Fried Duck

We went shopping again today, no way, you say. Yes, way. We bought a cool clay tea set to serve our guests and as a remembrance of our trip here. We also got some oolong tea which is a favorite here and they say foreigners like. A picture will follow later. The batteries for the camera that we are buying here are not lasting so James bought some rechargable ones today. Don't worry, he'll be back at it tomorrow.
We went way across town with Monkey as guide and her mother as chauffer. We are such blessed people.
We ate at a famous restuarant here that have pictures on the wall as proof that Yanni, President G. H. Bush and his wife, Henri Kissinger, and others ate here. It is known for its wood cooked duck. We ordered a whole duck so got soup with it free from our duck. It reminded me of thin turkey gravy, really good. While they were carving the duck they brought a small plate of the crispy skin covering a thin layer of fat, that was really tasty, too. Yes, I also sampled a small piece of the meat which was really good. They carved it and brought it to our table with small, thin crepe-like cakes, a plate of sliced long wise, cucumbers and scallions and a plum sauce. It was like mushu pork in a Chinese restuarant at home. You dip several pieces of the duck in the plum sauce and place them on the pancake followed by a few cucumbers and a few onions, very carefully and slowly as you are using your chopsticks. You roll it up like a burrito with the top open and eat with hands. We also ordered sesame cashews, a cooked greens salad (probably spinach) with some hot stuff in it, and a type of fruit stuffed with rice and sliced. That was very interesting and good, too. They served hot water with the meal. Actually, it was pretty busy so we went and got our own. One thing about restuarants here, they can be quite chilly. James and I about put our coats back on. These Chinese people are rugged creatures. We even had left over duck for tonight.
Our goal for the day was to buy some lamps but the places we went to were closed. Places close depending on the manager of the store because they and the employees want time off to go visit relatives at the holiday season and this is also the time that they redecorate the insides of the buildings, probably bring out the spring merchandise, too.
We went to a new mall that was really nice and per Monkey had really good sales. The shoes, on sale, were also not available in my size. We are not sure where it is or how to get there but will soon learn the bus route there.
It is cold today, about 20 or so with a 15-20 mile per hour wind so feels really cold. We're grateful we were not walking and taking buses and cabs today. Thank you, Lord.