Ming Tombs, Tea House and Peking Duck

After the wall we did lunch and then visited the Ming Tomb. It was interesting but mostly just replica of the real thing. I can appreciate the effort put into building replicas, but it wasn't as fascinating as I had hoped. Nonetheless, pictures are below.

After the Ming Tomb we went to a teahouse (one of my favorite parts of the trip so far!!). We all sat around a long, rectangular table while this very nice Chinese woman showed us the 6 main types of tea (white, black, green, and 3 others I don't remember).

She taught us how to pour them, drink them, brew them, everything. It was so interesting and I had the best seat in the whole house.... right in front of her. It was as if she was giving me my own, personal tea ceremony! Way too cool. I soaked up that experience like a sponge.


This is a tea flower "blooming" to make tea for our group. It's so pretty and very cool to watch it open up in the hot water.



Then we were given time to "shop" around the teahouse and just about everyone bought tea or mugs. I bought a large box of Jasmine tea (so delicious) and a box of black tea (supposedly boosts metabolism to help lose weight - I call it "skinny tea").

Then we went to dinner for PEKING DUCK. We were taken to the best, most expensive restaurant for Peking Duck in Beijing (below).

This is what you see when you walk in - all the ducks lined up for dinner.



No, I didn't try any but everyone said it was amazing. I was able to put together some badly seasoned, over-salted tofu and thin pancakes to make a meal. (Yes, food has been a bit difficult.) But it was fun to watch the chef cut the duck - I've watched Food Network specials on it. Talk about a process. Another fun experience.



This last picture is of me outside near the Peking Duck restaurant. At night, everything in the city turns neon - and mostly neon RED. Not tacky neon like Vegas, but lots and lots of red neon and paper lanterns. I love it here at night!