Belonging to the French Association, the International Newcomers’ Network and the British Club, there was one group I didn’t belong to and that was the ANZA or Australian and New Zealand Association. One of reason I wanted to get involve in this group is that each year they have a dinner/ball on the Great Wall. Tickets usually sell fast and in general they aren’t any left by the time they are available to the general public. We decided that this year was the year to have a chance of a lifetime to dress up and have champagne on the Great Wall with the group of great friends I tend to hang out a lot.
The night started at 4.45pm with a bus ride to the section of the wall called Juyong Guan (about 1 hour away from Beijing). As we were greeted by Champagne and Petits Fours, light rain started but nothing could temper our spirit and after finding some shelter from nearby trees, the tables awaited us in a wonderful setting. The dinner catered by the St Regis Hotel was excellent and we had plenty of time to dance before we had to leave, just like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight!
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It turned out that another dinner was taking place on another section of the wall, organized by ASC (China’s largest importer/distributor of quality wines) and hosted by the world’s most influential wine critic Robert Parker. At 16,000 rmb (€1,600 or $0,000) per person for their dinner we were definitely not competing in the same category at all.
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| Photo ASC |
