10-16-2005

After lunch we bussed to The Sacred Way of Ming Tombs. This was the burial area for the Ming emperors. The walkway was seen as a path to the heavens. It is lined will all sorts of critters that were claimed to be carved from marble but it looked and felt like granite. There were four of each critter, two awake and two resting. The idea was they would work in shifts and there would always be a pair of each ready for protection. It was a nice ˝ hour stroll after lunch. I bought a Hop Sing cap from one of the vendors. We and two of our “back of the bus” friends decided that we couldn’t look at another noodle, dumpling or stir fry and broke out on our own in search of a hamburger and fries. We had heard that there was a Hard Rock Café near that served just that sort of fare. Leslie asked the concierge for directions and he sent us down the block and around the corner to the China Air building. When we got there we searched and searched but only found a Starbucks. I of course had to enjoy a caffeinated beverage and while we were waiting we realized that Hard Rock Café and Starbuck Café no doubt sounded close enough to the Chinese concierge. Luckily the hotel next-door had a just what we were looking for and without all the noise of the Hard Rock. What a delightful meal we had complete with salt and ketchup – lots of both! After dinner we got to looking at the Chinese currency we received as change. We were wondering who the two female figures were on the 1 Yuan bill. We asked the waiter and after a puzzled look he said “uh, two Chinese people”. We all had a good laugh at that (perhaps you had to be there).