Tuesday Morning & A Clear Sunny Day

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What a beautiful morning. It is sunny and I can see as far as the mountains surrounding Beijing on the northern and western sides of the city. Yesterday was a relaxed day with not much happening in the morning. In the afternoon we all went to the Antique Market to look at the Tibetan and Mongolian shops. I saw a few interesting paintings but mostly modern copies pretending to be old.

It was cloudy all day yesterday. The sun never broke through as I was hoping. It even started to rain quite heavily when we were in the market. It was a little difficult getting a taxi back to the hotel. This morning however makes up for it - blue skies, sunny and beautiful. At 9:30 we meet at the Palace Museum to go for our tour of the sealed Tantric Temple. It will be nice to just walk around the roadways of the Palace. The entire venue is a photographer's dream.

The afternoon is still open and we will just plug things in as we re-prioritize and cross things of the list of things to do. China is just waking up from a three day holiday - something about a day for worshiping the ancestors. I also have to change my airline tickets today. Originally I was supposed to fly out of Chengdu to Hong Kong and now I need a Beijing to Hong Kong ticket.

The image of the metal skeleton mask shown here is the same type as the two that are on display in the lobby of the RMA. I met the Mongolian art dealer that has these masks made. He also had two Begtse red coral masks on display in his showroom, and I really mean showroom. He probably has two dozen masks and complete outfits, down to the shoes, all outfitted and displayed on store manikins. It is always useful and sometimes fun to find out where modern copies and fakes originate from.

--- Jeff

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