+1
 

AND, a ice cream cone is 1 rmb, hot dogs are 3 rmb , BUT there are lines....

I did it once. It was a unique experience and I think it will keep the only one experience to travel to Beijing during National Holidays.

I am used to crowded Chinese places, but that was unbeliveable. You can not move forward or backward only move where the mass goes to.

All lines for sightseeing tickets are much longer as usual. You can not watch something in detail as you will be pushed away. For having dinner plan to wait long time to get a table. Taxis are busy, the metro is full and buses are overfilled.

If it is your first time that you travel to China, I would not recommend it. If you have been there before, take the advanture, it is really a unique thing. (Do not forget to book the hotel before, not only do the reservation)

I can send you some pictures, but do not like to post them here.

Bye
Smartie

The hotels that most (participating) FTers (can't comment on those who have never spoken up) stay at (e.g. flagged 4/5* properties) tend to be super dead during all of the official holidays; <50% occupancy and steep discounts.

The western type hotels like Marriott, kempinski, etc. run golden week specials on most all types of rooms that week in BJ. But not the HK based Shangri-la, they just want to peddle the old dry moon cake....
-There are no business/govt. offices open from Oct. 1st-Oct 7th.
-Govt. starts back to work on saturday/sunday the 8th & 9th. They really do.

Shangri-la Traders Beijing has a convention room dedicated to mooncakes.
Never seen all that much activity there. Don't think their mooncakes
are dry. Probably very moist.

http://www.shangri-la.com/uploadedFi...20Cake_THB.pdf

While I don't have pictures like other folks, I'm not joking. Going to Ikea in China is actually a somewhat cultural experience.

That being said, Chinese also:

1. Ride subways in summer all day to stay cool.
2. Take naps in clean bathrooms (esp in banks) since it's cool and no one finds them there

I'm serious...

We live in SF and have heard stories of in-laws selling mooncakes during the holiday. Their relatives earned enough to purchase several SF properties. ...Fast forward to present day: more imported mooncakes but the eggyolk & meat filled cakes are on the banned list. Local Asian markets have huge displays of boxed cakes. The local bakeries still have a monopoly on the egg filed cakes. $$

The website contents seemed geared for corporate or "gift to impress" thoughtfulness. We are shopping adverse, but the packaging felt like Easter/Thanksgiving/Xmas ... a holiday specific giftee.

moon cake
 

I might of misspoke earlier about holiday moon cake...

Moon cake is for the Mid-autumn festival holiday, this year it's Monday Sept. 12th. ( 15th day of the 8th lunar month).

Any moon cake left on the shelf after the holiday is usually removed within a day or two. Any moon cake left over during golden week might be abet "old"

as for the commercial moon cake aspects, maybee we should have a new thread...

Mooncakes are the Chinese version of Western Fruitcakes
 

That is, everybody passes around and gifts what they get, and hopes that when the music stops, that they don't end up with any remaining boxes of mooncakes which they'll be forced to eat. Both mooncakes and fruitcakes are best used as hockey pucks and doorstops, respectively. Except for my grandma's homemade fruitcake recipe, which even Santa cries for at Christmas. :D

A cousin buys up a dozen boxes of mooncakes at the post-holiday sales for freezing and year-long snacking. I can nibble on some cakes for the holiday and a few days later. Way too caloric for us to snack on for months on end.

My Dad tried his hand at making mooncakes: way too much trouble. Plus, he did not want to buy a special mold. Luckily, we live in SF and can buy locally, fresh mooncakes. I do wonder when the imported cakes were made and how long it took the cakes to arrive in SF. :D

Those mooncakes have really come of age.


Louis XIII Cognac Mooncakes in Swarovski Crystal Jewelry Box.


http://www.alivenotdead.com/attachme...1521.thumb.jpg

Circa 1999, I went to Shanghai and was staying with a friend the day before "moon cake day" (sorry for being lazy, guys), and in anticipation of his ayi giving me a moon cake, I brought her an avocado.

Ah I did not know this. I always stay in cheap Chinese hotels, as far as they are allowed to have foreigner guests.

Good to know, next time I can live luxury for less money ;)

How time flies! I/we were in BJ 10/4/2010: SF to BJ - easy to get a taxi from the airport to our hotel AND we did not get the run around/overcharge. It was not our first time to BJ - we did not feel overwhelmed by the crowds. It just felt busy. Not too difficult to hail a cab or could hail cab from the queue near the hotel. With wise advisement from FT ambassadors, we did not venture into the subway/metro system with elderly family with mobility issues. -- Our hotel had a wheelchair that we could borrow for the duration of our stay.

We went to the SH Expo and we were unable to get a loaner wheelchair. Thankfully, we had brought a foldable wheeled walker with a seat. -- The Expo crowds and queues for the different pavilions were very tiresome...made BJ feel like a breeze.

Ok this is off topic, but the whole mooncake thing is bugging me

When I see Starbucks and Haagen Dags selling mooncakes it's really not a traditional thing for me. Everyone is trying to make money and all I can see is mooncakes. And all the good ones cost 250 rmb a box. I bought a 15 rmb egg one at the bakery nearby and it was bad.

China. Please keep your tradition and stop making cheap crappy mooncakes to make a few extra RMB