Dragon Well - cab driver in the forefront, right
Lilian & Kevin at the tea shop
tea tasting
Lilian, Misha, Wen Wei, me & Kevin at the tea tasting
National Silk Museum
me & an oversized silk moth
Misha hard at work, making silk
silk machine, pulling strands from real cocoons!
at a local silk shop. even here, i can't escape...
beggar's chicken
Misha's lucky day - he found the chicken head!
Kevin unsure about his first bite of pork fat
buddhas carved into rock near Lingyin Temple
Lingyin Temple
Wen Wei & Lilian paying their respects
Wen Wei on top of Lingyin Temple, in a ton of fog! (there's another Buddhist temple behind him)
inside the Buddhist temple at the top of the mountain
Wen Wei looking at pictures of Mao visiting this same site
me in front of the Pagoda of Six Harmonies (it wasn't worth the hike up if we weren't going to see anything with the weather)
ornate tiles at the base of Leifeng Pagoda
Leifeng Pagoda
me overlooking the West Lake from the top of Leifeng Pagoda
me inside Leifeng Pagoda on the top floor
the lunch menu proved to be rather amusing...
Wen Wei & Lilian on the boat ride. the gold boat behind them is super expensive and only used for high-ranking Communist party members.
our friendly paddler. the boys had crushes on her!
IMG_2241.JPG
IMG_2243.JPG
another boat next to one of the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon (lit on the August Moon holiday to emulate the moon reflecting on the lake)
IMG_2265.JPG
Kevin, paddler lady & Wen Wei
me at a nearby park
strange statue...
IMG_2276.JPG
tile at the National Tea Museum! i like this tile b/c i can recognize most of the characters.
note to self: tourist must be "well-mannered"
Wen Wei crushing tea leaves
Lilian in front of a giant brick of Pu Er tea.
Kevin, Wen Wei & me at our second tea tasting!
she took her job quite seriously.
i had no idea this was how you ACTUALLY taste tea...
IMG_2294.JPG
IMG_2306.JPG
we were pros by the end of it...
eating a tea leaf that was supposed to be medicinal (lower blood pressure and "cure" diabetes)... it tasted quite disgusting.
me at the tea fields
workers planting new tea plants.
Kevin & Wen Wei, looking apprehensively at our hot pot.
sign we saw while killing time, waiting for the train...
