On April 9 we took a day trip to the Eastern Qing Tombs. It was an excursion arranged by the school, so it was full of its own little unexpected twists and turns.We left around 7:30, and because Seth has gotten to be quite the night owl, I had the foresight to bring a pillow along. He and I both slept for part of the way. We arrived around 11:30, met up with a local tour guide, and had a lot of fun walking around. There are five emporers, 15 empresses, and hundreds of concubines buried at the Eastern Qing Tombs. The most well-known of all of these is Empress Dowager Cixi, who ruled China from 1861 to 1908.
When we got back on the bus around 2:30, I thought we would munch on some snacks the school had thoughtfully provided for us as we made our way home. We were pretty hungry from all the walking and with it being mid-afternoon. Imagine our surprise when our tour guide told us that our next stop would be a porcelein factory, followed by an earthquake museum in another city altogether.
We drove for about half an hour and then stopped. I was pleased; I thought I must have misheard when the tour guide said we would have an hour and a half drive. But what we were really doing was eating lunch! Too bad I had just stuffed my face full of snack food because I was so hungry from skipping lunch. This is where I started to get a little annoyed. Would it really have been so difficult to tell us ahead of time that we were going to be fed? And it wasn't just because my Chinese is horrible; my co-worker Terry who has amazing Chinese (a la her Chinese husband) also didn't know, and she and her two kids did the same thing we did as soon as we got on the bus. So we all sat down at this table full of food and hardly touched anything on it.
Back on the bus, pretty much everybody dozed off except for Seth and Terry's daughter Sarah, both of whom I seemed to become responsible for. (Oh wait, I was responsible for Seth before then, wasn't I?) We arrived at the porcelain "factory" around 6:00. The tour guide made a big deal about the fact that the factory was normally closed at that time, but that they had agreed to remain open just for us. We went inside, and it wasn't a factory at all--just a porcelain shop. If we wanted to we could paint a large serving bowl, have it fired, and get it shipped to us for 7,000 R.M.B. (about $1,000). No one did.
Got back on the bus around 7:00. Thankfully the earthquake museum was out of the question because of the lateness of the hour, and we headed back to Beijing. We were all glad to be going home, but I have to say that I was more than a little annoyed. Had we just driven an hour and a half out of our way to go to a porcelain shop? And does the school really think they pay me enough money to buy a $1,000 bowl??
Most of the ride back home was occupied with playing referee between Seth and Sarah, both of whom wanted the single pillow I had brought along. We got back to campus at about 10:30, walked home, and fell asleep 23 seconds after walking through the door.
But, hey, I got a lot of cute pictures, and that's what matters, right?
