As our trip drew to a close, we found ourselves right in the middle of the Mid-Autumn Festival otherwise known as Moon Cake festival. This year it fell on September 19. Among the many traditions are, of course, the eating of moon cakes which are sweet and savory round pastries filled with lotus paste or tarot. Just as our celebrity chefs publish their favorite recipes of Turkey and Dressing during Thanksgiving, so too in China, I read many of the favorite celebrity recipes of moon cakes in the newspaper. And as fortune would have it, we were each given a complimentary moon cake on our flight from Shanghai to Tokyo. The writing on top reads 'egg yolk and red lotus". I brought it home and it was delicious. The egg yolk in the middle is savory and the rest of the filling is sweet. This is one of the major festivals and public holidays in China. And in China, the whole country moves when there is a public holiday. Every transportation hub was packed - trains, buses, subways - all filled to capacity. Not a single seat to anywhere could be found at the station where two of our trip members decided at the last minute to take the bullet train to Beijing. No way. They had to settle for a 9 pm flight. And to make up for the lost weekday of work on Friday, the entire country opened on Sunday as a normal work day.
