China #5: the emperors garden

Interesting fact for today: the emperors mother 'tai ho' never brushed her teeth and so she had really bad breath, especially in the mornings, so every morning she would rinse her mouth with really strong green tea to disinfect. Her breakfast was a bowl of milk- human milk- I KNOW RIGHT?!? YUCKKK!! She had about ten women who would milk a bowl of breast milk each morning, and then the best bowl would get picked.

Today we visited a silk factory and a pearl harvesting place where we saw pearls get harvested from an oyster. Did you know that a small oyster about 5 years old produces about 30 small pearls? And also, oysters need to be at least 10 years old to produce pearls big enough for jewellery.

Later, we visited 'Yu he yuan', the emperors garden. He gave this garden as a gift to his mother for her birthday. It is so beautiful inside, big enough to house a small town. It was so nice looking at all the architecture and imagining the ancient people standing where I stood and seeing what I saw. The buildings are amazing! So detailed and beautiful. Everything is very well preserved- even the furniture and detailing, but there has been lots of restoration work so it's not all original.

So anyway, this afternoon we went to a factory outlet - a tourist hotspot with lots of vulnerable white people lol. One of the shop keepers was trying to secure a customer with flattery, an overused method here, so she shouted out after a European couple; "hey beautiful lady !! Come buy some shit! " (she meant shirt).

I think I'm still jetlagged, it's 7 but it feels like its 11 lol. Hope you're all well over the seas. Starting to miss Sydney..

Love from chloe, who has eaten too much dinner.

P.s photos later!