This first picture is of a pagoda and temple on the Palace grounds, and the second is the entrance to the covered walkway.

After the palace, we went to a fresh water pearl "factory" where we learned all about how fresh water pearls are created. The most surprising thing was that there could be 25-30 pearls in each oyster. The pearl jewelry was beautiful and relatively inexpensive. Paul looked all over for the most expensive thing he could find, which turned out to be $11,000. I don't think he looked hard enough.

After the pearl factory, we had a buffet lunch, which had the potential to be good, if it was hot. Unfortunately, everything was lukewarm, including the tea, so it was pretty much of a disappointment. However, since this was our first meal as a group our expectations were still low.