It's good to be king

Today Charlie and I went out early to get our breakfast at the jian bing stand and then made our way down the block (or a few blocks) to a gigantic antique market that was just barely opening.  We were led in by one of the shop owners, who proceeded to unlock and usher us into his store.  As we looked around, other shop owners nearby started opening.  So as we walked out of his shop we were guided into the neighboring shop, and then the next after that.  This went on for about half a dozen shops, each owner following us closely and trying to get us to buy anything we glanced at for more than two seconds.  We soon decided it was too high-pressure shopping and that we really didn't know anything about the quality of the items we were looking at (or even what they were at times), so we left and headed back to the apartment to wait for Tony.

Having taken a half day off to hang out with us, Tony acted as our afternoon guide through the Summer Palace, the relaxing getaway of Chinese royalty back in the day. This particular version of it (number two) was built in 1886. All I can really say was that it was beautiful, so I will mostly let the pictures and videos speak for themselves.  It was a warm, sunny day and the air was clear. As we went through it I eventually decided that if I ever have the means I'd like to have a place like this (perhaps not as ridiculously large, but as stylized and lovely).

Phoenix and dragon statues at the entrance gate

Paddle boats floating on a man-made lake with a tall pagoda and the Western Hills in the distance

Blooming lilacs juxtaposed with rock formations

Painting detail on the ceiling of a covered walkway

My favorite kind of tree in China

Tony and Charlie take in the scenery

Covered patio in the theatre courtyard

Outdoor wall décor

The theatre

Close-up of the stage with a rack of bells (left) and a horizontal harp (center bottom)

We lingered in this lovely courtyard for a while knowing that a short performance of the kind of thing you would have seen here once upon a time was about to start.  I made this video to give you a better idea of the layout of the area that cannot really be captured without a panoramic camera and an unattainable vantage point.

The first performers to go on stage treated us some traditional Chinese music.

Then we were subjected to a performance by half a dozen young ladies doing some sort of out-of-sync pantomime walking dance while waiving little handkerchiefs around. The song playing while they did this was almost unbearable.  Tony said the words would translate approximately to "these boots were made for walking..."  I did not photograph or video that performance and you should be thanking your lucky stars.

Next up were the Peking Opera actors:

And here is some info about the performance you are about to watch (so that you sort of understand what's going on):  

Divergence  (Sanchakou)
In the early Song Dynasty, Jiao Zan, the senior general of the imperial government being framed and declared guilty, was banished to a desert island. Yang Yanzhao particularly sent Ren Tanghui to protect Jiao secretly on his way to the island in fear that he might encounter dangers and mishaps. When arriving at Sanchakou, Jiao lodged at a tavern ran by Liu Lihua, where Ren chose to stay and rest later. Being heroic and warm-hearted people in grass roots, Liu and his wife determined to safeguard Jiao at the tavern. However, not knowing each other, Liu and Ren harbored suspicion towards each other, and mistakenly believe that the other person involved intended to hurt Jiao. The misunderstanding provoked a fight between them in darkness. Fortunately Liu's wife and Jiao arrived in time, stopping the fight and clearing up the misunderstanding.

Apparently, much of the choreography from this type of performance has strongly influenced combat choreography in kung fu movies.

We then made our way out of the housing complex and into the wooded grounds surrounding it where everything seemed to be blooming. 

At the top of the gradual hill we climbed was this building:

We didn't go all the way up because I was trying to preserve what little strength my feet have for our next excursion to the Great Wall.  We did, however, climb about half way up the hill and happened upon a lovely temple surrounding by bright red buildings.

Huge bird's nests could be seen at the tops of the some of the still leafless trees

My homeboy chillin' in the temple

Buddha's posse (only 3 out of 24 or so).  Don't mess with this guy OR his cat.

The temple was quiet, dimly lit and pleasantly cool so we didn't mind waiting there out of the sun for a few minutes while Tony bought some souvenirs.  Our jaunt near its end, we exited Buddha's refuge and made our way back through the crowds, pausing on a white stone bridge to snap these last two photos:

We then hopped in a taxi and made our way back to the other side of Beijing, where we would meet up with Elena and venture out again shortly thereafter, this time for Shanghainese food at a restaurant in the neighborhood.

Our appetizers: Savory gluten (bottom left), fresh bamboo shoots (bottom right), spicy mushrooms (top right) and aspic with goose liver (top center).  The last one is basically foie gras in a jello casing.

Beggars chicken: wrapped in leaves and then packed with mud and baked.

"Squirrel Fish": Crisscut deep fried fish in a sweet and sour sauce.  Steamed pea shoots in the upper left corner.

Sorry, but I can't be bothered to write a clever ending for this entry.  I'm full and tired and have to get up early to go see the Great Wall.  Poor me.