Just another day in Shanghai
Yesterday was Labour Day here in China - a national holiday. Michael had the day off, so we decided to head to Puxi for some Persian rug shopping. I had seen an ad in the "That's Shanghai" magazine and wanted to check out their inventory. The bottom line? You can find a lot of good deals on a ton of stuff in China - but not on Persian rugs. A rug that costs $10,000 in the U.S. costs ~70,000 RMB in Shanghai - for a grand discount of...drum roll please...nothing. Same price. Our conclusion? Maybe we'll skip the rugs while we're here and focus on other stuff (read: stuff that's actually a bargain). Shanghai is so filthy, too, that any nice rug we buy is bound to be black before we get it home - even if it wasn't to begin with.
So after determining that a new rug is not in our immediate future, we decided to focus on something that was: lunch. I had also read about a little restaurant on the same street as the rug gallery that was supposed to have the best Chicago style pizza in the city. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. We wouldn't know, because when we arrived at 1636 Beijing Xi Lu (West Beijing Street), all we saw was a noodle joint. Bummer. We had to "settle" for a New York Style pizza on Taikang Lu (a little pedestrian area filled with all kinds of shops selling all kinds of goods - mostly to western tourists - at high prices). I say "settle" because I'm not a fan of thin crust pizza at all. To me, pizza needs to have a thick, chewy crust with lots of sauce and lots of cheese. New York Style pizza has a thin crust, sparingly little sauce and even less cheese. Please. That's like eating sugar-free chocolate - what's the point? But Michael and the boys liked it and it was fun to wander around the shops, so it was a success.
Speaking of shops, one of the shops next to the pizza place sells hand-made childrens' sweaters - and guess how much they cost? ~200 RMB, or just over $30. Wow. They're made of beautiful wools, cashmere blends and creamy cottons - perfect for special occasions. Unfortunately, they only run up to about a 24 month size, so I couldn't find any for MJ. But Peter and Kate are going to be getting sweaters for Christmas, as will new baby Wahl. I worry that David may already be getting too big, since he's a sturdier boy than Peter and the Chinese kids (who most likely serve as the models for these sweaters).
Last night we went with three other couples and their children from our compound to a restaurant called "Latina" in the underground market. It's the oddest thing - it's in the underground market, but it's outside. I can't explain it because I'm not quite sure how it works - everything around us was inside, but we could see the moon and the smog from our table, so I know we were truly outside. Anyhow, it was a great place - they had a kids' play area that the kids enjoyed, and Fridays are half-price night for ladies. Except, of course, last night didn't count, because even though it was Friday it was also a holiday - of course...classic China. Or maybe it was because we were all a bunch of foreigners and they didn't think we'd fight them on it (which we didn't). It's always tough to tell when something doesn't seem quite right if it's not quite right because it's just a China thing or if it's not quite right because you're a foreigner. Ahhh...the joys of living in a place where the way you look at speak makes it clear you don't entirely belong.
So that's it. On to today...
So after determining that a new rug is not in our immediate future, we decided to focus on something that was: lunch. I had also read about a little restaurant on the same street as the rug gallery that was supposed to have the best Chicago style pizza in the city. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. We wouldn't know, because when we arrived at 1636 Beijing Xi Lu (West Beijing Street), all we saw was a noodle joint. Bummer. We had to "settle" for a New York Style pizza on Taikang Lu (a little pedestrian area filled with all kinds of shops selling all kinds of goods - mostly to western tourists - at high prices). I say "settle" because I'm not a fan of thin crust pizza at all. To me, pizza needs to have a thick, chewy crust with lots of sauce and lots of cheese. New York Style pizza has a thin crust, sparingly little sauce and even less cheese. Please. That's like eating sugar-free chocolate - what's the point? But Michael and the boys liked it and it was fun to wander around the shops, so it was a success.
Speaking of shops, one of the shops next to the pizza place sells hand-made childrens' sweaters - and guess how much they cost? ~200 RMB, or just over $30. Wow. They're made of beautiful wools, cashmere blends and creamy cottons - perfect for special occasions. Unfortunately, they only run up to about a 24 month size, so I couldn't find any for MJ. But Peter and Kate are going to be getting sweaters for Christmas, as will new baby Wahl. I worry that David may already be getting too big, since he's a sturdier boy than Peter and the Chinese kids (who most likely serve as the models for these sweaters).
Last night we went with three other couples and their children from our compound to a restaurant called "Latina" in the underground market. It's the oddest thing - it's in the underground market, but it's outside. I can't explain it because I'm not quite sure how it works - everything around us was inside, but we could see the moon and the smog from our table, so I know we were truly outside. Anyhow, it was a great place - they had a kids' play area that the kids enjoyed, and Fridays are half-price night for ladies. Except, of course, last night didn't count, because even though it was Friday it was also a holiday - of course...classic China. Or maybe it was because we were all a bunch of foreigners and they didn't think we'd fight them on it (which we didn't). It's always tough to tell when something doesn't seem quite right if it's not quite right because it's just a China thing or if it's not quite right because you're a foreigner. Ahhh...the joys of living in a place where the way you look at speak makes it clear you don't entirely belong.
So that's it. On to today...
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