Last Saturday, October 6th, we ventured out for another day at Houhai.  Last time we were there -- the weekend before -- we discovered right before dark that you could rent bicyles and ride around the lake and all through the Hutong.  So, we decided to return on a lovely Saturday afternoon for some additional fun -- and we weren't disappointed.  Hannah and I jumped on a tandem bicylce and Pat mounted a regular bike and we took off for a 2 hour tour around the Houhai area.  We saw some lovely Hutong homes, lots of restaurants, and a really sweet alley street full of interesting shops (see photos in the slide show below).

After enjoying our bike rides, we ventured over to a new, high end shopping mall called The Place.  This "place" is pretty spectacular!  You can see in the photos below that the outdoor shopping area is covered by a gigantic big screen that displays images of all kinds.  We have never seen anything like it -- it was actually difficult to believe we were in China!  Once we finished taking in the view, we went to eat at the most incredible buffet ever.  Called the Golden Dragon Buffet, this place has food from 14 countries -- and as you can see in the photos, there is more food than you can even imagine.  After more than 2 hours of eating, we could barely make it to the taxi for the nap home!

Now, we have come to Shanghai.  We arrived this evening and are ready for an adventure outside of Beijing.  We will report on our time here soon!