Shiny Shopping Street

Nanjing Lu, the famous pedestrian shopping street, Feb 2008.

Kind of a cliche photo to post, I realize, but ooh look! Pretty lights!

/Edna runs away to finish her thesis

Barbie's House

The Barbie flagship store on Central Huaihai Road. Six stories of pink girliness.

I'm confoosed

I'm sure that's exactly what that little girl is thinking. How could she not? Look at how many stalls there are! It's a giant labyrinth of fake Armani and somewhat-realistic Gucci and not-even-close-to-passable Dolce & Gabbana!

Somewhere near Silk Street, Beijing, Sept 08

Alleyway, Cheng Huang Miao

A wintry day in Cheng Huang Miao, right around the time of Chinese New Year (Feb 2008). CHM is supposed to be this 'old temple' area; in reality, the actual temple takes up about the same amount of space as an American park pavilion, and the rest of the place is a twisty windy tourist trap.

For all your DVD needs

[This picture is blurry because I had to sneak it while the owners were looking away.]

To get to this shop, which has every DVD from My Fair Lady to the latest Seth Rogen movie, you have to first enter the maze that is Victory Plaza. Find the legit CD/DVD shop on the third underground floor, and ask to "go downstairs." The girl there will grab her keys and take you 

to the end of the hallway, 

through a set of doors, 

down three flights of stairs, 

and into a tiny hallway lined with closed doors. 

It's extremely dodgy, but the DVDs were cheap (a dollar) and of reliable quality. Every time I visited them I brought a different friend with me -always a Westerner. After a month or so they started to recognize me and a simple nod of my head came to mean, "Take me downstairs."

Paper Cuts

Vendor at the Muslim street market in Xi'an, February 08. I believe the woman cut at least some, if not all, of these herself. Paper cutting is an incredible art, especially at such a large scale, because it requires a good deal of foresight and nimble dexterity.

How is this a selling point??

Seen in one of Dalian's Carrefours (French grocery chain in China). Then seen again in another Carrefour on the other side of town. They stayed on display year-round. I'm not sure what kind of subliminal messaging Carrefour is up to here.

Fabricating

Erqi Square in Dalian is known for the host of tailors that set up shop at the base of the hill. To have something custom made here (for example, my red peacoat) cost about the same as buying it off the shelf in the States (in my case, $50). Because of this, we expats frequently went to look at patterns and designs and had things made that we didn't need; it was like regular clothes shopping but without the instant gratification of taking your purchase home with you. 

Dalianers- When you enter the warehouse-type building, make a beeline for the back, where the stalls are. Pick a tailor that looks friendly (and competent) and then pick whichever fabric you desire. 

*For males this process generally takes a sixth of the time it takes the females.

Photo of the Day: More for Sale

In Kaifaqu, which is the Development Zone about half an hour's lightrail away from the city center of Dalian. Where this picture was taken, there were two giant shopping malls, and of course an endless number of vendors setting up shop in between the two.

For about six straight weekends in the fall I taught English out here: Eight hours on Saturdays and six on Sundays. In the mornings I would go to that McDonald's for (horribly burnt) coffee then one of the side vendors for some fried dough strips filled with strawberry or red bean paste.

Photo of the Day: Wangfujing (王府井)

Wangfujing is a famous shopping street in Beijing. We happened to be here on the last day of our BCA trip, October 1st, which was National Day. It was packed. In fact, "packed" doesn't even do this crowd justice. I would stop to take a couple pictures, lose my friends, and frantically search the crowd for four Caucasians. Then repeat.

Thankfully for them, my camera ran out of battery right about this time and I could keep up with the group. Unfortunately for me, this is the best shot I could snap before the sad death of all three of my camera batteries.

Photo of the Day: Just Browsing

Taken at Victory Plaza, which is basically the main shopping area of Dalian and located right next to the center Square. It spans a good four or so floors underground. I know people who have lived in Dalian for years and still get lost in the massive expanse that is Victory Plaza.

This, however, was taken above-ground. It was a friend's birthday, so her coworkers and I met here, then proceeded to walk together over to Tapas, a (really nice) Spanish restaurant.

Random note- a lot of the bits and bobs for sale in Dalian are shell-related, since the city is on the seaside and obviously never short of marine paraphenalia.

Friday in Beijing and arriving in Yinchuan

Yesterday was a full day! Our train arrived at the station at 6 in the morning, and we high tailed it straight to McDonald's for coffee. From the moment we arrived though you could tell the sky was beautiful- I got lovely pictures of the sunrise. After breakfast we decided to check out the Olympic venues, so we hopped on the subway and when we arrived it turned out you needed special passes to get in! We got on these buses instead with Beijing 2008 on the side, and it basically went in a loop around the venues, stopped at like the Village and outside the Stadium, etc. We didn't get terribly close to the Water Cube or the Bird's Nest, but close enough to take pictures- the pictures just have lots of gates and buses in them!

Then we finished off the loop (the buses were really comfortable and the weather was gorgeous-Beijing really did a fantastic job with the air pollution) then went to Yonghe Lama Temple. According to Hack it's one of the rare temples that a. wasn't destroyed in the Cultural Revolution and b. is from a particular sect of Buddhism that's seldom practiced. The biggest sight was this giant Buddha carved from a single sandalwood tree- it actually had a Guinness World Record plaque outside the temple (for what record, I'm not sure, I'm assuming it's to do with height or building material. Or both).

We took the subway back, and after three trips to Beijing I finally made it to the Silk Market. I spent a good almost hour probably at this one shop debating over jackets- one I didn't buy, it was a nice dark green Inspector Gadget-type trenchcoat that was 200 rmb, but the one I did buy was a 240 rmb Columbia knock-off, that I'm incredibly pleased with. It's got two layers, and the inner sweater layer even zips out and can be worn alone, among other awesome features...best 35 dollars I've spent in a while. I also bought a 'silk' skirt for 35 rmb (the lady was so upset though, she wanted 38 and I just wouldn't give in for pride's sake and she said, Where are you from? Are all females from where you live like you? I've never met anyone so stubborn/cheap from America.) then Hack and I were nearly threatened by a lady selling jerseys. We went to look at them and when we wouldn't agree to her prices (90 a pair) we tried to walk away and she got extremely red and wouldn't let us...I've never felt scared of vendors before.

After that we went back to Wang Fu Jing, where we had breakfast, and checked out a tiny little food street that had, among other things, seahorse on a stick. We ate dinner in the giant mall there, where we all made the comment that Beijing was way too Western for us, and how glad we were to be there only a day. Though, it was such a full day we felt ready to head back to Dalian, we had to be reminded there were still five more days to the trip!

We took a 9:20 pm flight to Yinchuan, where we arrived last night about 11:30. When we disembarked, I was realized buying the jacket was the smartest decision I've made in a while, it is Freezing here (46 F this morning)! We were picked up by contacts of Danny's and taken to this hostel where it seems to have been transfomed from an old factory building or something, and there's No Heat. No hot water for showers either; we asked this morning when hot water would turn on and the owner said probably not today...because their water is heated by the sun! I guess we're lucky they even have this old laptop for public use. There is this really cute collie here though in the lobby.

We're spending four full days here, and we're still not quite sure what we have planned. We could go to Inner Mongolia, or the desert and ride camels and go sand sliding, or raft on the Yellow River...today's extremely cold and it's raining outside though, and the girls got about six hours of sleep (I got four because they moved back our pick-up time and I just decided to read books in the lobby instead of going back to sleep), so though it's not starting off on the right foot, as Hillary said...at least we had a beautiful day in Beijing to remember if nothing else!

Spring Fever

Spring Fever has hit Dalian. Right after midterms ended, the sun came back out and now everything is in bloom. It's still a bit chilly and windy, but I that's what you get when you live in the north, by the sea.

Everything is now in bloom; it's crazy to think what's happened in the time since I last saw proper flora. I feel like last September/October was years ago- SO much has changed, both good and bad.

F and I went backpack shopping in Victory Square the other day; we walked all the way down and back, and it's a decent half hour walk maybe. While at Victory we saw some Chinese in camo all lined up in three rows, doing drills of some sort. They were counting off, marching back and forth in the square, and overall seemed very disciplined- it was really neat to watch. There were also some Navy people in the small base down at the bottom of the hill who seemed to be running drills as well, and they're fun to watch because they have those tassels hanging off their sailor caps and it looks ridiculously cute for a military officer.

On the way back to Dawai then we saw money in huge silver briefcases being transported into a bank, and the van with the money in it was surrounded by about six Chinese men- two with walkie talkies, two with clubs, and two with guns that looked like they could really mess you up. That was also quite exciting; F and I were like WHOA at the guns haha. I mentioned that I'd never really been that close to a gun before and F goes, "Really? But you're from America."

So now that midterms are over I've basically checked out mentally; everyone has. Lots of people have been skipping class in favor of going outside or catching up on sleep; Leanna and her class even convinced their teacher to take them to Labor Park and ride bumper cars instead of teaching their second class. Although some people have the HSK today, which is the Chinese proficiency test, so they've still been studying.

However, after that, I know everyone is pretty much checked out as well because May Holiday is right around the corner. I don't know how many people are traveling, but I think it's a decent amount just because the Koreans can go home so easily.

Danny, our director, is taking the six of us BCA kids on a six day trip around China: We leave tomorrow morning on a 7:35 flight to Wuhan, from there take a four hour bus to Yichang, board a boat there, spend three days going up the Yellow River and seeing the Three Gorges Dam and get off at Chongqing (most people go from Chongqing to Wuhan so it will be cool to go the opposite direction), tour there and Dazu, fly back to Beijing, spend about five hours there, having dinner at a Peking duck restaurant that's supposed to be really good, then arriving back late Friday evening. We'll be missing Monday and Tuesday classes (Wednesday starts the school break), but there's some sort of school-wide sports competition going on (like Track and Field Day back at Central) those two days so we're not missing much.

Then when we come back, school is still out til the 7th or 8th so we have four or five days yet to relax. So today I have to meet a new tutee from 11:30-1:30, tutor my regular girl from 2-4, then buy a backpack, pack for the trip, and then I'll be all set to go for the next week and a half.

Results of the Excursion

Well today proved very fruitful!

We ended up going to the popular outdoor shopping area, rather than a mall, so the heat was not there. However, I got much accomplished and am thoroughly happy right now:

--I enjoyed a baked sweet potato from a street vendor; a specialty I have recently become obsessed with since it is only available in the winter and I have always gone to China in the summer

--Then from another vendor my cousin and I got sticky rice cooked in bamboo stalks- she got a salty one, I chose a sweet one

--From there we stopped at the first of many novelty stores; where I found among other things a metal "acne remover," a penguin whose beak concealed a nail clipper, and corn flavored jelly.

--We also stopped for bubble tea- a must on any shopping trip of mine.

--For our next snack, we bought these little boats of four round spongy balls with vegetables inside and what curiously looked like octopus...

--At another novelty shop I saw fake Coach keychains that tried really, really hard to look authentic.

--Then I had my passport pictures taken in the classic Chinese style- no smiling! I look very ghastly.

--I also had my nails done; it cost only 20 yuan (about $2.50) whereas in the states it costs twenty dollars, minimum. The quality was almost just as good, and they did it without the attitude.

--We passed so many food stands; most of them I can't even describe but through pictures. However, I did stop for chicken on a stick- the stick was about 18 inches long!- and then flattened pork on a stick. Both were incredibly delicious, though dripping with grease. While my chicken was being grilled, some guys came up and ordered some squid as well. The raw squid looked scary but once grilled, it definitely looked appetizing.

--Finally, we stopped at a DVD store my cousin frequents where she knows the quality of the black market DVDs is good. Even the packaging and summaries looked high quality- the packages are hard plastic, the summaries are in English and actually pertain to the movie! I ended up buying 15 new releases (No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno etc.) for only 100 yuan total (almost 13 dollars) and we also rented Good Luck Chuck and Night at the Museum for 2 yuan for one night. The only difference renting here is that we had to put a ten dollar deposit on each DVD. Oh, and they had box sets too- House, Lost, The Office....It costs only 48 yuan for an entire season of Dexter!

So most of the money I spent actually went towards food, and even then it wasn't that much. We also bought a famous brand of mantou (buns) to eat on the walk home to distract us from our numb feet and hands.

The interesting thing is, even though this is the worst snow to hit Shanghai since 1949 (so my cousin says) it doesn't feel bad once you're walking in it- it's kind of a humid cold; my hands have actually become softer than they've been in weeks.

So our plans for Sichuan are currently on hold, as the weather is paralyzing most of China's travelers for the Chinese New Year, but I wouldn't mind spending the next three and a half weeks in Shanghai.