Today, we started with the Shaanxi History Museum.
I’m sure the museum was just fine but we (and the rest of our group) have pretty much lost the thread, and were too tired to give it much thought. It was a traditional “here are a bunch of old things” museum, and was just organized chronologically. That wasn’t enough to really keep our attention.
Compare the Shanghai museum: that collection was organized by topic (coins/money, ethnic minorities in China, …) so you could digest one part of the story at a time.
Then to a government jade store. The most interesting thing there was a realization that we all knew was coming: the older lady in our group had bought a jade pendant that she was very pleased with at the hotel store in Shanghai. Today she learned that she overpayed (or possibly that it was fake/crappy: we haven’t heard). She was pissy for the ride back to the hotel.
We had the afternoon off, so Kat and I explored the city a little. That was nice, but we were both eventually debilitated by allergies (first time on the trip, at least) and slunk back to the hotel.
Today, we take the long journey home to Vancouver and real life. Bugger… I have to finish the prep for the workshop I’m giving on Friday.