One Glass of Soft Drink

May 9, 2014

Once we board our Viking ship, we'll have unlimited "house" wines and soft drinks, but while on the land portion of the tour, the contract with each restaurant is different.  Jack repeatedly reminds us that the policy is one glass of soft drink per person.  Then, at many places, the restaurant is generous enough to provide unlimited soft drinks.  Soft drinks include beer, and the local Chinese beers are actually pretty good.  Still, I'd love a nice glass of wine.  So far the only wine we've seen anywhere is the Chinese plum wine, which I haven't tried, but I'm thinking must be pretty sweet.

So before tonight's dinner at the Kerry, we stop by the bar on the first floor of the hotel to see if we can get a decent glass of wine or perhaps a cocktail.  Looking at prices here is always a bit disconcerting, as everything is priced in the Chinese Yuan, or RNB, which is 6.2 to the dollar.  So an 85 RNB glass of wine isn't quite as expensive as it seems at first, but still it's over $13.00.  But wait...it's happy hour, so two for one!  I order a glass of a French Bordeaux, and David has a Caipirinha, which are delivered along with some peanuts. Mmmmm, good wine!  So after another glass, we head into the hotel restaurant for our included dinner.

Again, it's buffet style, with both Chinese and American choices.  We each have a little of this and a little of that...it's all ok, but nothing exceptional in my book.  Buffets have never been my favorite.

I knew from the beginning that this vacation would not be about the food.  Tomorrow the Great Wall!