ANZAC day and the Sheraton.

Hello again from China.
Well, the last few days (evenings) have certainly been busy.
Wednesday was, as you would know, ANZAC day. To celebrate, the Aussies here (and Ashley, because she's Wayne's girlfriend) went out to dinner at the Polo Club. I thought I had written about this venue earlier, but looking back through previous posts I can't find it, so that must've been in an email to someone. Anyway, the Polo Club is what we in the band refer to as "the Aussie pub" or "the Aussie restaurant", as it seems to share the double theme of Polo (with the horses, not in the pool) and Australiana - it is an expat who owns/runs it, his name is Philip, and more on him later.
After a great meal (Bruschetta entree, Roast lamb with veggies [possibly the best roast pumpkin I've ever had, and potatoes that were actually roasted, unlike those at one particular establishment in Dickson!], apple pie and Lamington for desert, and a beer [BV of course - not the best beer in the world, but at least it's not Fosters!] to wash it all down with), Philip silenced the music (a Phillipino cover band - they seem to be everywhere here!), and called me up to read The Ode, which I'd like to think I did with grace and dignity. It was quite an honour.
We met some other Aussies that night, and made some new contacts in Shenzhen, which is always good to have. At the end of the night, while talking with Philip, he mentioned that he had tickets for the grand opening party for the newest Sheraton hotel in town, and would we like to go? Of course we said yes, as who could refuse such an offer (and we didn't have anything else to do anyway!).
We went home that night, and continued to pay our respects with some Wii bowling, further drinking and Cricket World Cup Semi-final, and of course, some sombering thoughts.

We arrived to the sounds of a bunch of 40+yr old musicians doing Rock 'n' Roll covers from their youth. Philip from the Polo Club was one of the MCs, the other being a Chinese woman. Of course, the usual contrived banter ensued. Other acts included a bunch of acrobatic plate-spinning and hula-hooping kids, some Indian dancers (that would be Chinese people performing dances from India, not Indian people dancing), some singers that were, frankly, terrible, and other 'international' style dance acts. There was no food to be had, and the only drink was beer, but apparently it was pretty bad (I didnt' have any myself), so we went out for dinner afterwards. All in all, it was a fairly good night. Something a little different.
Anyway, it's time for me to go
Cheerio.
Owen.