21. Peking Duck Dinner & Heaven & Earth Theatre


Heaven & Earth Theatre
Three teen-age girls with great skills, Two very young gymnasts

Day 15

Tonight we were treated to a world famous Peking Duck Banquet. On the way to the restaurant, Tao, our local guide, explained how the duck is prepared. First they flood the body cavity with water. This will cause the meat to be steamed until it is done. Then, air is pumped between the skin and the body to make the skin crisp. Then the duck is cooked to a golden brown. 

Peking duck -- an elegant feast

In the front of the restaurant, there were five or six ducks that had been dressed for the occasion. Pretty ugly little guys! The chef worked on the ducks in the open for all to see. Seems like a lot of work, but many consider this a delicacy worth the trouble. It was very different from our own baked chicken, though Virginia and Bill were not greatly impressed with the difference. Nevertheless, dinner was good and it was a nice experience.

Following dinner, we went to the Heaven and Earth Theatre. Here we saw another acrobatic show. It was longer and seemed to be even better than the show in WanZhou. There was a magician, tumblers and acrobats -- all were very good. The costumes was colorful.

We were especially impressed with two young boys who seemed to be about eight to ten years old. Imagine one youngster on his back holding the entire weight of another on one hand -- the other, hand-to-hand with the first, lifting his own body-weight with one arm. It's difficult to describe and hopefully, the picture will help. It was amazing to see how accomplished they had become at such young ages.

Unfortunately, having run out of digital media capacity, we were now taking pictures with a disposable camera. The quality of these pictures has suffered greatly in the process of transferring them to digital format. Actually, some of our best shots became throwaways.

We filed wearily out of the theatre and onto our bus. It was certainly a busy day and bedtime couldn't come too soon. We enjoyed hot baths and hit the sheets. Tomorrow again promises to be filled with excitement. 

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