Advent in Fuzhou

Yesterday, on 1 December, the Shangrila hotel in Fuzhou started the advent period with a small celebration. Being the best hotel in town, with good western food, the Shangrila is one of the favourite hangouts for foreigners in Fuzhou. Also most of my colleagues are regular guests of the dining facilities in the Shangrila, so they all went there to join the event. And as we are still in the phase during which we have to try everything Fuzhou has to offer, we also went.

The lobby of the grand hotel was decorated beautifully, with a gigantic snow man (most have been at least five meters tall), and lots of other Christmas decoration. There was a choir that sing Christmas songs, hors d'oeuvres to eat, and philippino girls who took over the singing from the choir after a few minutes. Fuzhou TV was invited as well, of course, to guarantee the necessary publicity. All in all, a nicely orgnised event. But not the one for us, because with Mylène and no place to sit down for a while, it was a bit inconvenient.

Mylène did get to meet Santa Claus. But it was not a happy encounter for her; Mylène was afraid and started crying when Santa came too close. What she did enjoy was the abundance of attention from the Chinese guests. So in the end, Mylène did have a good time.