Mae-Ling came up for the weekend in Beijing and we hung out with all of our friends who also came up. Turns out BJ wasn't as packed as originally feared because the government was quite strict with visas so many foreigners couldn't get in. We loved Hidden Beijing 1949 complex where we took Auntie Rose and Emma for lunch for awesome Peking duck. We liked it so much that we brought George and Tina back the next day. Then, we went again for dinner at the noodle bar. We also hung out at The Place a lot because it was right next to our hotel and where George was able to get us access to the HUGE Coke pavillion, covered by the largest LED screen in the world. The architecture in the new CBD (Central Business District) of Chaoyang is truly amazing. The 3 pictures of buildings (CCTV's the most famous) were literally taken from 1 intersection near our hotel and The Place.
We loved getting drinks at Song Cafe with the beautiful wood "terrace-like" interior. But the highlight of course was watching beach volleyball, especially with the cheerleaders coming on the court during timeouts. Tina's eagle eyes spotted Michelle Kwan (Olympic ice skater) and got her to take a picture with us! We also toured the Olympic garden, and again, George was able to get us access to the Coke Pavillion inside the park where we were able to get ice cold cokes and play ping pong with the Birdnest as a backdrop. On the way out, we saw Phelps interviewed in the Omega pavillion.
See the Cooliris gallery version.
