12/15/2006 ~ Mao Restaurant

On the Rio: Chi-Lites ~ Stoned Out of My Mind

I had a very interesting week on a business trip traveling to the "north" country to the cities of ShenYang and Harbin. The weather was predicted to be very cold, 4F, but it only got that cold overnight. During the day it was usually in the teens or 20s. But I did buy a new coat before I left.

In Harbin I had the opportunity to taste these fruit on a stick. But again, I do not know what I was eating for sure. They were similar to a crabapple and stuffed with ground pistachio (I think - it was green) and then all of the fruit is covered in a melted sugar.

Harbin is known for its winter ice sculpting festival which is held in January, but we were lucky enough to see some works of art already in progress. This is the entrance to the Chairman Mao Communist Party memorabilia restaurant we ate dinner at.

This is my team-mate EW.

And my team-mate HY.



We were greeted inside the restaurant by a picture of Chairman Mao.

Here is one of my hostess's buying bags of nuts from the "communist worker party" wait staff.

And here is a picture of the Chairman, always watching over us during dinner.

And even Santa Claus has taken to wearing a Communist Party arm-band!