There's No Place Like Home

For a little taste of home, there is something quite refreshing about hearing 20+ Chinese waitors/waitresses say "Hola" as you enter Taco Bell Grande. Even if it is in a thick accent, they all just seem so excited to be speaking Spanish! I even think I heard an "Adios" or two on the way out.

Caro Gets Brave

The perception of most Americans with China is that everything is less expensive here. In actuality this is not always the case. And when this preconceived notion is not true, Caro has difficulty justifying the purchase of the things that are more expensive here compared to the US. (Being the bigger spender in our relationship, I rarely find myself with this problem.) Drinking water is one of these things. This especially becomes an issue at nicer restaurants that may only have Evian still water or San Pellegrino carbonated water to choose from, both at exorbitant prices.

Recently she tried to explain to the waitress at one of these nice Shanghainese restaurants that she did not prefer bottled water but instead wanted some “distilled” water or pre-boiled drinkable water. The waitress responded with a fast “OK sure” and quickly hustled off into the kitchen to return with two glasses of semi-cold water. After she had taken the first gulp of water and noted the pungent aroma in her mouth, Caro politely asked the waitress where the water was from. In a thick accent, the waitress replied, “no bottled water- from the pipe.” We both ordered San Pellegrino.

Yummm

And just when I was starting to think Shanghai fits the mold of any other major US metropolis...

As we were walking towards the subway this afternoon some man in a lawn chair on the sidewalk reached into a big bucket and pulled out a large writhing snake/eel. Holding it by the neck tightly in midair, with it still very alive and none too happy, he took a pocket knife and began slowly splitting it open lengthwise, right as we walked past him. We quickly tiptoed around the mess it was making on the sidewalk. I'm not sure who was more surprised, the eel or Caro.

Pastimes

It is interesting to watch the simple pleasures that one gravitates towards when placed in unfamiliar surroundings out of their comfort zones.

Caro told me she has rarely seen a bigger grin on my face then when we ate at the Brazilian Steakhouse the other night. I am always a fan of a good steak, and this was a wonderful reprieve from our otherwise "new" diet. After my 8th or 10th type of meat (multiple helpings of each type of course), brought to me tableside straight from the kitchen by Chinese waitors dressed like cavemen in boots, and a pile of scraps and bones heaped on my plate, I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be at that moment in time. Honestly, who could turn down succulent all-you-can-eat meat for just over 7 USD per person!? (Yes, I'm sure my sisters and other vegetarians could quite easily, but as the saying goes, "I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian.") About the only thing that would have added to the experience would have been for waitors to roll up a cot to the table so I could have slumped right into it after shattering those USDA recomended daily allowances.

My tai tai (that's wife in Mandarin) on the other hand, seems to reach a state of pure bliss, dare I say a little possessed, with the inordinate amount of shoe shops here in Shanghai. Now I must agree there are probably more shoes for sale here than every city in the US combined. But I find it instantly overwhelming and it makes my head start to spin. Who'd of thought there could be that many designs for sandles even mathematically possible? Regardless, Caro somehow seems to conjure up some previously unknown energy to window shop each and every last one of them. And she is rarely happier than after a hard days work of shopping for shoes.

Cuisine

One great thing about Shanghai- there is plenty of cuisine options to suit just about any palette. We have been trying a lot of them, and while I would not go so far as to say we are adventuresome eaters (no chicken feet or ox tongue just yet), we have done a good job of sampling the regional options. (Forks are even beginning to feel foreign to us in Western restaurants.) What has been simplified down to Chinese food in the US is actually many very different regional styles (Cantonese, Shanghainese, Dongbei, Sichuan, Hunanese, Xinjiang). Our favorite so far has been Sichuan. It has a great variety of flavors, and it is all hot!

The restaurant we ate at yesterday had several dishes where they serve fish fillets in a liquid of oil and spices, with the fish and vegetable mixture immersed. It is common for them to spoon out some of the chilies that have been cooked in the oil before they set the bowl onto your table. I watched the waitress spoon out no less 15 heaping scoops of pure chili peppers from the bowl intended for the table next to us before serving their dish. Given the spice level of our lunch, I feel a little sorry for what that dish must have done to their stomachs.

I consider myself fairly capable of eating spicy foods. But in case the flaming mask on the door of this restaurant doesn’t help you guess that it was hot, allow me to serve as testament to the fact that there is a definite recovery period required after eating food that spicy! Mom & Dad you should probably pass on this one. :)

Weekend Activities

Added a few more pics of this weekend's jaunts to the touring slideshow from the 1st of this month...

View the Shanghai Touring 2005 Slideshow

Baijiou For Everyone on the House

Shanghai has some serious nightlife. Some argue it is now the best in the world after overtaking London and Paris- I'm not sure I'd go that far but it is very cool. We have just scratched the surface, but here are a few pics and highlights...

View the Shanghai Nightlife 2005 Slideshow

- Bar Rouge was one of the most fun clubs we have ever been to. Packed with people and pumping with techno remixes, the view from its terrace overlooking the Bund and Pudong were some of the best views we have seen of Shanghai. And the manager was just crazy- he would randomly start spraying lighter fluid all across the DJ's table and then light it on fire.

- Shintori was a great Japanese restaurant with awesome decor. The cold noodles in an ice bowl was a first for both of us. It definitely tested our chopstick skills.

- Right next to Shintori, People's 7 wins the award for coolest bar I've ever seen. The entrance is a giant steel door with holes. There is apparently a pattern wherein you must put your hands into the holes in the right combination to open the door. Every time I tried it just opened to a glass panel that read "Gotcha". Eventually I waited for someone to exit and we snuck in behind them. Inside, they serve their drinks with these great metal straws and have an awesome bucket of "test tube wine". The bathroom doors have hinges purposely placed on the wrong side of the door, which leaves you looking like an idiot pulling on a handle that does nothing until you eventually push on the other side of the door to get in.

I'd could go on and on adding more, but I don't think the writing does any of this justice so you really just need to experience it for yourself.

Simon Says

One of our classmates took us to the fabric market today, which was surprisingly a much more enjoyable than my last market experience (previously discussed here). Thankfully they were not nearly as pushy and seemed much more used to basic interaction with Westerners.

Anyhow, our colleague described her memories of her first visit to mainland China around 20 years ago. It was uncommon at that time to see many Westerners in China (there were definitely no McDonald's). It was even more uncommon to see someone with blond hair. So when Eva went to the fabric market in Tianjin, she quickly noticed a crowd of 20+ following her about 10 feet back. They were not comfortable coming too close, but were definitely intent on staring and watching her every move. When she finally picked out a purse she liked and purchased it, she noticed the entire entourage gathered around the stall as soon as she moved on. When she returned 10 minutes later to buy a second one for her sister, the vendor told her that every single one had been purchased. She glanced behind her and saw an entourage with 20 matching purses.

Explorer Extrodinaire

Caro says this proves I’m not the world traveler that I claim to be, but it really did take me a while to understand why the flush button on the toilet has two sides that you can push to flush. (She has supposedly seen this in many other places.) For all you other uncultured people like me, the smaller side flushes half the water volume of the larger. So depending upon how things flow for you that day, you can select your appropriate rinse. And it is definitely considered TMI to come out of the bathroom and say, “That one was a large button flush!”

Reminds me a little of our honeymoon trip to Water Island in the US Virgin Islands, where their only sanitary water is via rainwater collection. There they teach all newcomers their jingle, “When you’re having fun in the sun, don’t flush for number 1.”

At least these water conservation concepts make sense, unlike the separate water faucets for delivering hot and cold water on our last trip to Scotland. I know this is common in some places as well, and I just don’t understand why you would want to have to rapidly move your hands back and forth between scalding and freezing water just to get something lukewarm for washing your face.

Mecca of Malls

No trip to Shanghai could be complete without a comment on the inordinate amount of shopping that is present here. The city thrives on an entrepreneurial spirit, and everyone here seems to be selling something. There appears to be little in the way of consolidation at this point- the competition is still too fierce. Testament to that would be the 40+ mega-malls now located throughout the city (and I’ve personally counted at least 4 others in development.) There are four competing ones situated within 1km of each other on Nanjing Road! And they are all huge! I’m not convinced yet that people actually buy anything from them, as most of the brands inside seem to be Prada, Gucci, Cartier, Fendi, Armani, and other expensive sounding names I can’t even pronounce.

As an aside, we did see a very packed series of booths at the bottom floor of one of the malls last weekend- it was one of the first companies that is beginning to offer mainstream personal credit cards in the mainland– let the race towards consumer debt begin!

Seen Around Town

I finally got a little slideshow up on Flickr (www.flickr.com) of our travels around town doing the tourist thing the last few weekends. So without further ado, View the Shanghai Touring 2005 Slideshow

*** Some techincal notes about the slideshow***
If you have a pop-up blocker, you should allow popups from this site (or else these slideshow links will do nothing). As you view the slides, you can click on any image to pull up the caption and then click again to resume the slideshow.

“You want buy DVD/CD/Watches!?”

“Come have a look! Lookie! Lookie!”

The supposed Columbia pants I purchased at the market did not make it past their first round of use. I lost one zipper, one drawstring, and one pocket in the course of the first day. How do you lose a pocket for crying out loud! If I were a betting man, I can only imagine there will not be much blue left after the first wash either. To be honest, our experience at the Xiangyang Market (commonly called the Fake Market) was worse than even I expected- and we had been forewarned plenty by our fellow classmates. The instant they see a Westerner approaching (and they can smell you from a mile away), you have a hoard of people surrounding your every move and there is no direction you can turn really to escape. Caro finally managed to find one person and selected him to follow us around and make the introductions at “only the best shops” (and she got to practice a little Mandarin along the way). I would only recommend this approach- you have to get the card of one of the locals to make sure they meet you out front and “escort” you around the market (keeping all the other commission seekers off your back).

Nevertheless, the whole experience had me thinking about how this scene must be the torture that we males who hate window shopping would have to endure in Dante’s Level 9 of the Inferno. About the only thing that made it slightly enjoyable was thinking about the next time I visit with my Dad or one of my Uncles, when I will be sure to explain to the crowd that this Westerner is really interested and excited in purchasing some DVDs, while I run full speed the other direction.

And I still have an incessant ringing in my ear... DVDS/Watches!DVDs/Watches!DVDs/Watches!”

Skyline Panoramic

I'm not even going to pretend it's even close to as cool as the ones on Mark Fennell's website, but then I don't think my work will pay me to spend the time developing those animated images with GPS info embedded. (If I'm wrong about this Chuck you can let me know at any time and I'll add a few purchases to the expense account.) So to stop all the nay-sayers, here's a crude panoramic we took from the Bund. I might try to retake it on a less cloudy day if we get back out there before we leave.