Gambe!

Since I last wrote:
I saw four of the master artists in China create art RIGHT in front of me. Our amazing tour guide, Huajing, got us into an artist's studio - he is very famous in China as a painter, poet and calligrapher. He both painted and calligraphied a poem for us. Then another master painter painted exquisite peonies, another painted a harvest of grapes, and the last calligraphied on fans. SOOO moving to watch artists work and to watch the artists as they watched one another (they don't usually get to do that so it was an experience for them, too).

Ate duck. That's right, my poultry-hating ass ate Daffy and it was delicious!!! Huajing invited 2 of the artists to dinner with us and I sat at the table with them. The owner of the restaurant recognized them and sent over bottles of Chinese liquor.He poured shots all around and then yelled Gambe, which is the Chinese equivalent of Salud! or Cheers! BUT, it means "empty your glass", not "to your health". Empty our glasses we did - again and again. Thirty minutes later I was not only eating duck but posing for pictures with a huge plate of it in front of me and an empty bottle of liquor on my head. I LOVE China.

Saw the Terracotta Warriors today. An emperor in 221 BC decided to bury over 8000 soldiers near his tomb, each one hand-crafted and painted. They weren't discovered until the 1970s and today there is a beautiful museum where you can go and see the soldiers that have been excavated. The scale is breathtaking.

Now, I am off to wash my face before dinner, which will consist of course after course of Jiaozi dumplings to celebrate the Lunar New Year.