In retrospect, travelling Finnair via Helsinki may not have been the best move, as far as avoiding Christmas is concerned. We had no sooner landed in Helskinki, than we were handed a chocolate and a map of the terminal by one of Santa's Little Helpers. We did manage to avoid the opportunity to have our photos taken with the man himself, though.
Whilst my final destination (have you guessed where it was yet) was not in the least Christmassy, I actually spent 25 December on a stopover in Beijing.
Which was in fact quite Christmassy. There was a a large Christmas tree in the reception area of our hotel. We ate in the hotel's Chinese restaurant, where the staff were dressed in Santa outfits or reindeer antlers, and the background music was a selection of Christmas songs, from Frosty the Snowman to All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth. (I am not making this up).
There were quite a few festive touches in the Wangfujing shopping area as well.
