Kathy & Paul's Adventures Abroad

Friday night we went out to dinner with friends at a local hutong.
Back row- Doris, Alexander, Anthony
Front row- Paul, Dave, Justin, Kathy

We arrive.

The Reception Area

The Menu


Air is injected under the skin so it turns crispy.

The Cooks

The Meal

Carving the duck is an art.

The cook started carving duck at fifteen and he is now twenty-eight. There are 109 exact cuts on each duck. We had three ducks with the fixings and three or four side dishes.

The Trip Home on the Subway

Saturday Afternoon
Mike and I went to lunch before going to Mixed Martial Arts – Art of War Tournament (www.mmachina.com)

After lunch we went to the Olympic Sports Centre to see the tournament, which is open to all disciplines.

This photo shows two crane or boom cameras. There are several ceiling-mounted cameras and during each match I saw four hand-held cameras and cameramen. This TV productions rivals any Vegas spectacle. It is broadcast weekly to 200 million homes in China, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Macau – an audience that any MMA organization in the west would love to have.

A Canadian, Vaughn Anderson (who is very well liked in China) won in his weight class. He defeated Ivan Ivanov from Bulgaria with a TKO at 3 minutes,39 seconds into the first round. He received a five foot long cheque and a trophy for his efforts in the super welterweight division.

Sunday

On Sunday Kathy and I left early to get my sister a Christmas gift. We headed back down to the Pearl Market but when we got there we discovered that there was another huge store just behind Toy City, which is not even marked by a sign. We decided to check it out and bought some great gifts and other items at even better prices than the Pearl Market. It seemed to be a store where more local people shopped and less tourists.

After about two hours of shopping we made our way back on the subway, picked up our bikes at the station and arrived at the hotel at about five o’clock, just as it was getting dark.