On our way to the great wall

It was a Sunday but the traffic was horrendous. We took the bus to the Badaling section of the great wall. Even before we got there we could sections of it wending its way through the mountainous terrain. It was a terrific sight, the object of our desire and we are finally close to it.

This was a rather awakening, to see this KFC restaurant at the entrance. It was magnificent and crowded. This was the famous great wall of China, this section has been restored and one could walk and climb for miles. My leg was hurting and I tried not to be too ambitious. I wish I had more time. We wanted to go to the other more rugged sections of the wall but couldn't find transportation there.

Peking duck

Of course, one has to eat Peking duck in Beijing. Here the condiments are laid out. Peking duck is available outside of China, in Southern California, we find some of the world's best Peking duck. One has to reserve the dish one day ahead. It takes a lot of preparation. The duck is pumped full of air and hung out to dry for a day. This makes the skin to separate from the meat and when roasted the skin takes on this beautiful mahogany color. The skin is crisp and is taken off and cut into small pieces. Then the meat is also cut inot small pieces.

In this restaurant they use steamed pancakes but in most other places that I've eaten in they use steamed rice dumplings. I much prefer the steamed rice dumplings.

The pancake is smeared with some Hoisin sauce, the meat is placed over it, then the vegetables....

The pancake is rolled up and eaten..

The bones are taken back into the kitchen and dumped into a soup pot. When you have consumed all the meat, the soup is brought to the table. Now you drink the duck soup.

I love duck. They serve duck on China Airlines.I love the Cantonese roast duck, the ones you see hanging in restaurant windows. Here was my experience of eating Peking duck in Beijing.

A Baroque church in Beijing

It's very unusual to see a church in China. This one sits right next to the fancy shopping street of Wangfujing. I'm surprised the Chinese hasn't bulldozed it to make room for more fancy shops. Wangfujing is the pedestrainized street that has all the Western shops. It's full of people all the time.

Another night market

From the bus we can see another night market in full swing, the Chinese buying their own stuff. The Chinese buying up made in China. We didn't buy anything. I noticed on the flight home, we, the Americans did not come home with tons of stuff. But going to China, I noticed that the Chinese did buy tons of American stuff like Coach and Ralph Lauren. Here we are, going to our Walmart, fighting to get into stores on Black Friday just to buy the junk that they ship here from China. Why? This Christmas, do not shop, if you can't find made in America, walk away! I like to give money, pure cash. I hate gift cards, they have so many restrictions that $100 end up being $80. It's the biggest rip off! Just put a nice crisp 'benny' in the envelop for me, it doesn't have to be a crisp one, rumpled is OK too!

Donkey meat

They are selling donkey meat. This is a restaurant that sells donkey meat. If people eat camels, horses, yaks, snakes and whatever else, it's not an unusual that there'll be restaurants selling donkey meat. When we were young and poor, we ate some strange stuff, too strange to mention here in polite company. Anyway that was the past. Today these things are strange to me.

rickshaws

City folks and Westerners get a kick from riding on a rickshaw. The whole area is teeming with rickshaws. Talk about pedal power, this is it. This form of transportation is so old and it has not shown any signs of going extinct. In fact  it is more necessary today as ever before.

Courtyard houses

 In the frenzy of city life in Beijing, there are pockets of rustic surburbia. There are constant stories of the disappearance of the hutongs or courtyard homes in Beijing. They are still found, albeit, not in their original quantities, a lot has been bulldozed to make room for tall and modern buildings.

 We met a guy who lived here and asked to be allowed in to photograph the place. This was the China we came to see. There are still provinces in China left out by the crazy development of the last 30 years and they still retain the life in China of a hundred years ago.

After that visit, it was back to reality, the reality of the traffic choked streets of modern Beijing. We met another guy who is from Hong Kong and we stopped and had coffee in his shop. A few other young people has also set up shop here. It was very refreshing to meet young Western looking Chinese people.

The shops outside

 The jewel in the lotus, 'om mani padme hum'.

I love the idea of prayer flags and prayer wheels. Prayers are written on the flags and as they flap away these prayers are being sent heavenward. Just in the same way, prayers are written in rotating drums and with each turn, prayers are being sent heavenward. So this action magnifies the number of prayers being made heavenward. Isn't it a great idea? When we pray, we just make one prayer at a time.

 There's always time for lunch of rustic pulled noodles.

You can buy your favorite deity.

 This is Tibetan writing.

Of course there are those beautiful silk clothing. The shops across the street from the Tibetan temple was quite interesting. I love all things Tibetan, for some reason they are more colorful and much more lively. I long to go to Tibet soon to see the real thing.