Ten-Taxi Dinner at The red Moon

Too busy to write. After resting a bit and catching up with mails, we met to go to a very special dinner at a surprise location. I take the opportunity to commend and recognize our hosts. They have made a big difference in insuring us a great stay. Both the HP people as well as Midway Tours from Buenos Aires have not rested, taking care of the smallest details. Being at the World Olympics, one gets to recognize a winning team. Thanks to all!

For dinner we did something that would not have occurred to me, we went to a Japanese restaurant in China! It took ten taxis to get us all there. The Red Moon at the Grand Hyatt of Beijing is both elegant and exclusive. Dinner was great but it was the atmosphere and the music made it a very special night with a female quartet playing western ballads on ancient oriental instruments. The sound of the Pipa, a four string mandolin-type instrument was both melodious and clean. The two strings Er-hu, a Chinese violin, was haunting and embracing. Together with a modern synthesized keyboard they complemented the smooth romantic voice of a female vocalist with impeccable western English pronunciation (the only Chinese whose English I was able to fully understand so far.) If you did not see her, you would have never known she was not a native English singer. (While on the subject of languages, our guide JinJin, who accompanied us at all hours to all events, speaks a grammatically correct Spanish with good pronunciation even if accented. She learned her Spanish at college where she majored in Spanish Literature and has never left China. It gives you an idea of how important the educational system is for them.) A varied repertoire of western ballads ranging from songs by Norah Jones to a great rendition of the Eagle’s Hotel California greatly enhanced our dinner experience. It was a difficult decision to leave that wonderful music for the hotel, but we were tired and ready for some much needed rest. The line of people waiting for taxis was long and it took us close to an hour to get back to our hotel. Sleep came easy!