Tomb of the (Ming) Emperor

The Ming Tombs consisted of a large area and several tombs for about 13 of the Ming emperors. We went to the Dingling tombs because they were the best excavated ones.

Entering the Ming Tombs:




You can tell people are in tours based on their caps - I've seen yellow, red, and orange caps floating around Beijing...


Sacrificial vessels outside the tomb


Forgot what this column was for or called...but it was the only statue there...


People threw money at these graves. The left pic is of a coffin, and the right pic is of the burial chambers. They look nice because they were replaced. Archaeologists found them in a decayed state, and so they replaced them all. The walls are also renovated, thus losing the old rocks that gave it a more authentic feeling.




The emperor's throne


The empress' throne




SUN! ESCAPE FROM MING TOMBS!


We dwarf the elephants...



So we didn't want to take another 2.5 hour ride by public transportation back to the city, and Guo XJ tried to bargain with this lady to bring us all back. And by the way, we're a group of nine full-sized Americans ok?


Here is the lady...and here is her van, which is supposed to seat NINE people. (Four in the back, and four in the middle, with one in the front passenger seat)


John Park + Hannah + Lisa = TIGHT SQUEEZE!

(yeah right, as though we ALL could fit)


John and Lisa are already taller than this "van"...


Glimpses of another set of tombs for the other emperors in the Ming Dynasty...

En Route

Hannah handing out passports and boarding tickets at Hongqiao Airport


Arriving at Beijing Airport


The streets are all huge and spacious. It also means it takes forever to get from one block to the next. The photo on the left displays all the scenery and barren-ness from the airport to the city center.

Traffic is HORRENDOUS; Beijing's Olympic slogan: "One World One Dream"


Rather than little TV screens inside that Shanghai cabs have, these Beijing cabs have these signs. They're mildly amusing, and noteworthy enough for me to take a picture of them.

On the bus to Ming Tombs:

A bunch of people in a row are all checking their cellphones...


John Park, Hannah, Priscilla, Vicki


Beijing subways are like Shanghai ones. The cool thing is not only are they all fast, but they're also one long chain - rather than separated into cars like NYC subways are.


Lisa encourages the rumors of a rivalry with Hannah...

The Great Wall

The road up - it's all shopping stalls selling "I Have Climbed the Great Wall" or faces of Chairman Mao. This is the street where I got a stone stamp with my Chinese name carved on it.


The trek up was arduous - steep steps. Extreme StairMaster...




This was one heck of a hard laborer - dragging all her goods up and down the wall to sell them at various points.


Me and Annie Gao...

More pics of me! The skies really were blue. The sun was really shining.




Taking a much needed break at the pagoda....

Food Adventures in Shanghai - Part II

Here are some meals that I had - it's not everything...but more food will appear!!!

I seem to take pics when someone's chopsticks are in the way. I think I will do that from now on...take pics when someone's chopsticks are in it...=D

Canting at the Great Wall



Dried tofu skin with chicken strips; vegetables, soup, chicken and cashews (which everyone gobbled up) and rice

Corn cakes; a mound of rice

NYU took us to a dumpling restaurant for dinner (rather than Peking Duck!):

The table was so full of food they piled plates upon plates - of fried dumplings and boiled dumplings. SO GOOD. But I am sick of dumplings. Really - I am.

The appetizers, which were all laid out ready for our consumption as soon as we sat down; a plate of fried dumplings. After a while, they all tasted the same...

So because we were in Beijing, and because it was Charles Lei's birthday, we went to a really fancy Peking Duck restaurant - Quanjude. We had gone to the Shanghai branch for orientation week, and so we went to the one in Beijing. Paid a hefty amount (because we got a dinner set) but it was really good.

Carving the duck; these two cute little girls were watching the chef carve the duck and were so excited too!

Our spread; dessert - one was a red bean napoleon sort of thing (good) and the other was a weird cake thing (bad).

Duck liver (?) with SCORPIONS!; Charles tries a scorpion. It bit him on the tongue.

I KID - no, he just had a face on as he bit into it, and the stinger poked his tongue, but it didn't do anything. (It WAS dead...) I tried one too - it had no taste. Actually, it tasted like the chips it was lying on.