, which I didn't enjoy much, since jet lag has killed my appetite and I feel kind of sick when there is different food smell. The bathrooms were immaculate and I have a handful of bills to the little woman who kept it polished. She deserved it. Bathroom cleanliness is not a normal priority.
After lunch we had a tour that combined jade lore with the hard sell to buy it here so you won't get cheated. This Buddha was only about 16,000 dollars. The prices were in USD and RMB and Euro, so you know it is a tourist trap.
This large jade sculpture is modeled after the terracotta warriors.
Guess who?
Froggy had a ride on a jade horse.
Rubbing Buddha's belly. The last in a long line of bellies we saw this day.
This Jade ship was a bargain at 67,000 US dollars. I don't think it would fit in the overhead bin on a plane.
If you don't think you would ever put stuffed animals on a ship this expensive, you have never been jetlagged, spent hours in the sweltering smog, swapped BO with lots of people who are a full head shorter than you, been photographed so often you are afraid to pick your nose, and then had a lunch of fungus and melon salad and rice after a van ride through Beijing traffic. By this time, it was hilarious!
