One recurrent thought in my mind throughout the many sites we visted was how human hands could have built these great structures without the aid of technology. The bricks were actually made from white lime and glutinous rice while the cement was made from glutinous rice and egg whites. These incredible materials make the walls extraordinarily strong. The predominant colour in the Forbidden City is yellow as it was the royal colour. To construct the palace special stone had been ferried from the coastal regions. This cypress trees in the courtyard was specially trained to grow into intertwining trees to symbolise the union of the emperor and the empress. Not bad for a guy who had hundreds of concubines :)
Then came what was soon to be a regular feature of our tour - a visit to a factory. The first one we were taken to was a silk factory where we were shown how the silk thread is unwound from the cocoon and how it is woven together. This type of demos are then followed by a soft sell of the final products - silk comforters, silk jackets etc.
The first of such visits was interesting and we were all very intrigued but when we got taken on such factory visits at every stop it became very tiresome. We tried saying we were not interested in the tour but this was met with different reactions ranging from sulky faces to repeated insistence that it was interesting and we would be sorry we missed it. It was only when we got to Shanghai and got a newbie for a guide that she let on that it was compulsory for the guides to take us to these places and that they would get into trouble if they didn't. She advised us to just go in and come out again as all they were interested in was the head count!
After lunch we went to the Temple of Heaven where more walking awaited us. The Temple was built by the Ming emperors as a place where they could make offerings to the gods. A unique aspect of the building is that it is round while the courtyard surrounding it is square, symbolising the belief of the ancient Chinese that heaven was circular and that the earth was square.
But the best part of today was our visit to a quack Chinese physician! :) After all the walking we had done today, the guide's offer of a free foot massage was too good to resist. So we all said yes. The catch? While we were having our feet massaged a guy in a white coat came around with an interpreter claiming to be able to tell by feeling our pulse what ailments we had and what Chinese herbs we should take. To tell thetruth, we were prepared to be impressed by his prowess after the glowing testimonials given by theguide but unfortunately for him the first one he chose to diagnose was the doctor in the group and she was NOT impressed :) So we all listened politely while he diagnosed all of us with poor blood circulation and prescribed the same ginseng to all of us as well as upset Padma by telling her she had high blood pressure but completely omitting the diabetes she did have. Hahaha. The moment we had all had our pulse taken, the foot massages ceased. Ah well, it was good while it lasted.
Our second day in China ended with watching a Peking Acrobatic Show which was really good. Unfortunately, the photos I took did not come out.
The flight took 6 hours and I must say we had a wonderful start to the trip onboard the SIA flight. My sisters began downing cocktails and wine while silly me only thought of asking for orange juice and coffee. We had asked for Indian vegetarian food so our lunch was pretty good. And we had ice cream for dessert. Yum.
