Kathy & Paul's Adventures Abroad

Yesterday around 10:00 a.m. Xiaoling showed up at our door to take us to lunch, and presented us with a beautiful red and gold box containing moon cake, which is a big part of the Moon Festival. We took the subway to the north part of the city which Xiaoling described as a cultural area where Beijingers enjoy foreign culture. The buffet was at a place called the American Palace and it was located next door to a 7/11 store.

Moon Cakes

Beautiful artwork on the cake box

It was a huge all you can eat place where the local people eat at a cost of 59RMB ($10), and a variety of food types from Western, Japanese, Cantonese, and Seichwan was served. They even had a section with about ten different insects that Paul thought looked good but neither of us is ready for that yet.

We left feeling quite full and ready for the next part of our outing which was a trip to the Olympic Sports Centre (called the Bird’s Nest), and the Water Cube which is the National Aquatics Centre. Both buildings were constructed for the 2008 Olympics. We took lots of pictures of them but did not go inside because by this time we had been on the move for six hours and decided to come back another time to do that.

We thanked Xiaoling, said goodbye in the subway and made our way back to the hotel. We are getting very good at navigating the subway now and didn’t need her to show us the way. Another great day in Beijing!